Lost and Found.2 (c2009)

Mariah's feet lifted off the ground by six inches. Her stomach caught in her throat. She was hovering above a square of sidewalk next to the silver maple in front of Mrs. Heffner's house. The sun filtered through the leafy green canopy and warmed her face. She closed her eyes.

When she opened them it was gray morning. She turned to look behind her but she did not see who she was looking for. The tire swing on the playground was spinning very fast and did not seem to be slowing down, even though no one was riding it. Mariah turned to her right and saw the stained glass windows of the church's South side gleaming with radiance, as if it were bathed in sunlight. Mariah looked overhead and did not see the sun in the sky.

She heard the squeal of tires just as the bus stopped at the corner. The door opened for Mariah and she dumbly stood still, waiting. The bus driver called out to her, "Are you looking for someone? School will be starting soon and you don't want to keep Miss Weathers waiting." Mariah tried to answer but she could not form any words. Her mouth felt frozen, like she had been eating ice cream and she could not feel her tongue. The bus door hissed closed. Mariah, dazed, realized that she was looking out the back window of the bus at a small figure receding in the distance. Mariah waved to the girl and then, curiously, she recognized herself waving back. She did not remember boarding the bus and turned to ask the driver how she had gotten on. When she spun, she found herself on an airplane runway. The sun blinded her and she stumbled, disoriented. Above her, boarding a plane by way of a mobile staircase, was the Wicked Witch from Snow White. The hag moved slowly up the stairs and Mariah felt a stab of apprehension. She began to run towards the stairs when the Witch turned and cackled. Cradled in the cloaked woman's arms was a small, black, Scottish terrier, like the one who lived down the block next to Mrs. Heffner's house. Mariah knew the dog was really Amanda and had been trapped, transformed by the witch. The ugly gargoyle dug her nails into the dog's side. It whimpered and the witch laughed. Her eyes bore into Mariah's head with frightening clarity. Mariah closed her eyes tightly. When she opened them again she was alone on the prairie.

It was sunset. The sky was orange and purple and full of softness. Mariah gazed all around. In the distance she saw the silhouette of a young woman ice skating. Mariah was drawn in wonder towards the figure but was stopped by a wooden fence made out of logs. Mariah stood and watched the skater glide and spin, and instantly she had an ominous feeling. She experienced a desperate desire to turn and look behind her but she could not turn around. Maria became very afraid. She felt doomed. She tried to call out to the dancer for help, but her words were frozen too.

Mariah's eyes shot open and she gasped for breath. It did not take her long to orient herself to her bedroom. Turning towards her clock radio she could barely make out the time; 4:58am. She calmed her breathing and began to ponder. She had had the dream again. Only, this time, the ending was different. The first time she had dreamed about the Witch, it ended with the little dog crying, bleeding from its wound, blood dripping down the old woman's cloak. Mariah shivered, unsettled by the new wrinkle in the plot. She did not at all like the feeling of someone sneaking up on her. For a moment she wondered if it had been the Witch creeping up behind her. In her gut, she knew it had been something else.

The first night after Amanda's departure Mariah had the dream. She hadn't shared it with anyone but had cried quietly in the safety and comfort of her thick blankets. In the morning, her parents noticed she looked tired and decided not to make a scene about it. They both knew how hard she was taking her best friend's move to New Mexico. For weeks after Amanda was no longer around, Mariah's parents were very delicate with her. It was Tony's idea to buy the fish tank. He was convinced that they would help take her mind off the loss, forgetting that the tenacity of childhood grief could not be diminished by anything but time. Mariah was, at first, touched by the gift. She and her dad had long conversations about fish tanks. Mariah repeatedly told her dad she was sure her excitement would last forever, if only he would get her some tetras.

As the novelty wore off, Mariah began of the fish as a bribe from her parents. She began to resent the iridescent blue swimmers. Instead of growing fond of the fish, she began to see them as a single, brainless animal. Tony kept bugging her to give them names and she tried to play along, out of gratitude to her dad. But she could not tell the fish apart and she could not remember 19 different names. Afraid to tell her parents how much she dreaded having to feed them and clean the tank, she pretended to be interested. So far, her parents had not caught on.

Mariah rolled on to her side and took her pillow out from under her head, opened the window just enough to fir the pillow in the space between the glass and the screen. The night air was crisp and Mariah pulled her comforter closer over her shoulders. As she waited for the cold air to chill her pillow she decided that this time she would write the dream down in her journal. Maybe then she would not have it again. She felt miserable and alone. She resisted the tears as they threatened to roll down her cheeks. She did not want them to escape her eyes. She refused to blink until she felt the tears had been reabsorbed back into her tear ducts. Only then was she able to relax a little.

Her pillow was sharply cool now. She pulled it back inside and closed the window. It was still dark outside. She heard the wail of fire truck sirens in the distance. It was 5:15 when Mariah last looked at the clock. When her alarm went off at 6:30, Mariah awoke, knowing that the brief sleep she had just endured was dreamless. She climbed out of bed, put on her slippers and robe, and opened her bedroom door. There was light coming from under the bathroom door in a harsh crack that split the darkness of the hallway. She was about to turn on her light and retreat to her closet to pick an outfit for the day when the door swung open and Nick emerged. She stared at him like a deer in headlights. Nick immediately sensed Mariah's tenseness and slowly approached her. "You all right, Mariah?"

Mariah could not find any words and for a moment stood motionless before her brother. Without warning a tear escaped and came rolling off her cheek. She nodded yes, and Nick, sensing a stubborn determination in his sister, folded her into his arms and gave her a firm hug. Mariah, regaining her self-control, did not let any other tears escape. She lingered in her brother's warm embrace for just a moment. Then, pushing him away said, "I'm okay Sport. Must be some sleep in my eye. I was rubbing it a minute ago and must have scratched it."

Playing along, Nick said gently, "I've done that. It only hurts for a minute." After a silent moment of staring at each other, the siblings each came to the realization that they looked foolish, standing in the hallway in their robes, gawking at each other. As Nick moved towards his room, Mariah was suddenly relieved that Nick had been the one in the bathroom, and not one of her parents. Mariah knew instinctively that they would not have known how to make her feel better. Nick had managed to do just that with a hug and some space. She smiled to herself. He was fawning over that goatee again, she mused.

Lost and Found INTRODUCTION
Lost and Found CHAPTER ONE: FISH
Lost and Found CHAPTER TWO: DREAMS
Lost and Found CHAPTER THREE: PARTY