Someone screamed; she woke with a gasp, pushing herself up

Someone screamed; she woke with a gasp, pushing herself up. The soul-searing pain in the echo hurt her ears. Her arms were shaking so badly that she collapsed back down, leaning on one elbow.

A lump in her throat made it hard to breathe, and it was then that she tasted the salt of her tears and felt the chill of a cold sweat.

For a second, she was blind, but soon enough the light coming from the huge windows seemed to penetrate the darkness. She was in her bedroom, in her house, right where she belonged.

Remembering what she had dreamt about, she let her weight slip off her elbow and she melted back into the mattress and covers, sobs choking her, whimpering noises escaping.

“Mama?”

She heard Lucia’s little feet pad quickly across the hardwood floor, then she felt the bed on the left side go down some as her young daughter climbed up the mound of covers.

“Mama? …You screamed,” she whispered, the chocked sound evidence that she was close to tears.

“Oh, baby,” Astra pushed herself up and wiped her tears away with her forearm. She pulled one of the covers under her arms to cover the naked front of her, then drew Lucia into her lap. “Don’t cry, sweetheart. I’m okay now. Mama’s okay.”

“But—but you screamed again, Mama. Again,” Lucia emphasized, her little voice pitching higher as her tears came. She buried her face in the cover over Astra’s breasts, snuggling as close to her mother as she could get.

Astra couldn’t stop one of those tearful hiccups, but she smoothed Lucia’s hair down and hugged her closer.

“Why, Mama?” Lucia asked, lifting her head to stare into the darkness that surrounded them, trying to see her mother’s face. “Why do you scream and cry at nights? Are you thinking of Daddy, too?”

Astra bit her tongue. “Yeah, sweetheart… I’m thinking about Daddy.”

Copyrighted © 2007 Arden Ashart