Storm Brewing

“Born out of a clash of lightning and thunder, she is known to have a melodious voice that can hypnotize even the deaf. If she comes for you, she can paralyze you where the last thing you will ever hear are her delightful memories with all other sounds fading away.”

Grandpa closed the book and looked at tiny, wide-eyed 5-year-old Emma Silverstein sitting in his lap. Alkonost. That’s what Grandpa George told me the creature was. She had a partner named Sirin who was dark, dangerous. Not like her. The Alkonost was known as a guardian, a protector. She ferried the souls of the “holy” to heaven is what Grandpa told her.

“Emma...” Grandpa George said. “You are a very special girl, did you know that?” He looked down at the blue-eyed, blonde-haired little girl who had freckles that spanned her nose and across her cheeks. She looked at him curious and full of wonder. “What do you mean PawPaw?” She asked curiously as she grabbed for the book. He smiled at her, she loved looking at the picture of the beautiful Alkonost and her counterpart Sirin. Like night and day. He let her have the book and she thumbed through the pages and read the words over very slowly. She had just learned to read properly at school.

Emma didn’t like school, the kids were mean to her because she talked a lot when she was nervous. She was always full of energy, so much so that her parents had taken her to a doctor to see if they could help calm her down. She didn’t like the medication because it didn’t work anyways. A.D.H.D. is what they called it. Bleh. She hated that. It sounded like she was crazy and she was only five years old. Her parents just didn’t understand her like her Grandpa did. That’s why they sent her to live with him. They “couldn’t handle her” anymore. Her Grandpa could though, he was loving and kind to her. He understood her unlike her parents.

“Emma, one day I will leave you. I want you to go past the city walls when I do and into the forest. When you get to the mountains in the East, there will be a large pool of water that is deep. Deeper than you could ever imagine, so deep that if you fell into it you might fall to the bottom of the Earth.” He paused, she looked sad at the mention of him going away. She didn’t like when he talked about getting old and dying. She always saw him as being alive forever. “When you get there, if you walk to the West about fifty feet, you will see a large Hawthorn tree, twisted, the limbs crooked. It bears no leaves, but has a hollow. It will be surrounded by white flowers, and in the hollow I have left you a note. It will tell you all you need to know about why you are so special...” She saw tears forming in his eyes and she closed the book. “Don’t cry PawPaw, it’s okay. You’re never going to leave me! Maybe we can go there together as a trip!” She seemed to get excited, but this made him sorrowful and he wept. “No child, you must go on that adventure alone. It is your destiny, Emma...” As she looked at him as he cried, her Grandpa George started to fade away into nothingness. She couldn’t bring him back. “NO! COME BACK! DON’T LEAVE ME!” Emma screamed as she began to fall.

Then she startled awake, gasping as she sat straight up in bed and started to cry. Just a memory... Just a dream…