Thud!

A sickening noise came from the dining room window. A small body fell to the brick pavers below.

She walked over to the window, hoping for the best but expecting the worst. The last time, the poor bird’s neck was broken.

A palm warbler lay on its side. Another flew about, worried, trying to get him up and fly away, then hightailed it back to the oak tree.

Poor thing. He was breathing so heavy, his beak open. He couldn’t stand, just laying there on his side.

She unlatched the door and stepped outside to check on him. He struggled to move, still stuck on his side.

She sat down and carefully picked him up into her palms. Softly she soothed him. She wasn’t sure if he would pass from internal injuries or, perhaps he was only stunned.

After a few minutes, his breathing returned to normal, and he found his footing in her hands. Nothing seemed broken as he stood on both his feet.

She stood up and took her little friend over to the planter box, then set him down to rest in a ray of sun. She wanted to keep him away from the neighborhood hunter, a black and white tuxedo cat.

He hopped a few times in the bed, then tilted his head at her and sat back down to rest.

She came back a little later to check on him. He had flown off, rejoining his friend in the tree. A happy ending.

“Here’s a burger, Dawn.” He handed her a juicy burger with cheese, ketchup, and mustard along with a tomato slice and sat back in his chair.

His face grew solemn, and he looked down at the floor. “You know, everyone deals with this. You aren’t alone.” He looked up at her for a moment, shakily, then looked back in the floor. “For over two decades, I battled them in an unhealthy way. I began drinking heavily.” He looked back up at her then back down.

“It was the 60s and the 70s, I was an executive, and it just was what we all did. Parties, luncheons, every gathering was an opportunity to get rid of the thoughts in our head and distract ourselves. I chose alcohol for a very long time. Until I realized, I was in control…your mom helped me to realize that. It took me 8 years to work through it, but I did.”

He looked back over at her, hoping his words were getting through. “You don’t have to surrender to these thoughts or give up and drown them in some unhealthy way.”

Dawn looked down at her rounded belly and thick thighs. She knew what he meant.

“Dawn, you’ve struggled with this on and off for your entire life; what you are feeling is unhappiness with what you are doing and where you are. But reality isn’t the problem, it’s how you are approaching it… Do you understand?”

She took a deep breath. She still needed to find a way to stop them, and she was at a loss.

He slowly stood up and took her empty plate from her, then wandered back to the kitchen, rinsing off the plates. He was always fastidious about cleanliness; something she pushed aside, especially in times where she was overwhelmed. “Busy hands make for a tidy mind. Bear that in mind.” The clean plates clinked against each other as he set them back in the cabinets.

“Let’s go sit on the front porch for a bit. Don’t worry, they won’t find you here.” He opened the door and screen door. It squealed as it closed and latched back behind him.

She smiled to herself. Oh, how she missed hearing that sound. She stood up and joined him on the porch. As she looked around into the dark, little sparks of light floated in the distance. “I love how the lightning bugs are everywhere,” she reminisced. “Reminds me of Tennessee.” She sat down in the chair next to him and looked out across the valley in front of them. The stars started shining in the distance. “Thanks for bringing me here to think.”

They sat for a long time, not talking, just enjoying being in the same place for the time they could share. He reached over and took his daughter’s hand. “I’m not going to be there this time to push you and bring you back to reality. But, you know you can’t stay here either, okay?”

She sighed. It was so peaceful here. The voices stayed away and she missed him so much. But he was right. “I know. I can’t dwell like I did when I was in that dark place….the longer I stay, the harder it will be to go. I’ll head out at sunrise.”

They stood up and headed in to call it a night. He embraced his daughter in a tight hug before heading off to bed. She curled back up on the sofa and drifted off to sleep.

Bulging red eyes stare at her. Voices continue shouting from beyond the pane, hurling insults meant to damage. She pulls at her skin, hugging her legs to her, sitting on the cold tile floor. She closes her eyes, tired from the endless noise, but it doesn’t stop.

An arm reaches through the pane and pulls her through. She’s surrounded by the horrid faces and the angry voices. They tear away at her as she fights through them. The fight is arduous. Each voice screams louder. Their arms pull at her and push her. One trips her and starts to drag her through mud. She pulls out her sword, her only means of protection. She never learned how to use it, but it is as sharp as any fine instrument should be.

She starts hacking away at the grabbing hands of these beings, finds her footing, and runs through the fog ahead of her. She knows she’s being chased, so she keeps moving. She finds herself running along a wooded path, deep inside a forest. She trips over a vine and begins to fall down a ravine, losing consciousness.

When she regains her senses, she realizes she’s not home anymore, nor in the forest. She’s in a small cabin in the woods. She’s covered with a handmade quilt and her head is resting on a soft down pillow on a sofa in front of a fireplace with a crackling fire. She breathes in the calm for a moment; this feels like a good dream. Then she hears a creak from the pine floor.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. I was just checking on you,” the voice behind her greets her. An older man, probably in his late 80s, steps into the light enough for her to see. His kind smile and dark eyes warm up the room. His salt and peppered hair is short. “You like hot tea now, right?” He hands her a tea as she sits up and then he pulls over a rocking chair to take a seat by the fire.

She looks at him puzzled.

“You used to like diet Coke, then Sprite, and iced tea pretty much anytime. I should know, you also used to drink water directly from the bottle we kept in the fridge like me. Man, your mom really didn’t like that!”

She smiles. Although his face looks different, she recognizes him. It was comforting. She sips her tea and looks around. She sees familiar items around the room, the quilt on her was sewn by her grandmother, a picture of her hangs on the wall from high school graduation. The pillow was even her down pillow from her childhood bedroom.

She looks at him questioningly and asks, “Is this a dream?”

He rubs his hands on his legs then folds his hands together. “No, not exactly. You hide here when things get to you too much. It looks different at different times. We’ve been at the beach most of the time. Once, it was so dark though, we couldn’t even see where we were. Oh, that was a hard one.” He looked around. “I like being here, however. But honestly, you shouldn’t stay here too long.”

She looked down into her cup of tea. “I know. I just don’t know what to do. They’re back.” A tear welled up in her eye and rolled down her cheek.

He reached over and patted her leg. “I know. I found you as they were coming and brought you here. Rest up, you will need your strength to get through this, but you don’t need to leave right away.” With that, he stood up. “I’ll make you something to eat. Hamburgers?”

She smiled and nodded yes.