Bedtime

prologue of the Dreamcatcher series.

 

Prologue

 A voice drifted down the short white-painted halls, painting a story of damsels in distress and fair knights, dragons and demons, kings and queens. The musical voice emitted from a room on the right, where two small boys stared up in awe from the rug. The person of their focus was a young teenage girl, her ginger hair slipping from behind her elf-like ears as she leaned forward. "Then, King Arthur yanked the sword of Excalibur from the stone in the middle of the lake, and water spewed up in funnels, carrying him back to his castle so he could defeat the mighty dragon. End of story," she finished with a smirk.

  One of the boys, who appeared to be the oldest, asked "Can you tell another story, Dreyma?"

The girl, who seemed to be Dreyma, chuckled and shook her head. "Another story will come tomorrow." she stated. One story each night, you know that Truna!"

She stood up with a rustle of blanket sheets, and ruffled Trua's hair. "Alright, off to bed!" she chirped.

the boys tumbled eagerly beneath the jungle printed sheets. "Can you give us dream dust?" the younger boy, Samuo, said.

"Of course," stated Dreyma in a calm manner.

She buried her hand in her pocket and came up with a soft dust that sparkled like the stars in a inky black sky. Behind her back with her empty hand, she traced something in the air, murmured something quietly, and cast the dust into the air. Even the little Scottish terrier, who had been asleep for most of the storytelling, cracked open a chocolate brown eye to lazily observe the beautiful particles dancing amongst the light shining from above. Dreyma's grey eyes danced eagerly as the dust settled. there was silence for a moment, until  Samuo sleepily spoke up. "Where does dream dust come from?"

Dreyma settled on his bed, fingering a curl of his brown hair. She paused for a minute, as if nervous to share her secrets. "Dream dust comes from the sandman," she was cut off.

"The sandman is a fake!" Samuo erupted.

Dreyma's tone turned serious, with a hint of warning, her grey eyes flashing with an unrecognizable emotion. "If you don't believe in the sandman, then he can't help you. If he can't help you, you'll have nightmares."

       "Oh..." Samuo trailed off. "I didn't know."

"Does he have anyone to help him? like Santa has his elves?" Trua, who had been quiet for most of the conversation, quietly piped up.

"Yes," Dreyma remarked, switching beds and bouncing next to her older sibling.

"He has the dreamcatchers, who he entrusts with his dream sand and they take care of anyone nearby."

   She brushed ginger hair from Trua's freckled forehead, tugging up the covers over his chest. He was fast asleep. "And it's my job to take care of you." she murmured.

Dreyma clicked the lights off, the dream dust that had settled to the floor glittering in the dark as she closed the door.

Author's Note

is it detailed enough? Better vocab? did the sandman make it seem too childish?

Reviews

[Brilliant Balances]

I like this descriptive chapter which allows you a vision of the scene and the foreshadowing that made me curious to read on and answer the questions ... how did she get the dream dust from the sandman? Why is it her job to take care of her siblings? When referring to the eldest boy you say at the end he is her oldest sibling which makes the reader think he is older than the teenage girl Dreyma instead of older than Samua. At first you refer to what I assume is the middle sibling as one of the boys who appears to be the oldest, then as Truna, then as Trua the rest of the chapter. The reader can't see them so they should probably be told if he is the oldest or middle of the three characters. Nice writing skills in general. I love it. And the "sparkled like stars in the inky black sky" part as only one example of many...Nice adjectives!!! Your words paint a beautiful picture in the mind's eye! :-)