A Little Adventure

I could hardly open my eyes. They were nearly stuck shut with the weight of sleep. My eyelashes were entwined and glued together.

“Tasha! Get up!” My mother half yelled, half talked as she abruptly opened my door, turned the light on, and opened the curtain to my room, flooding it with the agonizing brightness of the morning sunlight. I closed my eyes and furrowed my eyebrows as I rubbed my face into my pillow hard. Ugh. I had been awake all night thinking about magic, and I was hardly able to sleep after the incident with the haze and the message left on my window. I was so tired. Vanessa and I dragged ourselves out of bed, ate a quick breakfast of lucky charms, changed, and got ready to get on the bus. My concentration did not improve as the day went on. I was distracted during E. L. A. I was caught daydreaming during math. I was outside myself all day- thinking about the mysteries of the forest, unable to leave the fable that I was dreaming up in my mind. The day seemed like a sort of dream, and during science, I found myself too warm to ward off the sleep that was inevitably coming for me.

In this dream, a shepherd tended his flock. He looked just like all the shepherds you see in bible stories, wearing long draping robes, a turbine around his head, and carrying a shepherd's hook. His sheep were bright white. Clean and fluffy, like blobs of white cotton candy with legs and a little head poking through. They bleated loudly as they grazed. Then one of those sheep walked up to me.

“I’m not like the others.” He jeered, and he laughed out of the corner of his mouth as he turned black. He walked up to another sheep and blew on him. What came from his mouth when he did this looked like smoke-or haze? Then that sheep also turned black. Then those two sheep walked up to two sheep, and they blew on them, and they turned black. This continued until the entire flock was compiled of entirely black sheep. They all howled like wolves, and I shivered all over. I felt dread. I felt fear. I felt compelled to do something, but I didn't know what. They left their master, and I watched as he stood there alone without his flock. He turned to say something to me...

SMACK! My head whipped back and my eyes burst open! I fell over backward in my chair and the entire classroom erupted in laughter. What a fool of myself I had made. The noise of the book cracked so loudly, and I had been so far in my dream, that I nearly peed myself I was so startled. I was embarrassed that I had fallen asleep in class and to make matters worse, my teacher, Mrs. Jensen, sent home a note for my mom to sign stating that I fell asleep in class. Also, I had hit my head. Momentarily, I felt sorry for myself. I wanted to cry, but I didn't because I didn't want my classmates to call me a baby for being emotional in school. Third graders were mean, and they would find even the littlest imperfection and use it to condemn you. I was silent on the bus ride home. I didn’t sit with Vanessa or any of my friends. I was not going to explore. I was going to find Isaiah. I was going to ask him the questions that were burning inside of me.

I looked out the window just as the bus started to slow for my stop. My one-story, white house sat down from the road. The roof was black and peeling a little, and some of the paint on the ranch-style house was flaking off, but still, it was cute. My mom said it had potential, and she planned on scraping and painting in the spring. She had elaborate plans of planting a luscious flower bed to color our yard red, blue, pink, and orange. She said it could be an oasis for butterflies, bees, and birds. She was stern and nurturing. She loved the outdoors and simple things. She sang a lot. She was interesting and maybe a little eccentric. She often said I didn't fit in well because there was too much of her in me. Sometimes I really hated that because in third grade fitting in is easier, but right now I was glad that I was a little different. I don't think being plain and normal leads you to the gate of the living forest.

“Hey, mom,” I said walking into the house. I threw my bag down and unzipped it. I went right for my snow stuff, “Can I please go for a walk?” I asked as I riffled through my stuff. I felt anxious and like I needed to hurry.

“Good to see you too. Have a nice day? And sure?” She was smiling, and she had a bit of a sarcastic tone to her voice. She was leaning on the counter next to the sink with a bowl in her hand.

“No, I did not have a good day. I fell asleep in science, and I fell out of my chair, and the entire class laughed at me.” My mom and dad sometimes called me honest Tash because I told the truth always, even if the truth would get me in trouble. She didn't seem too upset though, and simply said to be home before dark and that I'd have to do homework after dinner. That was fine. Before I could say a word, Vanessa bound into the kitchen, dressed in her pink overall snow pants, pulling the sleeves of her pink coat on. Truthfully, I had kind of wanted to go on my own to talk to Isiah about the dream, but I knew that Ness would also be good company, and so I did not protest.

I followed the path from our previous adventure. We had not gotten any snow since and so our old footprints were still easy to follow. I walked quickly, and Ness jogged up next to me.

“Are you ok?”

“Yup. I'm great,” I snapped

“You look ugly.” Ness, not understanding that prodding would definitely provoke me further, continued to ask questions about what was wrong, why I wasn't happy, or if I would smile for her. My level of irritability was pretty high as I approached the old oak at last. I paused before kneeling down to crawl through.

“You know.” I paused and thought about what I wanted to say, “I really am just tired, and I really want you to stop asking me questions about if I’m happy or mad or whatever.” Truthfully I was tired and cold and a little sad from my bad day at school. Normally, I’d yell at Vanessa for pestering me, but I was trying my best to be nice to my little sister- mom wanted me to be nicer-and so I was trying really hard to think before I spoke.

“Ok,” Vanessa looked at her feet, and that was the end of her asking if I was ok. We both crawled under the fallen tree and navigated the rocks beneath carefully. It seemed easier this time, and I was so relieved to enter the Owl’s dwelling place.

“Isiah!” I shouted. I turned all around scanning the area for the great owl. I shouted again, but there was no response. I sat down on the mossy floor, not sure what to do but wait. Vanessa plopped down next to me.

“He’ll come.” She was always so sure of things, even things she couldn't be sure of. We waited, “You know, I had a weird dream last night.”

“Oh?” I was only half interested. I was mostly sleepy at this point, despite being pretty cold.

“Yes. I had a dream about a bad sheep and a shepherd.” she trailed off.

“Wait. What?!” I was interested now.

“Heelloooo girls.” Said a familiar voice as a shadow passed overhead. He swooped down and landed next to me. He seemed even more grand than last time, and for a moment, I forgot all about my troubled day at school. Ness ran over and hugged him, running her hands all over his great white feathers. “What brings you back to my neck of the woods?” His voice was grand and full. His chest was proud. His eyes were bright. He was not intimidating in a way where I was fearful but rather in the way you might be intimidated by a great professor. I knew he was wise...aren't all owls wise? Perhaps that was a silly cliché. I shook my head, bringing myself back to the present.

“Well..” I trailed off and thought a moment. "Well, last night a dark haze or fog rose from the river and wrote a message on my window."

“Ahh.” he nodded and tilted his head, showing great interest. He motioned for us to sit on some mossy stumps, and so we did, relieved to rest our legs.

“Then today, I was so tired in school that I fell asleep, and I had a crazy dream about a shepherd and his sheep. There was this bad sheep that breathed on the other sheep, and they all turned black, and they howled a terrible howl...”

“Like wolves!” Vanessa shouted. I turned to her. How did she know that? “I had the same dream, Tasha. I had that dream last night!”She was practically hopping up and down.

Isaiah stood. “Girls,” he dropped his head as though thinking very seriously, “We must go. NOW!”