Enchanted Tune

[Allison]

**(start of flashback/dream)**

Walking home after school, in my cute uniform as I raised my hand when crossing the pedestrian, it was such a fine day. My friends were laughing as they discussed the food that might be waiting for them back home.

"I'm gonna bet it's pork cutlet for today," the girl with tilted bangs and hands full of bandage said.

"I want soba," another boy hopefully says as he lifts his head towards the peaceful sky. "I wish it was soba," he gently smiled at the bandaged girl. "How about you Allison?" he turned to ask me.

"Probably omelet," I blurted after I brainstormed.

Just a few more steps and I was waving goodbye to both of them in front of my house. "See you tomorrow," I shouted as they turned their back and raced the few more blocks together.

I placed both my tiny hands to pull the doorknob. Then I found myself trying multiple times just to disappoint myself and finally gave up and sat beside it on the tiles. The howling wind was warm but not hot, while the sun shone brightly and the sky showed no sign of pouring. I sat there, staring at the ceiling, counting the cars that had passed, then opening my bag to make paper planes or simply drawing the pages with crayons.

The time kept ticking as I played around the front yard, running around with my paper planes and some butterflies. Until I heard a certain humming. A hum that stuck a string in my ears and heart. Everything in my hand, dropped as I slowly approached the sound. I could tell the source was already in front of me, outside the concrete fence by our house. My eyes couldn't perceive anything that could explain why the voice was in front of our mailbox.

But my ears could tell that someone familiar was there, singing something that I was vaguely familiar with. And no matter how hard I stared and squinted my eyes, nothing.

"Alli," I hurriedly turned around to my mother's long and exhausted call. "I'm really sorry, we had so much to do today," she reached both her hands as she ran my way while explaining. "Sorry darling," she managed to hug me when she kneeled to match my height.

"Welcome home," I patted her back.

~~

After we got inside, she made my request as an apology. And at the dinner table, the sound of the news and the pouring of the water in the bathtub was all we could hear. She was on her laptop doing work as we ate together.

Munching the food, I looked outside the opened window. It was already dark and chilly when I heard the humming again. But it was too distant as if the sound was coming from a mountain that I could only hear bits and parts of it.

But it was already stuck to my head and I started humming along it as I ate. A little smile crept to my lips as I put another mouthful. My hum started to increase in volume as my eyes gradually closed, feeling the soft melody while I enjoyed every second of it. By the end of the unexpected performance, I slowly opened my eyes to be greeted by the tearful and shocked face of my mother.

"Where did you learn that?" her eyes leaked, and she appeared nostalgically reminiscing something while smiling uncontrollably.

"Earlier in front of our house," I say smiling as I saw her reaction.

But after a few seconds, she shockingly stood up then stared at the door. Curiously, I also followed her gaze, and in another second, she was already running towards it. 

I jumped down in my seat and slowly followed her. She frantically looks around our front and back yard while I only stand beside the door. After that, she came back from the back and ran towards the gate, looking left then right.

She was too far away and it was already dark as she fell on her knees and wept, holding and clenching the cloth that was directly around her aching heart.

"Dear, where are you," were the only words I could read that came out of her lips.

Then, I fell down on my back as I started to see things. Things? Were those things?

Black clouds of dust started to form a shape as I stared at it longer. Eyes vary from numerous to none, and so are the legs, arms, and heads. I looked around in a panic to avoid the ones that were near my mother. But it was no use, there were countless of those beings swarming our yard, the road, and even inside our house.

Then there it was again, the humming. It started sounding like it was far away until it got closer, and closer, I could hear it in front of me, then echoing in my ears. "Mom," I whispered, shutting my ears with my hands. "Mom!" I shouted. 

"Mom?" ...

"Mom!" again.

"Mom!!" and again.

**(after the dream)**

I awoke sitting on my bed, sweating like crazy as I desperately caught my breath. Swaying pieces of my hair away from my face to the side of my ear, I stare at the open window. My curtain was dancing with the howl of the wind as the moonlight shone brightly in my room.

My eyes caught the time on my alarm clock that was displayed on my table. It was telling me that I woke up at exactly 3 AM.

I burrowed my face in my hands as I tried to calm down and get as many deep breaths as I could take. 

I sighed as my mind finally found peace.

Now, I'm trying my hardest to remember what I dreamt about. Many people forget what the context was about even if it was just a few minutes after waking up. It made me so sweaty and out of breath, what did I see?

It was no use, I lay my body, head on the pillow and a blanket for my body. I laid straight staring at my ceiling, then rolled over to the right where my study table was. It was neat and tidy with a couple of sticky notes stuck on my board. My left side felt cold so I rolled there. I could see some of my posters hanging on the wall, posters of my favorite characters, some famous people, and drawings when I was little.

It took me a few minutes staring everywhere until I found myself lying straight in bed once again, staring at the lights above me, unable to lose consciousness even if I closed my eyes.

"Oh? You're here?" a faint and familiar voice echoes in my head as all I see is pure darkness, my closed eyes twitching as it's trying to create an image that my mind wanted to show me but to no avail. "Can't sleep, can you?" a gentle but cheerful giggle managed to put my mind at ease. "Here, let me sing a song for you," the man then started humming a song that I felt like I hadn't heard in a while. I gave up trying to figure out what he looked like and enjoyed the rhythm as I felt a warm hand patting my head, stroking my hair lovingly.