Читать книгу The Project Zoe - Galina Nelson - Страница 4

“Mommy!” Lucy’s cry startled Grace awake. Since Ray and Sonya were gone, it was never easy. She rushed to Lucy’s bedroom, glancing at the clock. Six in the morning. “Do not worry, Lu, I am here, with you.” She sat at the edge of her daughter’s bed. Lucy stretched her hands toward Grace and smiled. “Mommy! I am so glad I am at home! Was I sleeping then?”

Lucy was resting among cozy pillows, next to Miss Sunshine who was a stuffed doll with bright red hair. In the soft glow of nightlights Lucy looked like a child-size doll herself – with chubby cheeks, soft dark-blond hair, and large gray eyes.

Grace leaned forward to kiss her and felt Lucy’s soft, warm arms embrace her hastily. “Yes, Lu, you were talking in your sleep and called me. Did you have a nightmare?” she asked. “Mommy, your eyes look like forest on a summer day,” Lucy replied, looking in her mother’s eyes. “I was missing you! But my dream was not scary… not at first. I was dancing with flowers, right in the air, I was flying!” Lucy smiled and freed Grace’s neck for a moment, to get out of the blanket. Then she embraced Grace again and made herself comfortable on her lap. “They told me that I was an angel!” she said. Then, suddenly, as if she remembered something sad, her bright eyes filled with tears.

“Mommy, is daddy at home? Is my sister at home?”

“No, honey, they are not at home yet.”

“When will they come, then, mommy?” Lucy sobbed.

“Maybe they will come today. We are going to find out,” Grace tried her best to be confident. I can’t tell her everything, – she thought.

It was impossible to be used to it, but all the same, it happened again and again. Lucy woke up with the same questions every morning for the last five months. Five long months, since Sonya and Ray were gone.

“Honey, it’s brand new day, full of new adventures and discoveries,” Grace said, forcing a smile and kissing her daughter on the forehead. “Wake up, sleepy head, shoo away all your spooky thoughts. Everything will be okay!” She tossed Lucy’s hair gently and kissed her again.

“Don’t worry. I am going to make something yummy for breakfast. How about pancakes?”

“With strawberry jam!” Lucy exclaimed.

“And guess what? With chocolate syrup on the top!” Grace said with relief: the sadness in Lucy’s voice was gone.

Soon the pancakes were bubbling on the griddle, spreading the warm scent of vanilla through the house. Lucy came into the kitchen smiling, her hair damp from the shower. She sat at the table beside Grace and when all the chocolaty-strawberry-vanilla delight was almost finished, Lucy, as if she had been thinking about it for a long time but did not know how to start, spoke up.

“Mommy… I want to ask you something.”

“What, honey?”

“I think what is happening in my dreams is for real. There is another world, a beautiful world, and I go there very often. Last night I was there again… It is called the Kingdom of Grace!”

“I promise, you were in bed all the night. I saw you there,” Grace said with an indulgent smile.

“No, mommy, you don’t understand. You would not see me in bed if you were there, in the Kingdom of Grace, with me, I promise.” Lucy disagreed confidently. And next, like a spy confessing a million-dollar secret, she whispered under her breath: “If you believe that you could be there, you will be there too.”

“Okay, suppose I do believe you. But why so much conspiracy, Lucy?” Grace asked with a chuckle.

“Well, mommy, don’t you understand? It is our life! No one else shall know!”

“No one else is here, but you and me,” Grace reminded.

“Mommy, I do not think so. Maybe they are listening.”

“Who? Who are listening?”

“The Messers. They are not allowed to live in the Kingdom of Grace, because they cause lies and fear. They are very tiny and we cannot really see them, but they are everywhere around! Don’t you remember? They are always messing up everything. That is why I do not want them to hear me now. But you know, daddy said that they will convert into harmless ones sooner or later, anyway.”

“Sorry, I don’t remember, Lu, honey,” Grace didn’t want to admit even to herself that she did know about the Messers. She switched the topic hastily, “Listen, dreaming about travelling into different worlds when you are sleeping, and real travelling are different things.”

“Mommy, I know… I know, let’s just try to get into the same dream! Just imagine, if we dream the same dream together. You should believe! Please, promise you’ll try to believe, please mommy, please!” Lucy begged.

“I’ll try. I promise,” Grace agreed, not sure if it made any sense at all. Lucy, feeling the doubt in Grace’s tone, raised her whisper, agitated. “But you should believe, mommy! Then we will be in the dream together.”