The Sleeper
Riona was awakened early by a noise in her room. She opened her eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them. Looking around the room, she saw a shadow in the dim light of the early morning standing just inside her door. At first she thought it was the woman from her dreams. Riona was excited, maybe she decided not leave her.
“M'éinín, what are you doing awake?” Riona’s grandmother’s voice floated softly through the darkness.
Riona’s heart dropped just a little. It was not the woman from her dreams. She really had left. Her disappointment only lasted a moment though. Her grandmother was there. She would make everything alright. She was the only one who had ever believed in Riona’s dreams. She didn't think Riona was a freak. Now that she was here, it would be okay without the woman. Grandmother would understand.
“Oh, Grandma, I am so glad you’re here,” Riona cried as she jumped out of bed and threw herself at the shadow. “I tried to save him, Grandma, really I did, but he wouldn't listen to me. They never listen to me.”
“It’s alright, M'éinín,” her grandmother crooned as she picked the little girl up. “You tell Maimeó all about it. Tell me what has you so upset.”
Grandmother and Riona sat on her bed and Riona told her the whole story. She told her about the dream she had the night before and how she tried to stop her father from going to work. She also told her grandmother what the woman in her dreams had told her. Her grandmother sat quietly and listened to everything Riona told her. When she was done, her grandmother held Riona close and comforted the little girl.
“The woman was right, M'éinín, grown-ups will not understand your gift. Your mother does not hate you, but she is afraid of what she doesn't understand and she is afraid for you. You must never tell anyone about your dreams except me. I understand and I will help you as much as I can.”
“Why aren't you afraid, Grandma?”
“I come from the Old Country, dear heart; I was raised with the old customs. You know the story of how our family came from the Emerald Isle where the magic still lived. My parents moved to this country but never gave up the customs of Ireland. I was raised believing in the banshees, the wee people and all manner of magical beings. I never closed my mind to the magic and I hope you never do either. There are things in this world that most people never know exist, but you have a gift and must never forget that.”
Riona and her grandmother talked until the dim light of the morning gave way to the bright light of the day. Her grandmother told her stories of the Old Country as told to her by her mother. Riona settled into the crook of her arm and listened raptly. She asked about Grandmother’s nickname for her, even though she already knew the answer; she just liked hearing the story. Grandmother once again told Riona that the name, M'éinín, was Gaelic for “my little bird”. When Grandmother had first laid eyes on Riona, she thought she looked like a baby raven with her black hair and her little mouth open wide for food. That story always made Riona giggle. She loved listening to her grandmother’s stories.
“Look how bright it is getting. We must get you dressed and ready for the day,” her Grandmother said. “We have much to do today and I need you to help me with your mother. She needs us to be strong for her until she can be strong for herself.”
Riona listened to her grandmother and did as she was told. She tried her best to be strong for her mother and grandmother told her she did a good job.
Riona’s mother went back to school after a while and she got her nursing degree. Riona was not happy about her mother going to work, but Grandmother told her it was necessary because there were bills to pay. She accepted that and soon settled in to the routine of seeing her mother in the morning before school and spending her evenings with her grandmother.
Riona did not have any more dreams that came true and soon she stopped talking to her grandmother about them. Soon after that she forgot all about them. She also forgot all about the woman in her dreams as if she never existed. It made her grandmother sad to watch as her granddaughter closed her mind to the magic in the world, but then again, maybe it was better that way. The old woman knew that she was part of a dying breed that still held strong in the old beliefs. What place would Riona have in a world so closed to magic if she continued to believe?
