Chapter 3 - The Dream

It is 6 o'clock in the morning and Amelia is getting ready to go home. While she is fixing her table, a sudden cold air quickly passes behind her, an unexplainable creepy feeling wraps around her body. She hugged herself and rubbed her shoulders, "Did someone just change the AC temperature?"

"Bye guys, I'm out of here, but I still have collectibles from you which are due on payday." Giving her colleagues a wink while she walks through to the door. Her colleagues give Amelia an okay hand sign and bid their goodbyes.

She exits from the building and the hot strong rays from the sun hits her and she covers her face with her right hand while glancing at the sun rays. She waves her hand to a taxicab which purposely stops by infront of her. A lady in a red shirt and fitted jeans comes out from the taxi, judging her from head to toe.

Amelia's eyes crinkled at the corners and went inside the taxicab. She closes the door and stares at the back of the lady. She peeks at a white handkerchief hanging at the edge of her red leather handbag. The red embroidered letters in the handkerchief reads, "Tikaluna." It widens her eyes and a feeling of anxiousness and confusion hits her as she relaxes her back in the backseat.

She reaches her condominium building and enters her unit with a poker face. Feeling tired from the night shift, she immediately gets her slippers and sits on the white couch, "Nanny Martha I'm home."

"Ssshhh...Phoebe is still sleeping." Martha gets her things fast and gives her clothes to change. Amelia gets her bank book from her drawer and lays beside Phoebe in bed. She cracks a smile, "I can almost see my dream home, I have saved enough for the downpayment of the property and I can use some of my savings to start a small restaurant business. Mom, Dad this is for you and Phoebe."

She reminisces her childhood days being scarce in everything. After her father was killed by a hit and run incident while selling food in the street as his part time job after his day shift being a security guard in a telephone company, her mom did everything to make ends meet.

She would always ask her mom for a clean bond paper, cut it into four equal parts and draw different cartoon characters at the edge of each paper. She even spends time repacking peanuts and chips after she is done with her school task. She sold those to her classmates and schoolmates and saved her money for her school needs. She did not ask her mom for extra money to fill up her school needs like projects and books.

Moreover, she can even give her mom some of her savings from her profit which her mom refused to accept. While staring blankly at the ceiling, she remembers her conversation with her mother.

"I cannot accept that money Amelia, save that up for your future." Her mom bent over at her while holding her hand.

"But mom, this is for us, I still have savings left." Amelia insists while embracing her mother.

"No honey, you worked for it, you keep it and save it for your future.'' Amelia remembers her fun cuddling moments with her mother and falls asleep.

Her dreams take her into a long stiff wooden bridge in an isolated area. The place is somewhat familiar to her and she feels that she has to cross the bridge.

"Aaaameliaaaa...Aaaameliaaaa..." A soft eerie voice echoing in the wilderness, calling her name on the other side of the bridge piqued her interest and curiosity.

She sees the setting of the sun but her eagerness to know who is behind the soft creepy voice motivates her to cross the bridge. Her big fast steps take her instantly to the middle of the bridge. The strong wind gushes through her body and her knees begin to bend. With weak legs she stumbled and the strong wind pushed her back down making it hard for her to stand up.

Dry small leaves begin to surround her as if hindering her from being on the other side but the voice seems to be louder and louder. Heavy rains begin to pour and a loud thunder from the dark gray skies causes her heart to be at the edge of her fear. Her lips trembles and her cold sweat mixes with her hot flushed body battling with the storm . Her legs were shaking and her hands tightly held the wooden steps of the bridge and with a shaky voice she poured her words, "I have to cross the bridge to know who is behind the voice."

The bridge begins to sway side to side and it sways even harder and faster and stronger, causing Amelia to crawl. Her struggling moves clashing through the storm makes her will to break helplessly.

But this does not set her back from crawling, it drives her to cross the bridge immediately. With shaky legs she manages to stand up a little and runs fast to reach the end.

The bridge suddenly collapses as she takes a big leap from the edge. She catches her breath and falls to the ground. Slowly the storm and strong wind vanish instantly and a fog has all that is left.

She sets her eyes to the enormous mossy cave with wild plants and huge tall trees around it. Flowers have withered but the plants proudly display a strong emerald green color. Leaves from the wild plants are as big as the buses in the city. Her jaw drops while beaming her eyes in awe, walking and passing by the huge plants, "The leaves are big enough to wrap my whole body."

She does not feel scared because her curiosity dominates her emotions. When she reaches the cave a half-human half-horse beast creature appears and gives her a long-stemmed white rose. She feels nervous again and her heart pounds fast as she takes the long-stemmed white rose from the beast and before she asks him the beast moves away from her and gallops faster than the wind leaving her clueless.

Amelia suddenly wakes up but still she catches her breath while she gets her cellphone, realizing that it is time for Phoebe's breakfast. "Phoebe, wake up it is almost 7'oclock, your school will start at 8."

