The Unwanted Desire

Nightmares and Omens

She leaned back in her bed, shuddering at the terrifying, tangible memory of something that never happened.  Tears misted in her eyes.  She reached beneath her pillow, then, and pulled out a Polaroid photo.

There was a young girl, with long, brown, wavy hair, pale skin, crystal blue eyes- Skylah at the age of seven.  It was a princess-themed birthday party.  She worse a fluffy pink dress, laced in sparkly pink fabrics, and wore a matching cone hat, with the same sparkly pink lace flowing from the top.  She had her arm, wrapped around another little girl's arm.  This girl had pale skin, long, wavy, brown hair, and just a little bit darker blue eyes.  She wore the same style dress and hat, only in purple.

Skylah smiled at the picture, as a tear streaked her face.

"I miss you, sis..."  She muttered, as she laid back down on her side, clasping the picture tightly between her fingers, holding closely to her face.  As thunder rumbled, she then held it closely to her heart, as if she were hugging the photograph.  She looked towards the window, and then cried herself back to sleep.

In the actual morning, the thunderstorm left the sky grey with clouds, as it still continued to drizzle, and the ground was swallowed up by thick, white fog.

Skylah woke, still clinging to her picture.  She sat up and stretched and yawned.  Her face still pink from crying all night, as her eyes were puffy, too.  She looked over at her purple clock on her nightstand.

Nine o'clock.  Skylah sighed.

"Time to get up."  She groaned to herself, as she swung her feet off the bed.  She carefully put her picture beneath her pillow, and then jumped at a sudden knock at her door.

"Sky, are you up?"

It was Katy.

"Yeah, I'm up."  Skylah replied, dryly.

"Okay.  Amelia said you need to hurry up before breakfast gets cold."

Skyla sighed, heavily.

"Okay, I'll be down in a few."  She replied.  She heard Katy walk away from her door, and so stood up, stretching a little, and walked to her closet, beginning to pick out some clothes for the day.

"Thanks for getting us up at eight-thirty, by the way!"  A British-accented, female voice called out to Katy, somewhere in the area of Skylah's vanity.  Skylah poked her head out from inside her closet, raising her eyebrow.

"You know she can't hear you."  She said the voice.

"We know," another British-accented, female voice said, somewhere in the area of Skylah's bed, "But, it still feels good to let it out."

"Besides, we know you'll tell her for us, when you go downstairs, anyway."  The voice at the vanity said, teasingly.

"True, I guess."  Skylah huffed, as she finished getting dressed.

"Oooh, some personal favorites today, huh?" The voice at Skylah's bed said, pointing out her stone-washed jeans and blood red t-shirt with the silhouetted image of a Chinese dragon, in white, on the back.

"Yes."  Skylah replied, nonchalantly.

"How doting." The voice said, portentously.  Skylah grinned, slightly, as she grabbed a green hair tie, pulling her still very long, wavy, brown hair up into a messy bun.

"I'll see you guys in a bit."  Skylah told the voices, as she walked out of the door.

Downstairs, her father, Bryan, sat at the end of the table, reading the newspaper.  Her cousin Jorge sat two seat over from Bryan.  And Amelia stood, still scrambling eggs, at the stove.  Skylah walked to Bryan, sitting down next to him, as she stared out the bay window of the kitchen-dining room.