The Strangest Dream

Life was good for quite some time, Evelyn's bad dreams seemed to have stopped, and although Autumn still felt a little uncomfortable, she didn't feel the need to share her experience that night with Clyde, after all, he had enough to worry on his mind.

One day Autumn was drying the dishes at the sink with her back to Evelyn sitting at the table, she turned to put a plate away. She noticed a puddle of pink water at her feet, so she looked down at it, and out of the corner of her eye, sitting in Evelyn's place was a soaking wet little girl that looked just like her in a nightgown covered in blood, so she whirled around slipping onto the floor. As her back slammed against the cabinet under the sink, she looked up, "What happened mama, are you okay?" It was Evelyn looking back at her, surprised by what just happened. Autumn got up and was quite shaken. "Maybe I need to get off my feet," she said, sitting on the chair.

All-day long Autumn tried to get the image of that child covered in blood out of her head, she thought to herself, she looked so lost. Clyde also saw a change in his wife. She seemed to be so tired all of the time going through her daily routine like she was numb to everyone's existence, but he didn't know how to help, he couldn't stay home from work all the time although Clyde did as much as he could without losing his job.

"Autumn, I just talked to my mother, and she said that dad is driving her crazy."

He knew that if he told her she was coming because they were all worried about her, she would say no because that's just the way she is.

"Mom wanted to know if she could stay for a few weeks?" "Oh my, Clyde, is everything alright between them?" she asked. He Swirled his finger around his ear as if he was making the crazy sign. "Of course, you know how dad can get sometimes." and they both laughed. Evelyn was so excited to have her grandmother come to stay because she thought they would play the whole time, but when her father told her the real reason she was coming, she couldn't help but feel like it was her fault her mother was so tired.

Two days later, when Marie arrived, she came with a surprise for Evelyn and couldn't wait to let her see that she brought Charlie. "Charlie! Charlie! You brought Charlie!" Charlie jumped out of the truck and ran to the door where Autumn and Evelyn were standing. He stopped in front of Autumn and just stood there for a moment, almost like he was sizing her up, then ran past her into Evelyn's arms. "That was a strange thing for him to do." Autumn said to Marie, "Ah, it's just a new place," Marie replied, carrying in her little suitcase. "Is that all you brought?"Autumn asked her, but from the back of the car, she heard Clyde say, "NO!" struggling with some bags. "She bought out the whole market!"

Autumn set Marie up in the little room under the stairs, and Marie was quite comfortable in there, it didn't take long before Autumn figured out that she wasn't there because Dunken was driving her crazy. "Mom, let me help," Autumn told her. "No, no, no dear, you sit down, just let me help while I am here," Marie told her, so Autumn went into the living room and sat on the couch. Marie had Evelyn help her with dinner when she remembered something. She took off her apron and headed off to her room. "Oh my gosh, Evie, I almost forgot," she said, "Just wait here!"