Heaven above (Heaven's war #1)

chapter four- awaken

Chapter four- awaken

I gasp awake. My entire body is cold, and sore. I rush to the bathroom, and proceed to vomit my brains out. I sputter my stomach's contents into the toilet. How gross. Now my dreams- no, nightmares, are making me physically ill. My Aunt must have heard me, because I hear the creaking of the floor as she enters the bathroom.

"Kaiya," she says, and appears in the doorway. "Are you okay?"

Not at all. "I think I have a stomach bug."

"Do you want to stay home?" she asks, and reaches down to stroke my hair.

"Yes," I nod. "I feel awful."

"I'll make you some toast, angel." She says, walking off.

I weakly make my way back to my bed. I shudder at the thought of my dream. I can't believe it was only a dream. No, dreams are faded, they're surrounded by a soft focus. This, this was vivid. I can recall the sound of specific voices, the drip of water against stone. The way he said my name.

"They called her Kaiya."

I need answers. I need them now, I pull out my laptop, and I open google. I struggle to find a place to begin. Aunt Lily brings me my toast, and I munch on it, desperate to find a way to begin. I type in 'paradise'. Many things come up. Things such as resorts, vacations, even songs. I scroll until I find something; an article. It's titled 'Paradise and Heaven'.

"Paradise and Heaven are two interchangeable words for the same concept. Different religions use different words to convey the same idea; life after death. Paradise, and heaven, both represent where those who live good lives are thought to go. On the opposite side of the spectrum, hell is designated for those who lived lives driven by evil."

So, paradise was another name for heaven? Why would I have been brought to heaven when I was born? None of that makes sense. There isn't even a guarantee that heaven is a real place. I mean, if people end up there, they can't tell us. At this point, however, I am willing to believe anything in order to get to the bottom of these dreams.

I'm flooded by another memory from my dream; my mother. If the child they were talking about was indeed me, then the woman the King Lenard was speaking of, must be my mother.

Aunt Lily never once spoke of my mother. Part of me was always curious, but part of me wondered if my aunt didn't really like her. My aunt would sometimes speak of my father, however. Little sentences here and there, but nothing of substance. I wonder if I could get something out of her now...

"Aunt Lily," I call out, shutting my laptop. "Can you come here for a moment?"

I hear footsteps. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," I begin, and sit upright. "What can you tell me about my mother?"

Her face goes stark white. "Why do you want to know about her?"

"Um," fuck, I've got to think. "In English, we're writing essays on our parents, and I figured I could ask you about them."

"Okay, then," she says, and takes a foot at the end of the bed. "What would you like to know about your parents?"

Everything. "What was your favorite thing about my father?"

She pauses for a moment, thinking. "His ability to see the best in others, even when everyone else couldn't."

"Hmm," I say, smiling. "What was his name?"

"Iven," she says, sadness lacing her voice. "He was a good man."