Tall

TWENTY NINE

EVERYTHING WAS WHITE.

That was the first thing Dawn noticed when she opened her eyes. The next thing she noticed was how empty the room was. Not a trace of color in them. Not even a sign of movement or life. She raised both of her hands, stared at them for a few moments, and then covered her face. The speed of her heart was racing and her breath was slowing down in every take. Something was definitely wrong. She knew something bad had happened. But that's the thing.

Dawn couldn't remember a single thing.

Tears started streaming down her cheeks as she pulled down her hands away from her face and furrowed her brows. But even in river of tears, she didn't feel anything. Nothing. There was no sadness or even a single of evidence of pain drilling inside her chest. Just like the room, she was empty of feelings. Like she was never alive in the first place.

What was happening to her? More importantly, who was she before any of this happened?

"You've come a long way, my child."

Dawn spun around to see a woman standing just a few feet away. She was wearing a long, flowing yellow sundress. Her hair was being blown by the wind and there was this permanency of a smile stretching from ear to ear. Her eyes were smiling too, the color of dark chocolate and cinnamon barks. She looked familiar. She looked like someone knew before.

Then suddenly, a smile flashed on Dawn's face as she recognized the woman before her.

"Mom?" Dawn almost whispered the word.

"How are you, child?" her Mom asked.

"Mom!"

Dawn came running toward her mother, the tears were unstoppable now. Drowning her mother into a full embrace, Dawn started crying like a child on her mother's bosom. The feeling of home and security enveloped around them. Five years ago, Dawn spent every waking day of her life crying because she lost the one person who meant the entire world to her.

But now here she was, folded around her arms, her lips on the top of her head. Suddenly, Dawn was a child again. In their kitchen, making sugar cookies and mango tarts. In the garden, picking flowers and watering the bed of grass. In the bedroom, telling a story about a woman who searched for her prince and got her happy ending.

She never knew this day would happen again. To be reunited with her mother.

Dawn looked up and beamed a smile to her mother. "I've missed you so much, Mom." she sobbed.

"I'm here now and that's what matters the most." her mother replied, reaching out to Dawn's cheeks to wipe the tears away.

When both of them pulled away, that's when Dawn started noticing a change in the room. There was color now and a sign of life starting to come alive. They were inside her bedroom back in their old house. Dawn noticed the little things now. There was a girl sitting on the floor, cutting pictures of cakes and cookies out of magazines and newspaper. She watched the girl stick them on the walls of her room, a smile on her face showing. She was wearing this funny looking dress. It's almost pink, Dawn noticed.

"Who is that girl?" Dawn asked.

"That's Catherine." her mother said.

"Catherine?" Dawn furrowed her brows again. The name struck her familiar. But she couldn't place a finger on it to remember. "What is she doing?"

"Well, I taught her to bake when she was just a child. She's taking interest in things that has something to do with a weighing scale and a wire whisk."

"Is Catherine good in baking?"

Her mother smiled. "The best." she said.

Dawn watched the girl finished sticking the cut out images on the walls. Suddenly, the room had changed and they were now in the living room. The television was on and some music video from an old band was singing in the background. There was noise coming out in the other room. Dawn heard the clanking sounds of pans and pots. Someone's probably cooking. Then she looked at the red couch and the same girl was sitting on it. But she looked different now.