Sample Saturday - cool down with a good read!

This is the opening sequence of RYDER ON THE STORM ~ EMERALD SEER I.....just to try an oldie but goodie!

When you first realize you are different it can come as a shock.  It should come as a shock.  For Storm Sullivan it had been different.  She felt nothing, just took it in stride, staring blankly into the fireplace while her mother hyperventilated.  Storm was seven at the time.  Her first vision seemed as simple as a daydream.  It hadn’t hurt back then.  No headaches or blinding pain.  The most uncomfortable part of the experience was the rough fabric of the 70s style sofa chafing her legs.  Storm kept adjusting the blue gingham-checked romper while Aunt Trin stroked her auburn curls, from the nape of her neck to her waist and over again. 

Her mother wept as she explained the family curse.  Storm stared at her, stone-faced, replaying her vision and thinking about her mother’s fragility.   Aunt Trin kept stroking her hair, the gentle rhythm a soothing gesture in the wake of her mother’s emotions.  Storm felt annoyed.   The vision had been a simple one, her friend Sami stealing a pack of gum from the corner store and receiving a stern talking to after being caught.  It hadn’t even fazed her.  But her mother, well, Sophie Sullivan’s hopes of the curse passing over her only child were dashed in an instant. 

Storm looked at her mother, mascara dripping down her cheeks like a sad circus clown, wild desperation and sadness warring behind her eyes.  Aunt Trin had spoken up at just the right moment, “Sophie, luv, it will be fine.  You knew it was a better chance than not that our Storm would receive the Sight as well.  She is taking it better than you.  Why don’t you go put on some tea and I will figure out what she saw?”

Mother had nodded obligingly before disappearing into the kitchen.  Aunt Trin had turned to her, those lovely emerald eyes flashing with excitement, “She did not take that well did she, luv?” 

Storm suppressed an eye roll and forced herself to shake her head instead.  As always with her aunt, the words flowed easily.  Without emotion she relayed what had played out in the vision and Aunt Trin listened in earnest.  She reclined back against the arm of the sofa and folded her hands together, the enormous jeweled rings clicking like castanets.   Aunt Trin and her mother looked so much alike, from their creamy, clear complexions to their wide emerald eyes, but Storm marveled at how opposite their personalities ended up.    Storm sighed as her mother sobbed loudly in the kitchen - very loudly since the dining room and a hallway stood between them. 

Aunt Trin rolled her eyes, “I will take care of her.  Don’t fret about your mother, luv.  Tomorrow morning I will call Sami’s mother and give her a heads up.  I believe you have done your friend a service.  Why don’t you get ready for bed, huh?”  She passed her mother on the way out of the parlor and heard Aunt Trin begin recanting the vision.  Her mother cried harder.  Storm knew that Aunt Trin would be holding her, stroking her hair in that same soothing way.   She climbed the stairs to her room and readied for bed wondering what life had in store for her now that her mind had opened to the Sight.