by M.W. Muse
Chapter Three
Legacy stood at the edge of a forest on a dirt road. This was no place she had ever seen before, just random woods. While looking into the dense forest, she turned in the opposite direction to stare at a field. The sky was black over the field, and a tornado formed overhead. She watched the tornado as it edged toward her. In the forest, she heard voices screaming for her to take cover. She started to walk into the woods, but stopped when a black snake slithered out from the edge. She had an uneasy feeling watching the snake come toward her. She realized she would rather take her chances with the tornado than go into the woods. It somehow felt safer in the open. When she didn’t come into the woods, the voices stopped screaming and started speaking in a soothing tone, trying to lure her into the darkness. The snake continued to watch her hesitation, and when she didn’t walk into the forest, it moved very quickly toward her. She turned and started running down the dirt road, turning onto another dirt road, and then another, looking back frequently to watch the snake gaining on her. The tornado changed course and was headed right for her too. On the last dirt road stood a tiny house. The house was so small it was really the size of a small closet. She ran for it, closing the door behind her, not wanting the snake or the tornado to find her. Even though the house was small and in the direct path of the tornado, she felt completely safe.
Once inside, she was shocked to see that she wasn’t alone. Standing in the corner next to her was a little girl with long, blond curly hair and blue eyes. She stared at her in horror. Suddenly, she felt she needed to protect this girl as if she were her child. She’d never had a mothering instinct before, but this instinct felt natural, strong. As if she had no other choice but to protect this girl; her own life meant nothing. The girl stepped over to her with fear in her eyes and smiled, but the fearful expression stayed. It was mocking.
She could hear the tornado right outside. It was about to hit them. The girl stepped one step closer. Legacy felt an uneasy tremble slide down her spine as she stared at her. The girl lifted her index finger and touched her face in the middle of her eyebrows.
“See,” she whispered, dragging out the word.
As she released her finger, Legacy fell back in slow motion. A peaceful feeling covered her entire body as she slowly fell to the floor. She couldn’t help herself; she was smiling. In the instant that the girl touched her forehead, she knew the answers to everything. Everything made sense. She was at peace with herself.
As she was about it hit the floor of the tiny shelter in her dream, her eyes opened.
Legacy had been dreaming.
She lay in bed looking at the ceiling fan, not wanting to move. A feeling of peace still covered her. She couldn’t explain it. It had definitely been a dream, but for some reason, she felt better having experienced it. She stayed there, enjoying the afterglow of her dream for several minutes until she begin to wonder why she’d dreamed it in the first place. She thought back over the last couple of days, feeling as if maybe her brain was just trying to make sense of something that couldn’t be explained. That or the dream was just a coincidence.
“Nothing is ever a coincidence,” a soft, feminine voice whispered through the air.
Legacy shot up and looked around. No one was there. Her window wasn’t open. No air was coming from the vents. And she surely wasn’t still dreaming. What was happening? She cautiously eased back down, clutching the covers to her.
Maybe Lissa was being honest about her mother being alive. The story had been that her parents died in a car accident after they’d gone out to dinner in the city to celebrate a job promotion with some friends. It had been storming that night, a horrible electrical storm. Lightning had flashed across the sky all night. It had rained so much that the storm flooded the roads. When her parents had turned onto a street that was under water, it was too dark to notice until it was too late. Lissa had been babysitting her when it happened.
Legacy had been too young to remember her parents. The things she knew about them included generic details like her mom’s wavy blonde hair and her dad’s frizzy black hair. Legacy ended up with frizzy dark blonde hair, inheriting traits from both. She also knew her parents were not the business type. Her mom was an artist, dad a musician.
But it wouldn’t be hard to fake their deaths. They had been self-employed, so there would’ve been less people to answer to when they had allegedly died. If it wasn’t for that conversation with Lissa, Legacy wouldn’t even be questioning it now.
