Chapter 1: Mud War II

It's all dark. I can't see where I am, I want to move but I'm afraid to. Taking a deep breath, I gather my courage and now I'm walking on a smooth and shiny surface, more like a glass, it's a bit slippery and I'm afraid if it would crack any second taking me inside it to Almighty knows where.

I catch a glimpse of bright light from afar and I extend my hand to that direction, trying to catch it, hold it, wanting to know what it is, where this light leads and suddenly my legs started to move towards it on their own accord. Slowly the light's getting brighter and brighter, making the dark abash while bringing me the satisfaction of my direction.

I feel something cold hit my feet, looking down I found my feet in water, crystal clear water. The urge to enjoy the feeling of this water was strong, I wanted to swim in it and release all the tension I had.

Not caring about anything more I move ahead and feel the water level rise with my pace. I start swimming, the water refreshed my nerves to the core. I move my hands in water, causing ripples. I hold a small amount of water in my hand, awed at the clarity of it.

Some bubbles on the surface of the water caught my attention, I try popping them but they don't pop, I again try to pop still they won't but slip away from my touch. I try hard to grasp them but they would squeeze under my fist but won't pop. I look behind me and flinch at the view. I was in the middle of the water there was no end to both my sides. I start panicking and swim back but again I found myself no way near to the end, fear gripped me and I noticed that there was no surface beneath my feet now.

I hold my breath and dip my head down under the water to see the surface but I find no limit, it was dark, very dark below. I resurfaced and shout for help but all I hear is my own voice echoing back to my ears. The atmosphere is turning gloomy and red, it's no way near to that bliss which I felt a minute ago. Dark clouds hovering over the sky, making me more frighten every passing second.

Suddenly a force gripped my waist and now I'm being dragged under the water, muffled sound with bubbles coming out of my mouth. I try hard to resurface by moving my hands and legs incoherently but that does no good, I'm drowning deeper and deeper, slowly my vision is blurring, I'm losing my strength, my lungs are being filled with water, I can see my own hands turning pale. It's getting dark again. I can't breathe... I can't... Brea-

I jerk up from my bed, my eyes wide open, clenching the sheets of my bed, I'm panting heavily like if there's no air on earth. I take in my surroundings and a cool feeling of relief gushes through me.

'What in the world... It was only a dream.'

'Thank you almighty!'

I'm in my room, on my bed, next to my bed is my sister sleeping soundly on her bed, slight sunlight is seeping through the window and everything else's normal.

I get up from my bed and walk towards the window of my room. I see two children, a boy and a girl around the age of twelve, playing together. I smile remembering my memory as a child. I look down at my hands, thinking of him, remembering him, when I first saw him, when we first played and it all feels nostalgic. I hear some happy voices nudging me at the back of my mind

"Hey look at my snowman!"

.

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"Hey! Look!"

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.

.

"Are you listening to me?" I ask coming behind him, leaning down, I stare at what he is trying to make with the snow on the ground. He is busy molding snow, to give it some shape but failing drastically. He is so immersed that his tongue slips out to the side of his mouth.

"Brat?" He still doesn't respond, hearing this word would have been quite a chaos. I'm glad he didn't hear me.

I take this as my chance and fill my hands with snow on the ground. Leaning close to his ear, I whistle air in it, he trembles and jerks back, taking my chance, I smear the snow on his face, making him snow white for real.

I stand up and move in front of him pointing my index finger to his face, I laugh hard. He blinks his eyes at me, reins of snow sticking to his lashes, making him look innocent as ever.

"Snow white would be ashamed of herself, seeing you." Tears pouring out from the side of my eyes.

'Oh, he looks so funny!'

He shakes his head like a puppy dog, making the snowfall from his face. Grabbing snow in both his hands, he looks up at me with an evil grin spread across his face.

'Uh-oh. This is bad.'

I twist around and move my legs to get away from him as fast as I can. My legs digging in the snow, making my pace slow. He is still behind me but his long legs win against mine.

He grabs the edge of my fluttering scarf which is around my neck, keeping me warm. I halt when he grabs it, of course, I didn't want to wring my neck which he did purposely to stop me on my track.

He pulls the scarf towards himself which makes me move in the same direction. The scarf tightens around my neck and I feel him very close to me.

He leans close to my ear and whispers "So you want to snow fight?" I stay quiet and yet afraid of his reaction. He stretches the collar of my shirt from the back and I squeal as the cold snow contacts with my back. I turn back to him, not believing at his action just now.

"This is for calling me brat!" my mouth agape and he smirks at me.

"You heard me saying that..." I clench my jaw and run towards him. He was too late to take his steps and I jump on him, making us both fall on the snowy ground.

He tickles me on my stomach, knowing my weak point, I laugh and lose my grip on him. He takes this chance and rolls over me, making me lay underneath him. I look into his blue eyes which are full of mischief and he stares back at me.

No words for a split second which felt like an hour, just us and the comfortable silence.

He picks up the snow from the sides of my face and brings both of his snow filled hands above my face, releasing his fist he showers snow over me and my head buries under snow. He gets off of me and laughs as hard as I did.

I spit out the snow that went into my mouth and use my index finger to remove the snow from my eyelids. I sit up and shake my head to get rid of excess of snow.

"You know I would never get bored of our fights," he says, looking in my eyes, his eyes filled with promises, Promises about many unspoken things.

Knock, knock.

I turn my head towards the door of my room and see my mom peeking through the door. I smile at her "Good morning mama."

"Good morning to you too, my child." she smiles back at me. Moving towards me she embraces me in a hug and I hug her back.

Mother is truly a blessing, it feels so good being hugged by her, all my worries wash away just by a simple gesture of her smile.

"Guess what?" mom asks.

"What?" I ask curiously. She brings up an envelope from behind her and waves it in front of me excitedly and suddenly it dawned all upon me. "No way! Really?!" I squeal with excitement.

"Yes! You're going to the city now, out of this small town, baby!" she pauses "I'm going to miss you." she says, putting her hand over my cheek. I smile knowing how weird is it that sometimes what makes us happy at the same time it makes us sad. We, humans, have a bunch of wrecked emotions, a minute ago we were so excited and now we are embracing each other with sadness.

"Mama, you know it's for the good. I will help you guys and-" I pause for a moment "-and maybe find him." Mom strokes my hair, lovingly and kisses my forehead.

"I know baby but it's not easy for a mother to let go her child so far, all alone. And try not to get yourself overworked for us and... for him too." I smile sadly to myself, it's like everyone is hesitant to talk about him, glad it's not only me. I nod weakly at my mom's words.

"At least I won't be alone, aunt Anna would be there after all she agreed to take me in."

"Yes, I'm thankful to her. It's all because of her." Mom suddenly perks up "enough of this! Come on out we have lots of work to do after we eat something."

Oh! These mood swings, very weird.

I smile to myself while my mom walks out of the room, closing the door behind her. I look outside the window again, the children are still playing, the girl took some mud into her hands and drops it over the boy's lap, the boy looks at her, trying to facade anger but all I see is mischief in his eyes and I can bet a moment later will be the start of mud war II.

I take a deep breath and run my fingers through my tangled hair.

What if my dream isn't just a dream? What if it's some kind of indication? I question myself.

If I'm going to find him, I may be prepared for all the possibilities and consequences because this was the moment I was waiting for. If only a dream could scare me then it's no good for me to continue. I will keep trying and do what I waited for so long and that is finding you brat.

Yes, I'm coming to get you back. I am getting you back to me and to your family.