Phoebe slowly opening her eyes and lifting her arms into the air causing her belly button to peek from her sleepwear. Amelia begins to tickle her from her side waist making her to roll over the bed.

"Hahahhaha! Mom stop! Please mom stop! Hahhahah!" Phoebe giggles while taking her revenge by curling down and tickles her mom's feet. "Let's have the morning tickle fight!" Roared Amelia and her hands curled like a lion's paw.

The two are screaming and laughing so hard that they fall from the bed together with their thick heavy blanket.

Martha comes to the room lifting Phoebe from the carpet, "Take your shower and eat your breakfast, it is already served in the table."

Phoebe goes straight to the bathroom but Amelia runs her right hand through her hair and cranked, "Nanny, my head feels heavy, I just want to sleep all day."

Martha disapproves and shakes her head, "Yes Amelia but you can sleep all day after you had your breakfast with Phoebe, come on, lift your heavy butt from that bed."

"Hahahha! Ok Nanny..."  Mimicking Matha's facial expression.

Phoebe with a towel on her head and Amelia sluggishly approaches the dining table and take her seat. "Wow! Thank you Nanny, I love pancakes in the morning." Phoebe excitingly gets the maple syrup and gently squeeze the plastic bottle on the pancakes.

"I will just have hot water, I don't feel like drinking coffee in the morning, my acidity worsens from the last iced coffee I had in the office."

"Yes Amelia but you must eat." While she scoops rice and three pieces of marinated pork cutlets and puts it in Amelia's white round plate.

"Mommy, I had a strange dream last night." Martha sits down beside Amelia and interestingly glances at Phoebe while she peels the juicy red apples.

"Strange dream? What about it?" Amelia answers after taking a heavy gulp of warm water.

"I happen to read one of your books last night before going to bed, a book of mythological creatures captured my eyes and I felt that I have to get and read it."

"Then...?" Amelia raises her right eyebrow and forks a slice of pancake.

"And then I red about the werewolf, mermaids, half-human half-horse with long tough legs, and the beasts which separate their upper torso from their lower body after they spread heated oil into their arms and legs. Are those creatures true Mommy?

"Of course not honey, those are writer's wild imaginations." Amelia cackles.

"Well, I think that a person cannot write clear stories like that if they did not experience it on their own." Phoebe answers while she pours more maple syrup onto her pancake.

"You are so smart Phoebe, but, that is how good writers are, you do not have to witness a certain event or experience a certain situation to be able to write a good story. A writer's wild and great imagination can take her readers into magical places and can turn them into reality."

Amelia titters at her daughter but Martha interrupts their conversation. "Those stories of beast were from our grandparents and it might be true, my grandmother used to warn me not to roam in the street during night time, because members of werewolf clan are hunting people, they kill them and eat their organs." Martha turns to Phoebe while she gives her three pieces of cut apples.

Amelia annoyingly looks at Martha, "Please... Do not give her false information because of hearsays and made-up folklore stories, we are already in the year of fast-paced technology, and besides those mythological stories remain as myth and still unproven."

Martha excitingly turns to Phoebe and gets her silver necklace, "Phoebe I will show you my secret that protects me from underworld creatures since I was a child, my amulet..."

Amelia burst into laughter lifting her chin, "Hahhaha! Nanny, you still believe in that?"

"Really?!" Phoebe eagerly wants to take a look at Martha's silver necklace.

Martha takes off her silver necklace with a black tourmaline stone, "This is my amulet, I have had this since I was 7 years old. My grandmother gave this to me before she died, and she whispered into this amulet before giving this to me."

"Whispers?" Amazed Phoebe widens her eyes and asks while touching Martha's black amulet, she flips the amulet and notice an unrecognizable letters at the back of it.

"Yes, they say it is a ritual or a blessing for whoever wears the amulet. This serves my protection all these years and I never encounter any strange underworld creature even if I roam on streets at night."

Phoebe's mouth opens and hang loosely while she nods.

"Nanny Martha you will never encounter such strange creatures because there are none, they are not true." Amelia smirks and raises her right eyebrow.

Martha rise to get Phoebe's school things, "But what if they are? I even learned a ritual for those who are under a spell."

"Really nanny?" Phoebe blinks her eyes with excitement.

Amelia cut their conversation while slicing pork cutlets with her fork, "Go ahead Phoebe, you will be late in school."

"Yes mommy. Come on nanny, let us continue our conversation with the beast on our way to school." Phoebe whispers while giggling.

The two chuckle as they close the door.

Amelia, left inside the house, remembers her strange dream and wishes to continue it.

"Brrriiiinggg...bbrrrriiinggg...."

Her cellphone which is on the dining table vibrated, she forgot to turn on the ringer tone from her night shift. Amelia closes her eyes and lifts her head upwards bending slightly from side to side, touching the back of her neck with her right hand as she checks her cellphone and stuffing her mouth with four cubed-cut apples.

A sudden blood rushed through her body and her lips tighten and curled inwards, "Dave is calling? What does he want?"