And what about the other stuff? The goddess story? Even if Legacy were to believe any of that and that her life really was at stake, then she could die by her next birthday. Heck, on her next birthday for all she knew. Dead at eighteen. It hardly seemed fair. Whether she actually died then or not, apparently, it was something she needed to consider, her life ending before she had time to fall in love, go to college, get married, have children. What would she do differently if she knew she only had one more year left to live? She didn’t know the answer to that. Not at first. But as she lay there, she realized she would live her life to the fullest.
And then she had her answer. She wasn’t going to let Lissa’s news about her mother get her down. She didn’t want to worry about it anymore. She wanted to live each day like it was her last and enjoy whatever life handed her. And what life was handing her right now was Adin.
Who she had a date with tonight. Yea!
Legacy jumped out of bed and threw on some clothes. She needed to be happy about her date, and she was ready to shout it from the rooftops. She was tired of Lissa’s story overshadowing what was happening with Adin. She grabbed her keys and bolted out the door. This was the kind of news she had to tell Calli in person.
Calli was already at the door since Legacy called her just before she pulled in.
“What’s up? Why didn’t you tell me on the phone? You know I hate waiting on gossip,” she said with a huge smile on her face.
“You’ll never guess who called me last night.”
“Adin?”
“Okay, so you guessed!” She laughed, jumped up while clapping her hands, and squealed in delight.
Calli grabbed her arm, and they ran up the grand staircase to her bedroom.
They both sat on her bed and stared at each other with huge grins on their faces. Legacy took a deep breath, calming the excitement she was now able to really feel for the first time.
“So,” Calli started with a smirk on her face, “what did he say?”
“He asked me out!”
“No way! How did he ask you? What did you say?”
“He was a little nervous, I think, because he struggled with the question. He asked me if I’d like to go out to eat tonight!”
“Oh, Legacy, this is wonderful! I told you he liked you more than just a friend. I told you! After all these years of never asking a girl out from school, you’re the one he asks out!”
“I know. I’m really excited. He even asked if I wanted to go to a botanical garden after he gets back from vacation!”
“Shut up!”
“I know, right? I was so shocked I had goose bumps. He and his family are leaving for the beach Monday, so we’re doing date number two on Saturday.”
Calli squealed again. “What are you going to wear tonight?”
“Um, I haven’t really thought about it. I may need your help with that,” she said, smiling angelically at her.
“Of course,” she said, winking at her. “Let me show you some ideas.”
They got off her bed and walked over to her closet, which was really a dressing room. All her clothing was hidden in built-in drawers and behind cabinet doors along every wall. There was a large island in the middle of the room with drawers that held her accessories and a built-in vanity at the opposite wall set up like a makeup station. This would be considered a dream closet for a master suite, but she knew the real master suite in this house contained a closet that put this one to shame. Not that Calli was complaining.
Cal
li pulled out sundresses, nice dresses, and pants outfits. She explained the differences between the dresses and other ensembles—why one would be better over the other in particular scenarios. Luckily, they were the same size, so she knew she could rely on her to provide the best possible outfit for the evening.
“You know, if he takes you someplace really nice, you could wear your new red dress and shoes that you got for your birthday.”
“Yeah, I already thought about that. When I got them, I tried to think about the perfect occasion to wear them. I would love for that to be a date with Adin.”
“You never know,” she said, smiling.
“Well, I don’t think he’ll take me somewhere that nice for a first date. He was pretty nervous, so I figure he’ll start out taking me somewhere casual.”
“Start out?” Calli asked with an even bigger smile. “Do you think this is the beginning of a relationship?”
Legacy tried to reign herself in. Even though she loved the idea of being involved with Adin and she was trying to embrace her new lease on life, she didn’t want to get her hopes up too much. She would live each day to the fullest, not make more out of them than what they actually were.
“I’m not sure, Calli. Let’s just see how tonight goes.”
“I can do that,” she said as they walked back out of her closet.
That makes one of us.