Missing Dreamer

Frankie had a nightmare then.

At first, she was in a green field, devoid of fear, devoid of death… and even though she was alone there, she was at peace.

Then she realized her hands were full of crimson sand.

She tried to cup them, but the amount of sand only grew. Soon it escaped through the cracks between her fingers, spilling over the tops of her rapidly-shrinking palms.

Soon enough, she found herself in a desert. As cold as it was hot, the sky just as red as the ground. It was like the bottom of a coarse ocean of blood.

But the scariest part came when she woke up from the dream, and Katie wasn’t in her bed anymore.

At first, she seized hope. She’s better now! She left her room! She pretended.

Then she left her room to see Saint and her parents eating breakfast, her big sister nowhere in sight.

“G-guys…”

Sliding down to her knees, Frankie started hyperventilating. The second she let her guard down, it had all fallen apart.

“Frankie? Angel, what’s wrong?” Her mother ran over to her.

“W-where’s… but where’s Katie…?”

Suzy looked over at her husband, realizing why it was the door had been left unlocked this morning.

She hugged Frankie tight.

“Oh… oh baby. Oh god.”

“M-mom… where is she…?”

They were both afraid. Neither one knew who was supposed to be getting comforted by the exchange. Soon they were both crying.

Saint began to pick up on the situation. Hugo opened the door and looked outside, as if that would do anything.

He slammed the door shut.

“Damnit…! And I thought- at least I could spend the rest of our time in peace…”

Frankie’s swollen eyes went haywire. Something about those crying words made her more sad than anything.

She immediately stood to her feet, wiping her tears. Suzy watched her face of despair turn to one of enraged courage.

“Honey…?”

She ran over to her father, and hugged him too.

“D-Don’t cry, dad. I’m gonna find her. I’m gonna go out and find her right now.”

For a second, he wondered who it was he was even hugging. But once the disbelief left his body, he seized hers even tighter.

“That’s my girl.”