Do You Dream In Colour&;#063;

&;#65279; Do You Dream In Colour?

AHHHHHH! David Cannock screamed silently somewhere in the depths of
his head as
he is awakened from what he recalls as a horrible nightmare. The scream
itself did not actually
leave his dream and he choked on it as it barely left his mouth in
reality. Now, coughing to catch
his breath, he's drenched in a cold sweat. The feeling is unlike any
he's ever experienced. The
dream was unlike any other. He remembers it vividly. Although, never
being one to remember
the events in his mind that proceed throughout the night, this one is
as clear to him as the
clammy hand that wipes the cool drops of sweat from his forehead.
His house, his home, was set aflame by unknown means and he witnessed
it all
crumbling into ashes as if he were watching an old time picture show.
It was simply black and
white as all his dreams were. Because of the colour impairment he had
been unsure of the flames
and first, but what else could it have been? The house was slowly
turning to ashes right there in
front of him. David was completely stationery, and when a sudden
thought occurred to him he
became frantic. But unable to move, the screams began in his head. My
family! Get out! Sanah
get out! Oh Please god, get my family out of there!
David desperately searches for any signs of his beloved wife and
child, but sees nothing.
He begins to sob in his mind but is forced to watch as the kitchen
window bursts from the
pressure of the flames. And explosion of smoke sprays out of the window
and along with it
comes a piece of white paper. The paper landed before him on the grass.
Or was it gravel? David
was unsure, no colour to tell the difference. And if he could feel it,
feel anything at all, he would
be running to save the lives of his loved ones. The white paper, now
yellowish as it smoldered
quickly to ash, was a drawing his daughter had created that had been
posted to the refrigerator. It
was a five year old's drawing of her family, including there dog
Patches, and even that was
fading away into the nothingness of rubble that the house had now
become. David screamed,
then woke up.
That was horrible, so horrible the sobbing in his head became real
tears, real sobbing.
But those tears of fear and distress quickly turned to drops of joy
when Sanah, his five year old
little girl, ran into the room and jumped on to his bed. She was crying
as well and in complete
disorientation he hugged her until they both were capable of speaking.
It was his wife, oh thank
god his wife, that spoke first. She rolled over from her side of the
bed and questioned them both
as to why they seemed so distraught.
David, then utterly relieved and feeling absolutely blessed that he
was even able to take
part in this moment with his family, simply shrugged off his distress
as a bad dream and claimed
to his wife that he'd be fine. Their daughter, on the other hand, was
quite upset about something.
It seems as though she had also experienced a nightmare of her own. She
described the dream in
as much detail as she could manage. Sanah stated that she had been
riding her new purple and
pink bike with the yellow ribbons on the handles when she was struck by
a big truck.
"I died Daddy."
With that both parents held Sanah and comforted her until she was able
to stop crying. In
fact, David wasn't sure if she had stopped crying first or that she had
simply fallen asleep. Either
was good, and the whole family slept together as closely as possible
until dawn.

The next morning the Cannock family sat and had breakfast and all were
in good spirits
as though the night before hadn't been as rough as it was. Sanah had
actually forgotten her
nightmare and went on describing in wondrous amusement the dream she
had following last
night's comfort session. She was exceptionally excited about all the
colours in her dreams.
Claiming the grass was never greener than in her dreams, the sky was
never bluer and the
flowers...
"Oh, the flowers Daddy! Purple, red, pink, yellow. All my favourite
colours! And then
there was a rainbow and sunshine..." she continued like this all
through breakfast and eventually
brought out her crayons and begin generating her dream's excitement on
to the paper. Her father
watched in amazement secretly wishing that his dreams were just as
colourful and wondering at
the same time why they weren't. It was Saturday, their personal family
day. Therefore, the day
began with a good mood had by all.
After Sanah had coloured herself silly and the refrigerator door was
now completely
covered with new artwork, she decided that she wanted to ride her bike
for awhile before lunch.
She didn't seem at all phased by her nightmare and marched straight out
to the garage in search
of her pink and purple prize. It occurred to her father that perhaps
she hadn't remembered it at
all. Which was a good thing, but none the less left him somewhat
uneasy. He then decided it best
to watch her from the porch instead of his usual view from his study.
David wanted to be close
by...not that he was superstitious or anything.
David made sure she had her helmet on correctly and told her to wear
her roller skating
pads...just in case. She didn't like that very much, but did as she was
told hoping that her father
would soon let her be and not decide to run along beside her too. Of
course, the thought to do so
had crossed his mind, but that was silly he told himself. He sat on the
porch trying to relax, but
he kept glancing at his watch and lunch wasn't getting any closer. He
then gave up on relaxing
and sat more tense then ever watching as his daughter had the time of
her life.
Gloria, his partner in matrimony, joined him on the porch looking
beautiful in a summer
dress. He smiled genuinely wondering if perhaps she had been worried a
little more as well due
to last night's events. She didn't seem to be uneasy at all, but that
was Gloria, always cool and
confident, something that had attracted David right in the beginning.
She handed him a stack of
white papers that she had discovered on the floor of Sanah's bedroom
when she was cleaning the
mess that always seemed to arise in that little girl's pink room.
"Quite the little artist we have for a daughter," Gloria stated as
David blissfully flipped
through the crayoned artwork of rainbows, people, dogs, and flowers
page by page.
"Very colourful."
David sat aside the wrinkled pages underneath the stool close to the
door, so they
wouldn't blow away, thinking how he was so glad that Sanah's
god-parents had gotten her those
crayons for her birthday. She was quite the artist as Gloria had
stated, there was no denying it.
Then, his wife shrieked as she noticed an oncoming vehicle, yes, a big
truck, just as Sanah was
heading for the end of the driveway.
David, feeling frighteningly stationery, much like his dream, managed
to lift his concrete
legs in to motion towards the obvious accident that was about to occur.
He desperately sprung
forward to save his daughter. Unfortunately, Patches had the same idea
and collided with his
owner in pursuit of the little girl. David's legs gave way after being
struck by their dogs and
layed helpless on the ground watching as the transport truck smashed
into the little purple and
pink bike. The yellows ribbons thrashing everywhere and his poor girl
went thrashing to the
pavement. He saw it all...and could do nothing about it.

