In The Light of Yesterday

A Chapter by Emunah June.

"Don't let me burn!!" I screamed as I sat up in bed. The morning light poured into my room as I felt sweat drip down my face. I clung onto my body, making sure I was really....me. Sure enough, my skin was light, my hair was brown, and I was myself again. I breathed out a sigh of relief. I looked out the window to see a bird on my windowpane. "Was that your sign Ed? Shamballa?" I asked, but the bird flew away.

"Koda? Are you okay? I heard you screaming."

I looked in the doorway to see a half asleep Kirrah standing there. "Oh? Me? Yeah..." I said, looking down at my palms. "Did you have a nightmare?" Kirrah asked, sitting next to me on my bed. "Yeah...it was really bad...." I said, trying to hold back tears. Kirrah placed her hand on my shoulder. "Everything's alright. You're okay now," she said. I smiled, and then I felt my stomach turn.

Too much fright.

I covered my mouth and pushed Kirrah off me. "Is your Tailor's Child acting up?" Kirrah asked. I nodded as I raced to the bathroom. I knelt over the toilet bowl and began to vomit just as Al walked into the bathroom. "Oh! Koda, I'm sorry!" he said, waving his hands in the air. I wiped my mouth with a towel and stood up. As I flushed the toilet, I looked up at Al. "Shamballa," I said sleepily as I walked out of the room. Al was obviously confused, but his bladder won this one as he slammed the door shut.

Silently, as if my feet were padded like a cat's, I walked into the kitchen and began to steam some rice.

"Ugh....the taste of vomit...how lovely," I said as I waved my hands in the air. To make things better, I took a spring of mint from Grandma's spice jar and began to chew on it. The taste of mint soon filled my mouth, and I exhaled a sigh of content. Sleepily, I seemed to float to the dining room table and sat down.

"Shamballa?"

I looked up to see Al looking at me confused, already dressed for the day (black with his red coat). "That's what someone had said in my dream. Shamballa...." I explained. "They had said Shamballa to me....it sounds like the name of a town. Have any idea of where it could be?" I asked Al, who sat right next to me. He seemed to comtemplate this for a brief moment before he shook his head. "No, I haven't. Sorry," he said. I let my head fall onto the table. The mint was now tasting like sand, so I was about to spit it out. "When do we go back to Central? I need to talk to the Colonel," he asked a moment later. I spit out my mint inside the trashcan right next to the table as Al looked at me with his puppydog eyes.

"Um...we leave in about 2 hours....it is 6:00 right?" I asked. Al nodded, and I held my head in my hand. "I'm so tired....that nightmare kept me up...." I said as a yawn followed. Al sighed, then gasped. "Um, Koda...is rice supposed to do that?" Al asked as he pointed to the kitchen. I looked over to see steam rising high to the ceiling, and rice bubbling and spilling onto the floor. "Ahh!" I screamed, suddenly wide awake.

"No! No it's not!!" I cried as I dashed to the kitchen.

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