3

a visit from grandma

“Lift the veil, granddaughter.” Whispered her grandmother’s voice.

“Nana?” Leigh whispered from her sleep.

“Come, Leigh, you must follow me…I have something to show you and there isn’t much time.”

Leigh lifted her head off of her pillow. It was another dream. Her grandmother was just an orb of light, pulsing like a heart beat.

“Come, Leigh, we must make haste!”

Leigh swung her feet off the bed and when they touched the floor of her bedroom the scenery around them was pulled away as if it were a fabric façade. Revealed was an ancient forest surrounding her from behind and on either side of her. It looked very similar to the forest around her grandmother’s cabin. In front of her was a long rope bridge that looked as old as the woods. It disappeared into blackness about midway.

“Nana,” Leigh whispered. “where are we?”

Hezbah hovered next to her granddaughter, “This is the bridge that our family has guarded for generations. Beyond it, is the land of Nod.”

“I don’t understand, Nana.”

“You will, in time. But you and the rest of the family must come soon. There are things that are making their way across that shouldn’t be. My essence is fading here and the ethereal tether can no longer hold me here.”

“What can we do? I don’t understand….what’s making its way across the bridge?”

The bushes around them shook and the trees not far back from them began to snap and creak.

“Oh dear!” Hezbah said, her orb fading, “I fear we may be too late!”

There was growling and screeching coming from somewhere in the depthless darkness behind them. Ahead of them, the ropes of the bridge began to shake as if there were an army coming across it from the other side.

“Nana!!” Leigh was alarmed, “Nana, what is that??”

A tree nearby fell into the clearing they were standing in. Hissing followed and the ground shook with pressure.

“You better wake up, Leigh!” Hezbah sounded panicked, “I’m so sorry…I cannot help you more!”

The wind picked up and more trees began to fall. The growling got louder and closer. She could make out several sets of eyes in the shadows.

“Nana!!!”

“Wake up, dear!” her orb was transparent now and blinking faintly, “Remember…..you…must…come soon before they find out……!”

Her voice was drowned out by the incoming noise. The last thing she heard was her grandmother yelling the number “19”.

And then, she awoke with her father sitting on her bed looking concerned.

“Leigh?” Warren padded her forehead with a wet washcloth.

“Dad?” she looked around her taking in reality. Her mother was sitting on Coral’s bed who was sitting up looking scared.

“Are you okay, honey?” Kathryn asked her, “You woke us all up screaming.”

“I dreamt about Nana.” She closes her eyes to remember those fading visions in her mind’s eye, “she said we needed to….oh, I can’t really remember it now!”

“It’s okay,” her dad said softly. “just try to get back to sleep, okay? It was just a dream.”

She laid her head back down and then her eyes flashed open and she sat up.

“No, dad! We need to go to Nana’s cabin as soon as possible! She wants us to go…there’s something dangerous happening! She said…..she said…..”

She began to weep because she could no longer remember the dream. She buried her face in Warren’s chest.

“Can we just go, dad, please?” she said all muffled.

Warren looked at Kathryn and then at the picture of his mother on Leigh and Coral’s nightstand.

“Mom and I will talk about it, okay?” he said to her gently laying her back onto her pillow. “Try to get some rest and we’ll talk over breakfast.”

Kathryn and Warren kissed them both good night after giving their blankets a good tucking. Coral’s eyelids got heavy and she gripped her teddy bear and began sucking her thumb. Leigh let out long yawn, turned to her side, and found sleep again.

“I’m going to have to take some time off of work, I think.” He said to Kathryn as he shut the kid’s door.

“We’re going then?” Kathryn asked putting her arm around his shoulders.

“I don’t think I have a choice now.” He grinned into his wife’s eyes.

 

Reviews

[Quinn Blackburn]

Loving this fairytale :o)

[Michael of Gilead]

Love where you're taking this...i'm on board!

[Jonathan De Elvira]

owh...
now i get it...
so Nana had inherited the power in her blood while she's living...
umm3...
now I have to wait a lil bit longer...

[Ruth]

This chapter has tension!
I love it, I love a story from you - it adds a different flavour lol Great work as always love!
xx

[No use.]

reminds me of my childhood!! hehe

[.]

another intriguing chapter..this is a really exciting story..and I love it :)

[Robin]

tremendous build in tension with your dream sequence ~ well done