Heat soaks into my skin and I feel a grin spread across my face as my eyelids flutter.

Sky. 

I take a slow deep breath and my nostrils are filled with the scents of honeysuckle and jasmine and the sharp briny tang of the ocean.

Sky.

I realize that I can hear the sound of the surf faintly and I long to see it.

“Sky!”

My eyes pop open and I find my mother standing over me looking concerned.

“Mama?” I question, sitting up and rubbing at my sleepy eyes.

Her caramel colored skin glows in the sunlight and her eyes are burning brown embers with hints of red as she helps me to my feet and envelops me in a hug.

“Didn’t you hear me calling you?” She asks leaning back and looking down at me.

I shake my head and she smiles.

“Well, nevermind. I found you and now we can go into town and get a few things before supper.” She brushes at the deep green skirt of her dress and takes my hand. “You had the sweetest smile on your face when I woke you. What were you dreaming?”

I tilt my head to the side as a dull hum temporarily distracts me. “I was there and you were there and there was a puppy and she was very naughty and we were feeding chickens and then all of a sudden a goat jumped in out of nowhere!” I begin. Then, catching sight of the town as we round the bend, my breath catches in my throat.

There are so many people! And colors! And smells. And as the cacophony of sound reaches us, I realize that the hum I’ve been hearing was coming from town.

We step past a stall covered in bright fabrics and immediately are enveloped in the crush of bodies wandering through the market.

“No.” I whisper, pulling on my mother’s hand.

She draws me along with her, paying no heed to my increasing distress.

“No!” I say more forcefully, trying to pull away.

“Sky. What is it?” My mother stops and leans toward me.

“I can’t… Too loud… I can’t!” My voice rises in pitch as I speak and my breath starts to come in gasps. “Mommyyyy!” I cry, clasping my hands over my ears and squeezing my eyes shut.

I’m lifted into strong arms and peek through my lashes to see my mother looking around worriedly momentarily. Then she resolutely sets off the way we’ve just come.

“Excuse me. Excuse me. I beg your pardon. Excuse me-” My mother calls out, clearing her way back out of town as I feel the world press in on me. I cling to her and begin to cry.

“Excuse me!” She shouts, shoving past a flamboyant couple examining silks at the stand on the end of town.

“Oh my!” The woman yells and my mother takes off at a run.

“Shhh. Shhh. Shhhh. It’s okay, baby. You’re okay.” She gasps as she bounds around the bend. She runs into the field where she found me and gently sets me down.

Thunder rumbles and the sound of the waves crashing into the nearby cliffs increases as the wind picks up. I open my eyes and moan as my mother wraps me in her arms.

“Shhh,” she soothes as she rubs my back.

“Squeeze.” I beg as I struggle to hold the feeling threatening to explode from my body inside.

“What?” She asks pulling away from me and taking in the darkening sky with obvious apprehension.

“Nooooo,” I moan. 

Mama is worried. Mama is scared. Nononononoooooo…

“SQUEEZE!” I scream and my mother instinctively crushes me to her as lightening crashes around us.

Our screams echo as droplets of rain begin falling gently and the tension leaves my body. It only lasts for a few minutes during which we cling to one another rocking slightly.

Then the sun reappears to warm us and I feel more than hear my mother’s sharp intake of breath. “Ay dios mio…”

“Mama,” I murmur lifting my head.

“Shhh,” She says tucking my head into her chest and kissing the top of my head as she whispers a blessing.

Huh?

“Deep breaths, love,” Mama says.

I continue to breathe deeply and relax into her.

“Come, mi amor,” she says, lifting me into her arms yet again and pressing my head to her shoulder. “Just rest. Keep your eyes closed and breathe. I’ll get us home.”

She starts walking. I feel the shade of the trees break up the sunlight and as we leave the clearing I open my eyes.

I shudder at the sight that meets my eyes. My mother places her wrap around me, likely thinking I’m shivering from cold. 

She doesn’t know I’ve seen. The once fragrant flower field has been reduced to burnt ground surrounding a small patch of earth where my mother and I knelt only moments before. An angry red ring surrounds it and seems to whisper to me.

Sky.

I squeeze my eyes shut and take a deep breath in. Then out. 

Sky.

Breathe. In. Out. Calm, I think with every fiber of my being.

Something snaps under my mother’s foot and my eyes fly open just in time to see the red ring blink out of existence.