The massive vehicle stopped, but only for a moment. The driver stopped
long enough to
think about the trouble that he would face for what just happened....if
he was caught. He drove
away violently into the field. He could have been drunk the way he
seemed so out of control.
Yes, drunk...or scared.
As David stood up the feeling in his legs went from concrete to jelly.
He collapsed once
more, in tears this time. His wife frantically raced pass him to their
broken child that lay still on
the road before them. He then managed to get to his feet. David
solemnly jogged over to his
beloved little girl knowing all too well that he didn't want to see
what lay before him. Crumbled
and broken, there was his daughter.
The dread within him was almost unbearable, then he heard something. A
soft moan, just
barely audible, but it was enough to fill him with hope. Sanah was
alive, just merely alive, but
she was still breathing right there before him. The Lord had not taken
her yet. Oh thank god,
thank god almighty!
Gloria, the rational one of the two, had already called an ambulance.
Since the small
town of Biarston was a small town indeed, the ambulance arrived quickly
and David was
overwhelmed with desperate hope for his daughter's life. They rode
along side the little girl in
great distortion as she slipped in and out of consciousness.

After what seemed like days to David and his wife, but was more like a
few hours,Dr.
Amherst finally stepped into the waiting room to ensure that the
multiple surgeries that had to be
immediately administered to little Sanah had went the best anyone could
hope for. But an ugly
lump of fear had reappeared in the depths of David's stomach. They had
hoped the operation
would be a success, but no one guaranteed that Sanah would survive much
longer.
Of course, they asked to see her and their request was granted on the
terms that they
didn't keep her from the rest that was needed. They entered the plain,
dim hospital room to see
their daughter lying content in a bed with plain blue bed sheets and a
soft yellow blanket. She
was in several casts and her blond hair matted to her face and pillow.
She must have felt okay
though, just a little lost. She began to speak and that's when he
realized what a great deal of pain
she was in whether the antibiotics had helped at all or not.
"Mom, Daddy..." she managed to choke out.
That left Gloria in tears and she had to turn away, her lack of
control embarrassed her.
David let his tears flow not really thinking to much of it, his
daughter was in pain, and if she
couldn't cry about it, he sure as hell would. Gloria's sobs became
uncontrollable and she pushed
herself away from the bed beholding her daughter and into the hallway.
Sanah seemed to
understand her mother's sudden disappearance and then looked up at
David.
"What's next Daddy?" she questioned him with her beautiful green eyes,
beautifully
colourful eyes, beautifully dying eyes. She was slipping away from him.
Sanah was referring to
her afterlife, how she knew she was dying was beyond him, but his
little artist knew and was
okay with it. He'd never been so proud...and so terribly sad. How do
you explain to a five year
old child what's next? What's next? The words echoed in his mind. He
had no experience
himself with what was next, so what to say? How to explain?
There was really no point in pretending she didn't have to worry about
that sort of thing,
everything was going to be alright. He wanted to say those words, those
very words, so badly.
But he couldn't deal with the lies if they were to be so and he knew
it. He was simply grateful
for this conversation, right here, right now, with his beautiful
Sanah.
"Whatever you want is next," he managed to say more confidently than
he could ever
have hoped. Although still crying a little, he felt better just seeing
the happiness that came over
his daughter as he said that simple sentence. David could see her mind
racing with ideas of what
was to come next for her, for Sanah Cannock.
"The colours in dreams, Daddy." she said almost cheerfully, as if the
fact that she was
lying broken in a hospital bed had no affect on her. He must have
looked confused and so she
elaborated to the best of her five year old ability. "That's what's
next. I will become the colours
in dreams, in everybody's dreams!"
His heart jumped as her eyes danced with this new idea. She was so
innocent and he
believed with every bit of his being that her little dream really would
come true, it would have
to. Even God had to grant this little girl's wish, not even He would
have the heart not to. And
after she stated her affairs of what was next for her, she drifted to
sleep, then simply
drifted...away...
That night after hours of planning the perfect funeral and speaking
with devastated
relatives and friends, he went off to bed not expecting to sleep much.
But soon found himself
falling into the depths of his mind and sleeping. If he had known what
lay ahead for him that
night in his dreams he would have done anything to stay awake and
prevent it.
He found himself unable to move and once again watching in horror as
his house burned
down in front of him. Being aware that this was a dream comforted him
somewhat, but he
longed for the rainbows and flowers of his daughter's dreams. He would
have much preferred
sunshine than the ashes that lay before him. Then came the kitchen
window's explosion and out
with it the familiar piece of white paper.
He looked down at it and saw the same family portrait drawn by the
late Sanah Cannock,
but as he peered closer he saw it had changed just a little. Amongst
all the black and white of his
dream was this picture, of himself, his wife, and their dog
Patches...but where Sanah was
supposed to be a heart had taken her place...a red heart, and he saw
it. The heart was red and he
saw it.
David didn't scream himself awake that night, but he sobbed just the
same.

Marie Terrault *050302*