Icy Grip of Fate – Part Two
Oh my God! Not that dream again. Sweat soaked and exhausted, the young woman darts upright in her bed. Reaching for her throat, she sighs in relief. Thank God…that was the worst one yet. It felt so REAL…
“Maya, you’d best hurry! You’re going to be late for your lecture with Dr. Snyder!” hollers a voice that has an air of distinction about it.
“Hey Dad! Have I got time for a quick shower?”
“Only if you manage to make it a quick one and not one of your infamous hour long ones!”
“Yes Dad…” Maya hollers back in a voice tinged with sarcasm, her eyes rolling back in her head in mock disgust.
Sitting up on the edge of the bed, she runs a hand through her sweat soaked hair. Damn, these dreams are getting worse and worse. What does it mean? And why does that woman look so damned familiar!
Shaking the thoughts from her head, she slowly makes her way to the shower, and runs herself a hot shower to help wash away the fear and doubt. It must have been those sausages I had for dinner last night. I knew something wasn’t right about them. As the warm water runs down her back, it feels as though the troubles and fears from the night before wash away.
Getting out of the shower, she dries herself off with the large fuzzy black towel that’s hanging on the rack. Tying the towel around herself, she looks at her reflection in the mirror, and runs a hand through her red, green, and orange striped hair. Ick…I’m going to have to re-dye this soon. Oh well…it’s not like I had anything better planned for tonight…
Wiping some of the mist from the mirror with her hand, she leans over the sink and looks closer at her throat. Gasping in surprise, she grabs a towel from the side of the sink, and quickly dries the mirror. Oh my God…it WAS real. Reaching towards her throat, she leans in closer to the mirror, and notices bruises on the side of her neck matching the place where the Ice Lady held her. What in the hell is happening to me! I wonder if Dai would know what to do.
Dressing quickly, managing to find an outfit to hide the marks on her neck, she grabs her book bag and rushes down the stairs. Heading into the kitchen, she sees her father sitting at the table sipping on his cup of coffee and reading the morning paper. He doesn’t look as old as she knows he is. His close cropped auburn hair has only just begun to betray signs of his age, graying softly at the temples. Despite the fact he is in a profession that does not extol the virtue of physical activity, he remains in fit shape, only having a slight belly to betray the fact he enjoys his sweets.
Without even missing a beat, he says, “Morning Maya. There’s toast in the toaster for you.” As if on cue, the toaster pops.
“How do you do that Dad?’
“I set the toaster when I heard you stomping your way down the stairs,” he goes on to say, without even lifting his head from the paper.
Grinning, and putting on a fake pout, Maya says, “I do NOT stomp Dad…”
Taking the toast from the toaster, she butters and spreads jam on it. As she takes a bite of the toast, her father looks up from his paper and notices that she’s a little distraught this morning. “You ok this morning Maya? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“It’s just this dream I had last night…it was a little disturbing.”
“Anything you want to talk about?”
Shaking her head, “Not really Dad…I think it was just the sausages I ate for dinner last night.”
Grinning, her father replies, “Or the countless hours you spend on that infernal machine of yours. You know, it wouldn’t kill you to pick up a book once in a while!”
“But I do pick up books you know!”
“Uh huh…sure you do. Putting your textbooks into your school bag and going to class doesn’t count!”
Smiling in relief at the change of subject, Maya goes on to say, “Besides Dad, you know I’ll never stop playing on that ‘infernal machine’ as you call it. And it’s called a co-m-pu-ter…not ‘infernal machine’. You know, using one would make it a LOT easier for you to do your research.”
“Bah,” he says, in a mockingly annoying tone, “there isn’t anything you can find on that machine that you can’t get from good old fashioned research in books. Besides, there’s a feeling of satisfaction you get from flipping through books that you just can’t get from using one of those…things.”
“Whatever Dad…”
Grinning mischievously, Maya adds, “Well…if it’ll make you feel any better, I’ll just read comics today ok? Besides, the new issue of Darkness is out today.”
Trying to stifle a laugh, her father reaches into his back pocket, pulls out his wallet, and digging out a twenty dollar bill he hands it to her. “Just be sure you pick me up the new Spiderman ok? Jeez…kids these days. I honestly don’t know what it is you see in these new comics. If you ask me, if you kids read the classics, this world would be a better place.”
“Thanks Dad,” Maya says smiling innocently as she runs a hand through her hair, “by the way, I think I need to re-dye my hair soon.”
“Ok fine, you brat,” He hands over another twenty, grinning and still trying to hold back a laugh. “It would be nice if you dyed your hair a NORMAL colour once in a while. Not to mention you should look into getting yourself a job.”
“I know Dad. I’m going to see if I can get on with the IT department at the school. Seems they got hit recently with a virus, and need some help in cleaning things up and restoring lost systems.”
“I’ll see if I can put in a good word for you with the department head. Also, why don’t you ask Wynter over at the comic shop. She might need some help too, and it really wouldn’t hurt things, especially seeing as you and Daisuke spend most of your free time there anyways.”
“I’ll ask her when we stop in this afternoon. Although I really don’t know if she can afford to hire anyone.”
“It doesn’t hurt to ask you know,” he says before being interrupted by the phone. “Take care today, and have fun at your lecture.”
“I will Dad,” Maya replies, as she heads over to give him a kiss on the cheek, then grabs her schoolbag and slips out the door.
Glancing down at her watch, Maya thinks, Thank God we live on campus. Had I slept in any later, I’d never make it to class. Luckily I found out about those shortcuts from Dai, or I’d never make it to class on time.
Comments