Selene
Standing dumbfounded in the middle of the walkway with my mouth gaping wide—again—I process what Kyran just said. He wants to see me, I need to tell Ria! I excitedly realize after a moment and my fly-trap pulls into a grin as I hurry back to the parking lot, feeling giddy. Rushing past a knot of teenagers riding bicycles, I hear a faint thrum of an engine and glimpse what I believe is Kyran’s old pickup pulling onto the main road. I notice he takes a left toward downtown, wondering if perhaps he lives there. He doesn’t strike me as a city guy. But there aren’t any country homes out that way for dozens of miles, just vast forests and prairies, I ponder as I sit myself in the Prius.
Taking a right from the park, I think of excuses to come back here early tomorrow morning while I make the short drive home. Easing into the entrance of our long drive, I wait for the gates to swing open. When the iron creaks loudly, I hear two booming bellows in response, followed by Ria’s shriek of annoyance. Smiling, I pull up to our cottage and find Phylax and Machitís both sopping wet and bounding toward the car. As I park, I roll up the window, cracking the door open enough to command, “Halt! Sit!” at the dogs before they make a mess of me. Getting out, I give them praise and receive thumping tail wags in return.
“Ugh, I do not know how you manage to do this and stay clean at the same time,” Ria scoffs, rounding the corner of the cottage.
Stifling a laugh, I press my hand to my mouth seeing her auburn hair plastered to her face and neck with her gray tee clinging to her body. A snort manages to slip out and at her puckered expression, I can’t help but burst out with laughter. Ria swipes at her face with a huff and cracks a grin, chuckling with me.
“What happened? It looks as if you took their bath for them,” I tease, glad she isn’t genuinely angry.
“Well, I woke up, brought tea out to the porch like always and was greeted by those bush monsters,” she rolls her eyes, nodding her head in the dogs’ direction, “and with you nowhere to be found, I decided to clean them up. I thought, ‘how hard could it be?’ Well, it’s safe to say I will not be doing that again,” she laughs, shaking her dripping head.
“Mm-hmm,” I intone sarcastically, “you just want me to do the dirty work.” I wink and stick my tongue out at Ria.
Getting an identical face in response, I giggle as I turn toward the side yard and give a sharp whistle. Phylax and Machitís bounce past me knowing where to go as I find the hose and twist the spigot, turning to my boys. “Stand. Stay,” I say seriously, and they follow my command immediately, remaining still as statues. “Good boys,” I murmur and begin to work on Phylax.
Ria hands me the shampoo and just shakes her head, wringing out her hair. “I truly do not get it. They both weigh more than you, yet behave like robots at your command. What’s your secret?” Ria grumbles before she suddenly purses her lips and glances away.
I notice the very peculiar expression on her face but decide not to make a comment. After rinsing out Phylax, I move on to Machitís. “We have an understanding,” I reply as I work, “I respect them and they respect me. I’ve always felt a connection with them since we moved here and they became part of our family,” I smile as I rub Machitís on his snout.
Ria is quiet and her focus is over the gardens out beyond our home. I wrap the hose around the reel and pick up the brushes and soap, placing them in the tote bin on the porch. Ria follows me, opening the door and heads to the bathroom for some towels. She returns shortly and hands me one, giving me a wan smile. As she squeezes her hair dry, I prompt, “Hey, would you like to take the boys to the park with me in the morning? I would’ve brought them with me today but I didn’t want them making a mess in your car,” and hope my smile doesn’t betray me.
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“Sure, that sounds nice,” she nods in agreement and turns toward the stairs. “I’m going to get changed. I have some errands to run, I’m meeting Mother out in town. You’ll have the house to yourself for most of the day, but we should be back in time for dinner.”
“Okay, see you then,” I smile, not letting on that I’m aware of her mood shift. Asteria can be volatile at times, her emotions changing quickly with unspoken thoughts. Most of the time I let her be, I’d learned the hard way when we were younger not to prod her. I remember one time I was annoyed with her for becoming moody and she lashed out at me in the living room, singeing my hair with the match she was using to light the hearth. She immediately apologized profusely, feeling awful about it for weeks. Then there was the time in the garden I told her she is like a light switch, flipping on and off randomly around me and she drenched me with the watering can in anger. Again, she felt terrible for her actions and worked hard at keeping control of her emotions. I’d never blamed her or held anything against Ria, but simply came to understand that I needed to be mindful of the things I say to her.
Feeling both glad that she agreed to come tomorrow and excited at the possibility of seeing Kyran again has me smiling once more. I spend most of the day on chores, cleaning and dancing to music, folding laundry, and mulling over what to start for dinner. As evening rolls around, I lift the lid off the pot of veggie soup and ladle some into a bowl, add the roasted chicken I baked into my dish and snag a roll from the breadbox on the counter. Mother and Ria have yet to return once I’ve finished and I decide to close up the kitchen, leaving a note about the soup in the fridge and if Ria is still up for going to the park to be ready at dawn.
After I shower, I make my way to bed, glimpsing the moon peeking through some clouds over my balcony. Checking that the doors are latched, I pull the curtains closed and climb into bed in the dark. I replay my chance meeting this morning, grinning like a fool and find myself hoping I’ll be lucky enough to catch him again tomorrow.
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Gasping awake with cold sweat sticking my nightgown to my skin and my long hair to my neck, I find myself once again on my balcony at twilight. Crouching down, I sit on the deck floor and take slow, deep breaths to ease my racing heart. That’s three nights now I’ve had the exact same dream, causing me to sleepwalk and wake here at the exact same time. This is weird, too weird. I’ve got to talk to Ria or mother about this, they might have advice for me, I ponder as I scrub my hands over my eyes and look out between the railings.
Golden hues of dawn begin to illuminate the shadows around the property. Noticing movement in the luscious field below, I observe my mother making her way toward a path at the edge of the forest to gather ingredients for today’s cooking, I assume. Remembering this morning, I eagerly bound through my room, showering quickly to wash the night’s sweat off and dress in my favorite leggings and oversized aqua hoodie, twisting my hair up into a clip. I decide to brush on some light copper eyeshadow and black mascara, nothing much, but just enough to brighten my eyes.
Stepping off the stairs, I find my sister in the kitchen glaring at a large, round cast iron pot boiled over with slightly burnt contents down the side. Well, that answers my thoughts of seeing mother earlier, I muse as I smirk and drawl, “Wow Ria, you’ve definitely perfected your domestic skills of a doting housewife.”
“Ha-ha, you are hilarious,” she responds dryly. Grasping the handles, she walks backward out the side door and upturns the pot over the porch railing. Returning, she places it in the sink basin and scrunches her nose at it. I giggle and she walks over to me with a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
“Are you coming with?” I ask, taking the keys off the hook in the entryway and sliding my moccasins on my feet. I notice how she’s dressed in all black wearing a lacy blouse with billowing sleeves, a flowy maxi skirt, combat boots, and with chunky silver jewelry adorning her neck and hands.
“Yeah, but I’m driving,” she snags the keys from my hand and pulls the door open, shooting me a sly grin. “Have you seen the—” a jarring bark causes Ria to twitch, her expression going flat. “Never mind,” she mutters, giving Phylax a look.
I laugh and close the door behind us, scratching both dogs’ ears and step off the porch, following Ria around the house. Opening the back door of the Prius, I give a short whistle and the two beasts come loping around the corner, piling into the tiny car. Pushing on Phylax’s bum, I close the door and get in the passenger seat. Ria starts the car and rolls both back windows down fully, each of the dogs shoving their massive heads out with their tongues lolling in the wind during our short drive to the park.