look at me

Up against the roots of a tree, she slumbered. She was dreaming of her family yet again. Her dreams weren't a fixed storyline, just snippets here and there, some real, some manifestations of her anxiety. She saw her mother sharply looking at her with perplexed rage. That look always made Yume feel so small. She saw her father, stoic, barely moving a muscle. He used to encourage her to quiet her mind - he even tried to meditate with her once. But she couldn't sit still for longer than a few minutes. Unlike her perfectly still father who taunted her her with his flat gaze. Next, she saw herself running down the beach, but from a bird's perspective. It was so odd to see herself like that. She looked different than she imagined - like a grown adult. Her plush puppy fur was replaced with a thick coat. Her face, which in her mind was still the rounded, soft baby's face, was sharp and angular, with serious narrowed eyes. The bird's eye view got closer to her face, and Yume turned and glared into her own eyes.

The suddenness broke her dream and she awoke with a gasp. After blinking a few times, she threw back her head and yawned with a little squeak. Ever since she washed up on the shore, she had been having awful dreams and nightmares. Thinking about it made her stomach fill with sour panic, so she tried to keep it from her mind. If she just kept looking for her family, eventually she would find them and everything would go back to normal. Right?

Yume stood and stretched her legs, and took a peek around. The sun was rising, and she wanted to feel it on her back to warm up. She walked towards a clearing nearby and found a nice soft spot to sit and enjoy the warmth.

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