Fernerever-The Light, H.L. Dyer [speld decodable readers .TXT] 📗

"Hi." He replies. Tania feels a little creeped out, he was just standing there staring at her! "Uhm...can I...help you?" Tania shifted nervously. "Are you alright?" Owden asked. Tania gave a twisted look. "Other than being weirded out by you getting into my personal space, I'm fine." Owden stepped back a couple of steps mumbling an apology before saying, "It's just that I could tell something's bothering you." "It's nothing...just a reoccuring dream I've had since I was little." Tania shook her head. "Maybe if you told me about it, it would make you feel better." Owden said. "I'll tell you about it during lunch, right now we're about to be late for class."
The day dragged on slowly until it was finally lunch period. Owden sat across from Tania as she starts relaying the dream to him. "I see...Can you remember how far back that dream started?" Owden asked. Tania shrugged. "Since I was very very young. When I was 2 years old I remember seeing that woman with brunette hair smiling at me. But then when I was four, that's when I started dreaming about the woman crying and then just as she started handing me to someone that scary old man would pop up. As years grew on, the dreams would get more and more detailed until it just stuck with what I told you now." Owden grew distant then, a tense silence drew on until Owden said, "I wouldn't worry about it. It's just a dream, right?" Tania looked at him in shock. Was he...smiling? Tania leaned over. "What are you doing!?" Owden snapped causing Tania to flinch back. "I was just about to feel your head for a temperature, are you feeling okay, Owden? Seriously, you haven't really been acting yourself today." Owden rolled his eyes. "I'm trying to be friends with you, I'm at least meeting you half way, aren't I?" Tania wasn't sure how to reply, "Oh...Well, I guess we're friends then." She smiled. Suddenly the bell rang for classes to begin again.
"Ugh...second day of school and they're already bogging us down with tons of homework plus a quiz on top of it!" Tania groaned then she sees Owden talking to himself again, most likely rehearsing for the play he's in. Whatever he was saying, Tania cut him off. "Hey, Owden!" she waved. He looked over at her with a slightly annoyed look but came over and greeted her. "Would you like to come over to my place? I mean, I figured since we're friends now we could help each other study and maybe get the crap load of work done quicker." Owden nodded with a smile. "Show the way-." Tania turned and headed home, not knowing that Owden was about to say something but then decided to end the sentence awkwardly.
"Mom, I'm home!" Tania called. Soon, a woman with wavy blonde hair turned around from the kitchen. "Mom, this is Owden. I hope you don't mind, but I brought a friend with me to help me with homework." "Hi, I'm Tania's mom. Now if you need anything, just call." She smiled. Owden nodded as they headed up to Tania's room.
"Okay, so if X equals the square root of sixty-six plus two hundred and fourty-three, divided by twenty-five...times one hundred and eighty nine...divided by nintey four...then x equals...?" Tania took her head in her hand. "Thirty-Eight point Sixty-Four," Owden said. "You must've gotten confused and entered the Nintey-Four in first when you should've entered twenty-five." "Yeah, I see it now." Tania sighed moving onto the next problem. Suddenly, her calculator slipped and landed on the floor with a thud. "I'll get it." She said as she bent down to pick it up. Just as she sat back up she suddenly felt fingertips between her shoulder blades causing her to jump before shuddering. "What the heck!?" Tania snapped, she hated getting jumped like that. "Sorry, I saw a bug on you and I was about to brush it off, but then you started getting up." Owden apologized. Tania teased, "Just don't even think about making a move on me, we came here to do homework." Owden blushed as he looked down on his papers.
"Still, you really seemed to like it." He said after a while. "Hm?" Tania looked over her shoulder. "When I brushed your shoulders...You looked like you really enjoyed that." He said. Tanya shrugged. "My shoulders have always been sensitive. While mom was feeding me when I was a baby, she said she would rub my shoulders to make me burp because patting my back wouldn't work and would make me cry." Owden smiled as he resumed his work. "...Your mom has taken good care of you, hasn't she?" Tanya nods. "We've had our moments, but over all she treats me well. She raised me all by herself and sacrificed almost everything to make sure I was raised right." "I'm glad..." Owden said. Tania looked over at him. "Truth is...I live alone. You see, my parents were killed." Tania gasped in shock. "I'm so sorry..." "Don't worry about it." Owden shrugged. "How did they-...I mean, if you don't want to say that's fine." Tanya said quickly. "Drunk driver. T-boned right into them." He said. "...Could you help me with this one?" Tania asks, showing him the paper. Owden took it and examined it. "Just divide this by this and add seventeen to the answer. Then you take the new answer and multiply that by thirty-nine. You should get Seventy-Eight." Owden said. "I see, thanks." Tania smiled.
"Well, it's getting late, I should be going." Owden said. "Okay, thank you for the help." Tania said. "Don't mention it." Then suddenly he freezes. "Tonight's a half moon, isn't it?" Tania looks at him with a puzzled glance. "According to the calendar. Why?" Owden just shook his head, "No reason. See you later." He waved.
That night Tania stared up at the ceiling once more. 'Just when I thought Owden couldn't get any weirder...' She then turns over and gazed across the room up at the sky. She suddenly makes her way to the window bench and sits as she tilts her head up to gaze at the half moon. 'I just wish I could figure him out...he wants to reach out, but he doesn't want to look weak so he tries to act so cold and distant. Then again, he did open up a little and became a friend so I must be doing something right.'
The next morning, Tania gets up from the window bench. Her legs and arms stiff from falling asleep in such a cramped place, she groans as she gets up and stretches. "I can't believe I fell asleep at the window..." she mutters to herself.
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Text: H.L. Dyer
Publication Date: 04-03-2012

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