Dreamer Part 2 // Sisters, Grandparents, and Other Lost Things

So school starts in a month, right? And do you know what the school has done about it? NOTHING. AT. ALL. I mean like, they’ve PROBABLY been preparing in ways that don’t involve sending us our schedules because that’s PROBABLY not the only thing that they do, but THEY SHOULD STILL SEND THE SCHEDULES RIGHT THIS INSTANT. And I should probably write this post right this instant too… I guess.

Guess what? I’m not dead! I’ve been working on a bunch of posts (and I ACTUALLY WATCHED Kiss The Ground, which I’ve been saying I’ll watch for like the last billion years, and so you all should be proud of me) and re-writing this chapter a million billion times. And well, I’m just going to publish it because like if I don’t, I’m not sure that I’ll ever get it done…

So, well, enjoy!

Get Caught Up: Prologue (The Dream) | Part One (Soulmates, Dreams, and Homework)

Joyce Acheson
Herbert Alderman
Teresa Ammons
Rafaela Andrade
Carol Arrington
Julian Binstock
David Bradburd
Cheryl Brown
Larry Brown
Richard Clayton Brown
Andrew Burt
Joanne Caddy
Barbara Carlson
Vincent Mario Carota
Denis Clark
Evelyn Cline
John Arthur Digby
Gordon Dise 
Eliane Dodge
Nova doesn’t keep reading. She can’t. After her sister’s name would be her grandmother’s, her grandfather’s. But maybe if she doesn’t read further, she won’t have to acknowledge… what happened. That her sister’s not coming back from her trip, that she’ll never eat her grandmother’s cookies or hear her grandfather’s stories again. 
Maybe if she doesn’t keep reading, she won’t have to acknowledge that their names are on a list titled “Deaths in Butte County’s Camp Fire”. Maybe if she doesn’t keep reading, the truth won’t settle in. Maybe if she doesn’t keep reading, she can keep living in denial. 
That’s not what Eli would want, says that tiny voice in the back of her head that’s been bothering her about the fire for the past 8 months. She pushes the thought out, out, out. But, in the way that bothersome thoughts often do, it keeps coming back. 
Looking at this list had been a bad idea in the first place. Her mom had suggested it, said that when Nova was ready, maybe learning more would help her to heal. 
Unless helping Nova heal meant making her feel like the world was falling apart, she was pretty sure that reading that list was not doing what her mom had said it might. So she closes the tab. What she should do right now is pick up her homework and do it. Because she has to be a normal kid. The world didn’t stop moving when Eli died. She doesn’t know if anyone really noticed her sister’s death, apart from a few friends and, of course, Nova’s family. 
It sure doesn’t seem like anyone does. In sixth grade, her teachers had been gentle with her because of the loss, taking her aside and asking how she was doing, if they could do anything. But now, in seventh grade, her teachers don’t know. Or at least they don’t know yet. 
So she has no reason not to get her homework done. She’s pretty sure that telling her teachers that she was reading through a list of names that included her dead sister instead of doing homework would probably not be the best way to start the school year. 
So she forces herself to stand up, walk over to her backpack, unzip it, and get out her homework. Forces her mind to focus on those actions, and those actions only. 
Because if she let her mind wander, she would start thinking of Eli, of her grandmother, of her grandfather. And she couldn’t let that happen. 
So she does her homework, and doesn’t think of a fire. 
Of a sister.
Of grandparents.
Of everything she lost.

And that’s that! I’m not sure if it’s the best version of the chapter, but it’s FIIINE.

Anywho, encounter you next time (I want to say “see you next time” but because I never actually see you, it doesn’t really work…)!

Also, update: WordPress is being very mean and won’t let me upload the correct featured image so uh… I guess we’ll deal with it?
Update #2: Correct featured image is up! Yay?