| Fiction |
Tomorrow’s Light
Written by Drew Clements
Conceptualized by Drew Clements and Bryan Hester
(Part Two - II)
Tomorrow threw the door
open to her bathroom, jumped in, quickly closed it behind
her, and stepped uneasily up to the mirror.
“It’s probably not a good idea to mention my visions of the
dragon to mom,” Tomorrow mumbled. The whole thing might be a
bit unsettling and that, for sure, was the last thing she
wanted her mother to deal with.
It’s not like her mother was dealing with a lot emotionally,
it’s just that Tomorrow had always shied away from doing
anything that might upset her mother. She had always wanted
to be the good kid, unlike the crazies that you see on the
evening news; you know the kind, the ones that shoot people
or do drugs or whatever.
She put those thoughts out of her mind and focused on her
young, unblemished face in the mirror. There was a little
bit of beauty in her-not that she was vain, but she did have
to admit to herself sometimes that she wasn’t ugly!
The thought made her chuckle, “I’m not ugly!”
Tomorrow was satisfied that she didn’t look any different
than before, although seeing dragons in person didn’t make
one’s appearance change, she thought, it was just nice to
know that she was normal. Her high cheek-bones were still
there; the soft skin; the almost cat-like blue eyes; the
thin pink lips; all were still there.
Just as she was beginning to turn away from the reflection,
her vision began to blur. She blinked a few times, hoping to
correct it; she did, after all, wear contacts. This was
nothing strange in that sense.
As her vision began to clear, she turned back to the mirror
and gasped! In the reflective piece of glass, she had a very
detailed, up-close view of her left eye. The vivid blue
sparkled like a night of a million stars. For a second she
was mesmerized, all but lost in the universe of her eye, but
soon she found the vision horrifying; it was if she had
taken a camera and zoomed in on her eye in the mirror.
Moving her sight lower, and fighting off a little nausea
while doing so, she found that the pores of her skin were
very detailed. She noted, offhandedly in one of those
strange moments of untimely thoughts, the need to wash her
face. This was before becoming dumbstruck at the enhancement
to her vision.
“What in the hell is going on?” It was a cliché statement,
but one that fit very well with the moment. It was also one
she would make repeatedly over the next few hours.
As suddenly as it had started, the enhancement began to end;
her vision, just like in a zoom lens in of a camera, began
backing off. In a matter of seconds her sight had returned
to normal; her face appeared, once again, at normal size on
the mirror in front of her.
Instead of sporting that tired look from minutes before, her
face now showed signs of puzzlement.
“Okay, Tomorrow, you need, I think, to lie down for a
while,” She watched her mouth move in the mirror, “because
you’re going insane.”
Insane? Sure, dragons and zoom vision probably were
sure signs of insanity… or bad cookies.
“Whatever.”
She sighed under her breath, “I hope I’m not coming down
with something.” Grabbing a bottle of dermatological soap to
her left, she set in to washing her face.
**
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
Ms. Hawthorne asked while standing at the door leading from
the dining room to the kitchen. Her daughter nodded
hesitantly as she took a seat at the table situated in the
middle of the dining room.
“Yeah mom, I’m fine.”
“Okay.” Her mother’s face showed that she did indeed know
something was wrong-well, at the very least, strange.
Without another word, though, the woman turned and
disappeared into the kitchen. Tomorrow sighed. Hiding things
from her mother was not something she was used to or
especially good at. It made her feel horrible.
She and her mother had a close relationship; after the death
of her father, Eric, when Tomorrow was just six months old,
Donna Hawthorne had latched onto her daughter. For the past
fifteen and a half years, they were inseparable; Tomorrow
was the center of Donna’s world.
Sure, Ms. Hawthorne had dated a few men off and on over
years and even once considered remarrying, but it was, in
the end, not meant to be. As it was then and now, Tomorrow
was the only thing she cared for in the world. She found her
happiness not in a significant other, but in her daughter
and the person she had grown into.
They were as close to best friends as their relationship
would allow. Tomorrow sought out her mother’s advice on
everything that came her way and sometimes her mother did
the same. This current situation though, seemed a bit too
much. Tomorrow felt as if she should wait and see if things
would just pass over. After all, telling her mother that a
dragon that had been perched on the Crawford’s house had
nearly attacked her was probably not the best thing to do;
she wanted her mother to believe her daughter’s sanity was
intact.
“I made your favorite.” Donna Hawthorne reappeared and sat a
plate down in front of her daughter.
“Thanks mom.” Tomorrow smiled as she saw that her mother had
prepared steak, garlic mashed potatoes, and green beans.
“You’re welcome.” Her mother went back into the kitchen.
Tomorrow yawned and leaned back in her chair, waiting for
her mother to return before she would eat. She wanted to get
her mind off of the strangeness, so she thought about
school. No homework tonight, which she thought was extremely
nice, since she had been ready to hit the bed since she got
out of it this morning.
“I’m definitely getting in bed early tonight.” She mumbled.
With the exception of school, she hadn’t been doing much in
the way of physical activity, so it kind of surprised her a
bit that she was tired. Perhaps though, it was all the
dragon-dodging; the thought brought a funny smirk to her
face. Her nostrils suddenly flared as a bitter smell
overcame her. It was so strong that she had to breathe
through her mouth, and slowly at that, to attempt to rid
herself of the urge to gag.
“Uhh!” Tomorrow jerked her hands to cover her nose.
“What’s that smell?” She shouted, disgusted, to her mother.
“Steak?” Her mother asked from the kitchen.
“No, that is definitely not it! Come here. Can’t you smell
that?” Her mother entered the dining room with two glasses
of soda and stopped.
“The only thing I smell is dinner.” She shook her head,
puzzled. “Do you think it smells bad? Too much garlic?”
“No, no. It’s not the garlic.” Tomorrow responded, but
suddenly realized that she could indeed smell the garlic
like it had been shoved into in her nostrils. The other,
bitter smell still permeated her sense.
“It’s like, candle wax.” She held her nose shut.
“Candles? I had some aroma therapy candles burning in my
bathroom earlier while I took a bath, but that was an hour
ago. Surely that’s not what you’re smelling.” Her mother
shook her head and put the sodas down on the table.
Tomorrow thought about it and then realized, as strange as
it was that candle wax was indeed what she smelled.
“That’s gotta be it!” She shouted.
“No way. They’re upstairs in my bathroom. The door is shut
and they were burned an hour, no, over an hour ago.” Donna
Hawthorne disagreed.
“Mom, I know what I smell.” Tomorrow became irritated. She
just simply couldn’t understand how her mother could stand
not two feet away from her and not smell the exact same
wretched stench as she did.
“Tomorrow, honey, are you sure that you’re okay?”
“Yes, will you please quit asking me that? There’s nothing
wrong with me!” She shouted and released her nostrils.
“Do you think I’m crazy?”
Tomorrow pondered the question and her mother’s look, which
said she had no doubt her daughter, was sane. But, was she?
Hadn’t she just seen a dragon a little while ago, then had
some freaky crap happen with her eyes? But now--now she’s
smelling stuff that she shouldn’t be able to?
“Okay, I think I’ve got a headache.” She half smiled; it
wasn’t a lie, but it seemed like the only thing she could
possibly say to her mother that wouldn’t completely blow her
mind; she just wanted off the hook of being crazy…
“I’ll get you something for it.” Her mother exited the room
again.
Tomorrow waited to make sure her mother was fully in the
other room before she turned and gagged into her napkin. The
smell was so strong that she could taste it--and wax didn’t
taste very good at all!
“Maybe I am crazy!”