Kaitlin
It was a warm spring morning and I waited patiently for my friends sipping my coffee. At the park across the street the sounds of children’s laughter could be heard over the traffic. It was always nice to hear the children laugh, especially since there was a war going on.
The war between the dragons and mages was the stuff of legend. The story goes that one day the leaders of the group were best friends than for some reason the next day they couldn’t stand each other and were trying to kill each other. It was rumored that the leaders didn’t even know why they hated each other they just did and they tried their best to kill each other. The war between the two groups didn’t have any impact on the general population until there was a fight between a group of mages and a dragon in the middle of Denver. Needless to say there was a lot of damage and a lot of innocent lives were lost. That was three months ago and several more skirmishes like that had occurred in different cities with varying amounts of damage.
A hand touched my shoulder and I jumped, heart racing. “Calm down girl, it’s just me.” my friend Maggie said playfully. “What were you thinking about that had you so out of it? You know that can be dangerous with the war.” “I know it is. I was thinking about how quickly everything has changed with the war escalating these past three months. Now everyone has to get tested to see if we have any mage or dragon blood and I don’t know what the tests will show. I don’t want to be separated from you and the others. you are the only constants in my life.” “That’s right, you’re adopted and no one seems to know who your parents are. Who knows maybe the tests will help you find out where you came from. You have to think of the positives.”
I took a moment to think about what Maggie said. She did have a good point about the test possibly being able to give me answers about my background, I just wasn’t sure I wanted to know or if I was better off not knowing. “You’re right Mag, I do need to know and what’s the worst that can happen? It is just a genetic test to see what a person’s ancestry is. Did you get your appointment notice yet? I just got mine telling me to be at the testing center in two days at 9 in the morning.” “I got the same testing day and time in section 2 for my test. What section are you in Kat?” ” I am scheduled to be getting tested in section 2 as well. Want go to the testing center together?” I ask. “Of course we can go together. Maybe we can do something together afterwards.” “Sounds good. Have you heard from Cara or Jane?” I ask. “No I haven’t but It doesn’t look like they are coming right now. We can see if they want to join us for lunch.” Maggie suggests and I agree. “I texted Jane and Cara and told them to meet us at lunch. Jane wants to meet at our usual place at 12.” Maggie says. “Now that we have that figured out, let’s get our day of fun started!” I replied. “What should we do first Kat?” Maggie asks me. We grinned at each other and said “Shopping!” at the same time. We started giggling as we headed towards our favorite store.
We spent the morning shopping and joking around with each other. We did what we could to forget about the war for a few carefree hours. Cara and Jane met up with us when we stopped for lunch at our favorite mom and pop diner that Jane had heard about and got us hooked on. We chatted and joked all throughout lunch then did some more shopping then went and caught a movie before heading home for the night. We debated about going out clubbing but decided against it with the way the war was going. We said our goodbyes to each other, Maggie and I reminded each other about our plans for our testing day, and I headed home. That night I had the strangest dream I had ever remembered having.
I was surrounded by smoke, fire, and the sounds of battle. It was chaos everywhere I looked. I knew I was dreaming but no matter how much I tried to change my dream I couldn’t. I was trapped in this dream and as I struggled to change it I heard menacing laughter over the sounds of the battle.
“Don’t worry little lamb. I will find you soon no matter how far you run I will always find you.” a voice that sounded eerily similar to the menacing laughter said.
I was completely confused by what the voice said and mumbled to myself, “I don’t know who you are or what you mean. whoever you are you must have the wrong person. Thank the gods this is a dream and I won’t have to worry about this craziness once I wake up.”
“That is where you are wrong little lamb. You will be mine soon enough and see what foolishness it was to try to run from me.” the voice said chuckling at the perceived foolishness at what I said. The voice’s response to what I said sent chills down my back and made me wonder how it heard me muttering to myself and wondering how this messed up dream came to be. All I wanted to do was wake up and forget this dream ever happened.
I woke up sweating and freaked out by my dream. I had never had a dream like that that I could remember and was freaked out by what the voice had said and how it had interacted with me. I took several deep breaths to try and calm myself down. As my breathing returned to normal I looked at the clock. It was 2 in the morning but I knew there was no way I was going to be able to get back to sleep after that disturbing dream. I got myself untangled from my sheets and got a warm shower to help me calm down. After my shower I felt a lot better and made myself some hot tea, curled up on my favorite chair with a blanket and the book I was on in my favorite series.
As I was reading I was finally able to put the dream from my mind and was able to get on with my day. I had a good day getting what I needed to get done done before the testing the next day. The test was either going to change nothing or change everything in my life and I wasn't sure which outcome I wanted it to be.
