Catching Shadows

Chapter One

I ached. It was the only thought that managed to make it through my addled brain, and if it wouldn't have made everything a hundred times worse, I would have laughed at how ridiculous it was. Ached didn't even begin to describe the pain I was feeling as I trudged along the hallway, finally having made it up the never ending stairwell. In reality, there were probably only twenty or so steps to get up, but with my ribs bruised - I refused to entertain the thought of them being broken - that was about twenty steps too many.

Busy inventing colorful curses for whoever it was that thought it a good idea to make second stories in houses a common occurrence, I barely noticed with the air shifted around me. I glanced up just in time to see Marie dart into the bathroom a few steps ahead of me without so much as a glance. Thank the stars for small blessings. Normally if we passed each other, she would scowl at me and shove me against the wall with a swift jab to my middle. Today, I don't think I could have taken the added pressure without crying out, and that would have just earned me more punishment.

Deciding I'd better take advantage of my good luck while it held, I shoved myself off of the wall and stumbled to last little bit into my room. It wasn't until my door was shut and the soft click of the lock engaged that I allowed myself the weakness to sink down to the floor. I'd already been beaten into submission today, so I knew it was unlikely that anyone would come for me. I was safe to be weak for another day.

Sprawling out on my stomach seemed to alleviate the worst of the pain, so I simply laid there and drifted. My thoughts never landed on one thing for long, but I was out of it for long enough that when I convinced myself that moving to the bed was probably a good thing, my muscles were stiff and the sun had set. I had to stuff my face in the carpet to stifle my groan as I forced myself up and army crawled towards my bed.

One good thing about having very little furniture, there was nothing in my way.

I'd gotten to my knees and was attempting to heft myself up onto the mattress when I remembered it. The dream catcher. It was hiding in the space between my mattress and box springs. There had been a brief consideration of hiding it away behind the small attic door, but something in me rebelled at it being in such a dark place. It was silly, it was just a thing after all, but the compulsion had been strong enough to sway me. Now, my hand reached of its own accord, sliding into my bedding and finding the leather wrapped hoop. As soon as my fingers touched it, I felt the tension around my heart ease. It did nothing for the physical pain, but my emotions seemed to settle.

The old woman had said that sometimes, you had to believe in something for it to be able to work its magic. I still wasn't quite sure what she meant by that, but as I took in the dark brown leather and the bright pink beads that decorated the dream catcher, I decided that I needed something good in my world to believe. Right now, everything seemed dark. I couldn't find a bright spot in my mind to cling to. Since learning about the move weeks ago, I had held fast to it. A new home, a new school, a new beginning. Foolishly, I thought things would be different here. My mother had dashed those hopes tonight. Not even a full week in this new house, and I was already battered and once again broken.

This thing, this promise of good dreams, this would be my new light. It wasn't much, but it was something within my control, something to look forward to. An escape from the nightmare of my waking world. If it took a bit of belief to achieve, then I would believe in it with everything I had.

Taking a deep breath, I steeled myself to stand and carefully made my way over to the window. With how many bad dreams I usually have, it was going to need all the sunlight it could get to banish them in the morning. The thought brought a small smile to my lips, and it was the last thing to consciously run through my mind before I collapsed into bed and let sleep take me.