Dream Clouds

Every night at midnight, the purple clouds came out to dance with the blushing sky. Every night, Nephele watched the hues of amethyst, lilac, and violet swirl against a sparkling sky of jewels. The clouds floated through Nephele's open bedroom window facing the Ionian Sea, their wispy arms cradling her as she drifted off to sleep. Hugging her cherished childhood doll to her chest, Nephele closed her eyes and trusted the clouds. As they lulled her into her dreams, she knew this was her best chance of seeing her mother.

Nephie's mother had disappeared five years ago when Nephie was only eight years old. One summer night, Nephie, her older sister Lena, her mother and father all went to sleep as they always did, as a family. As long as Nephie could remember, they all went to bed at the same time every night and that night was no different.

It was no different until the sun rose above the horizon in ribbons of yellow, orange, and pink, and shattered the illusion.

Nephie remembered her father's frantic cries that morning, his face twisted in panic when he found his wife's side of the bed empty and cold. His wife never left the bed first in the morning. Her father ran through the house, through the garden, through the town. He screamed his wife's name over and over until Nephie heard her mother's name echoing off the walls of their house, off the mountains in the distance, long after her father's voice had died.

Lena and Nephie tried to console their heartbroken father, but there was little to be done. The two sisters were confused and devastated, too young to truly understand the weight of their mother's absence. Lena, the older sister by four years, did her best to take care of her distraught father and her little sister. Their father, Costas, had taken the worst of it. He had aged a decade in a matter of weeks. His cheeks hollowed and his once bright green eyes dulled. His shoulders sagged. He had a heavy sullen presence rather than his lovely jovial air.

Their family lost a star when Nephie's mother disappeared. Each of them felt lost, unable to find their way after the evanescence of their mother's light.

How could a woman vanish in the silence of the night without any trace or warning? How did a woman with such a loving family just disappear?

Since her mother's disappearance, Nephie felt her mother's presence in the little things, in the subtle spaces, in the tugging emotions. She especially felt her mother in her dreams. Nephie dreamed of her mother running through fields of lavender, her laugh floating in the spring air like butterflies.

In all of Nephie's dreams, her mother was running away from her. Nephie tried calling for her mother, but her mother always continued to run without turning back. Every morning, Nephie would wake up frustrated and exhausted from the chase, disappointed that her mother was just out of reach.

This morning, Nephie woke clutching her doll's worn out nub of an arm rather than her mother's warm hand. Nephie sighed.

"Maybe next time we'll get to her, Penny," she said to her doll as she propped Penny up against her pillow and got out of bed.

Now, at thirteen, Nephie had done some research of her own. She knew that the secret to bringing her mother back was through the purple clouds. Nephie read countless stories about lost loved ones returning to their families after a family member had dreamed of their return.

There was the little girl who vanished in a crowded marketplace and was later found sleeping in her mother's garden several months later. Her mother had dreamed of her daughter the night before.

There was the old fisherman lost at sea for seven years who was found sleeping in a row boat washed ashore in the twilight hours of the morning after his son had dreamed of his return.

There was the grandmother who wandered off into the mountains and was found feeding the goats on her family's farm after her granddaughter had dreamed of her on the farm.

Nephie knew it was possible. Nephie could dream her mother back into her life. But she had to do it right.

After studying the stories, pouring over the details, spending hours at the library rifling through pages and pages of the local newspaper, Nephie had finally realized what all of the stories had in common: the purple clouds and the date the loved ones had returned to their families, November 3rd.

Nephie knew November 2nd was All Souls' Day, although she didn't normally give that day much thought. Her family was not especially religious or superstitious, but her Catholic upbringing was enough to give her the knowledge to piece together the scattered puzzle in her head. People who were superstitious about All Souls' Day believed it was possible for lost loved ones to revisit their homes. She knew some families would leave lights on and light candles on the night of November 2nd, hoping their relatives would make their way back.

In all of the stories Nephie had read, the family members who had dreams before their lost relatives returned had described the purple clouds. They gave detailed testimonies of how the clouds carried them into their dreams, many having lucid dreams, controlling the outcome, and eventually finding and guiding their loved ones back home.

Nephie finally knew what she had to do. Overcome with excitement, Nephie stood up, knocking her chair to the floor. A smile plastered across her face, she knew exactly how to get her mother back.

The librarian glared at her, glasses sliding down the bridge of her crooked nose. Nephie whispered an apology and then gathered all her papers and notebooks. She haphazardly shoved them into her backpack, picked up her chair, and ran out the main door of the library.

She quickly made her way down the cobblestone sidewalk. She approached the corner, about to cross the street, when a knobby hand grabbed her wrist. Nephie gasped and looked back into the crystal blue eyes of Mama Cassandra.

Everyone knew that Mama Cassandra was crazy. Mama Cassandra stared straight through Nephie. Nephie knew the old woman was blind, but this made her stare even more unnerving. A heavy tattered cloak covered Mama Cassandra's frail body as she hunched over in her chair. She grumbled and pulled Nephie closer to her.

Time stood still as strangers passed, the sounds of the town swirling around them suddenly muffled as Mama Cassandra whispered in Nephie's ear, "Believe in the clouds and you will bring her back."