Hex

* T W E N T Y - T H R E E *

©  Amber Kalkes 2015

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"Dreams" By Fleetwood Mac

*T W E N T Y-T H R E E *

There’s no sound in the clearing other than the sound of the crickets and the wind moving through the trees. My bare feet curl as the dewy grass beneath them tickles the skin and the darkened sky hangs above me. I frown as I realize that this place looks vaguely familiar but I can’t quite place from where.

Stepping forward I try to place where it is I am but my mind is all hazy. I stop after walking a few feet when I feel a presence behind me. Turning around I narrow my eyes at the too serene looking figure before me. Her braided hair is hidden under a white head wrap and she’s dressed in a floor length white halter dress.

“You have a lot of nerve summoning me here.” I snap at her.

Nadine gives me a small sad smile, “I figured this was the only way you’d talk to me, lovely.”

“Don’t.” I snap, “Don’t even start that crap. Tell me why.”

“You know why.”

“No I really don’t so please enlighten me, Nadine. Were you so ashamed of me?”

“Ashamed?” She repeats faintly before shaking her head, “I could never be ashamed of you. You are one of the few things in my life that I ever did right, Ruth.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me? We’ve known each other for years, Nadine. You knew me better than anyone. You knew how much I wanted to know my birth mother and yet there you were sitting there in front of me this whole time. Do you realize how stupid I feel to have it be Brandon to tell me?”

“I know.” She soothes, holding out her hands up as she steps forward, “You have to realize that I didn’t know how to approach you. I know everything but this situation, you, I didn’t know what to do. I was so shocked when you walked into my shop, I knew it was you immediately, you have your father’s eyes.”

“My father…” I trail as my vision begins to blur with tears, “Does he know? About me?”

“Yes.”

“Then where is he in all this? Did he know you gave me up?”

Nadine purses her red colored lips as she gives me a pained look, “No, he didn’t know, not for many years that is. When he did know he went to find you but I tracked him down before he could actually approach you. You have to understand, Ruth, I thought you would be happier away from this world, our world but for once I was wrong.” She smiles a little ruefully, “I tend to have my vision clouded when it comes to you I’m afraid.”

“What’s his name?”

“Benjamin.” She says with a small smile, “And he’ll be happy to know you want to meet him.”

“I do.” I snap before wiping my cheeks from a few fallen tears, “You had no right to deny me the truth Nadine.”

“I know.”

“Then why?”

“I wanted the best for you, for all of us. I never imagined that you would have the gift or be treated the way you were. I was young and so were my visions, I had no control over what I could see and all I could see for you was war. I wanted more for you then that.”