Flights of Fantasy by E.V. Everest

Author:E.V. Everest [Various Authors]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Golden Bird Press
Published: 2021-10-12T00:00:00+00:00

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Cara’s uncle left at the end of the week, heading off across the world to help people far away again. The hawk never did show up at the backyard for the rest of his visit so she couldn’t have pointed it out to him even if she had wanted to. But she wasn’t sure she did want to anymore. That felt like something from before now. It was B.C.—Before Cougar.

She woke from eerie dreams all week. Stuck under the cougar night after night, unable to run away until the odd calm feeling flooded her, she struggled not to dwell on it during the day. The calmness freaked her out the most. That was the part she kept thinking about after she woke up each time.

On Saturday morning, she went down to breakfast after one of those dreams still feeling clammy. A little knot of worry sat in her stomach now, never leaving her. She supposed it was part of growing older, made worse by the things she had to keep hidden now. She’d never had secrets before.

“Morning, Cara. Or are we calling you Care Bear now?”

Her mom smiled at her even though Cara knew she had just come home from visiting Cara’s dad’s grave like she did every Saturday morning.

“No. We’re definitely not calling me that.”

“Ah, I see. Only Josh, then,” Sandra said.

Cara grimaced. “Not him either.”

“You look a little pale. You feeling okay?”

“Yeah. I’m totally normal,” Cara answered. The knot in her stomach clenched.

“Good to hear. Should we go for a walk when we’re done eating? We could go to the nice park where all the dogs play. It’s always fun.”

“Sure. That sounds nice.” It sounded nice and normal.

The walk to the park was pleasant in the warm morning air before the heat of the day set in. Cara did start to feel better as they sat on the bench watching all the dogs running around at the off-leash park. There was nothing weird about watching dogs play together and the smile on her face felt much more natural than it had all week.

They were talking about what she might want for her birthday—still six weeks away on September seventeenth—when one of the dogs ran right up to them. The dog’s sweet face made her heart squeeze as she took in the triangular ears that flopped over at the very tips. He rested his chin on Cara’s knee, his tail wagging.

She laughed and ran a hand over the soft fur on his head. “You’re so cute.”

“I think he likes you.” Her mom smiled beside her.

Maybe it was the brown-and-black of his fur, but he reminded Cara of the hawk. She missed its frequent visits. She still hadn’t seen it since the time B.C., as she now thought of the hiking incident. Not seeing the hawk all the time made it easier for her to act normal, but she missed the feeling she had when it visited. It had been almost like a friend.

“I wonder where his humans are,” Sandra said, looking around.

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