//------------------------------// // Just a Dream? // Story: No longer Soaring // by I am not a Dalek //------------------------------// Chapter 2- Just a Dream? The sun shines through my window, making my room light up cheerfully. My eyes flutter open slowly as I roll over in my bed to come face to face with a Wonderbolts poster and stuck beside it, my acceptance letter. Thank Celestia, I thought it was all a dream but this has proven me wrong. I have a week before I have to pack up and leave for the academy, and since my mum is at work and my dad has gone to do some errands, I thought I could spend some time with Wave Chill. Even though we have the typical sibling rivalries, I'm going to miss him a lot and I really hope that he'll get into the Wonderbolts too, when the time comes. I know he's jealous of me but honestly, if I had it my way I would bring him with me. I know it's his dream too. It's hard to find a pegasus that didn't dream of being a Wonderbolt. Sliding out of my bed, I rub my eyes and stretch my wings out before dragging my hooves as I approach the door. The house is silent and I figure that Wave Chill is probably still deep in his slumber, him being the lazy flank that he is. So, I use this opportunity to have a shower without having to worry about any distractions. I turn the shower onto its coldest setting and step in without a problem. I normally have a cold shower because either somepony else uses up all the hot water or I just need a good wakeup call and today, it's the latter. The cool water soaks my mane and fur as I stand underneath the showerhead for a few moments. Once I'm fully awake, I turn off the water and climb out before giving my wings a flap to get rid of any water then proceeding to drying off with a towel. I trot out of the bathroom now, feeling less groggy and disoriented, and make my way down into the kitchen to find Wave Chill already up and eating breakfast with my dad. "Good morning, everypony." I say, shocked to see them both sitting there, my dad, apparently, arrived back from his errands faster than expected. Wave Chill smiles at me. "Hey, Soar, I was wondering if you wanted to play some Super Flimflam Bros on the Gamepony?" I sit down at the table and stare at him a few moments. "Wait... You actually want to hang out with me?" I gasp dramatically and grin widely at him. Wave Chill rolls his eyes and nods. "Of course I do, don't be daft. You're going away in a week." "Okay, fine, go and set up, I'll be up in a second." I watch as Wave Chill gets up from his seat and flies up the stairs, and then I turn to face my dad. "Should we do some flight practice afterward?" "Of course, son, I'll see you in a few hours." Dad says as he gets up and takes the newspaper under his wing before trotting into the sitting room. I tidy the kitchen up, putting the plates away before flying upstairs and into Wave Chill's bedroom where he's already started playing. We've both been trying to beat Super Flimflim Brothers on the Gamepony for years now, even though the game has long gone out of style. Wave groans as he loses his last life before mumbling angrily as he passes the console over to me. I laugh softly as I begin to play the first level of the game and pass through it with ease. Wave watches over my shoulder as I play. After a few minutes, he stands up and looks at me. "I'm going to get some snacks, do you want something?" he asks. I pause the game and look up at him. "Sure, if there's any Jaffa Cakes can you get me a few of them?" Wave Chill nods and flies out of the room. Once he's gone I start the game again and continue to play as I wait for my brother to return. Suddenly, I hear Wave galloping up the stairs calling out my name. "Soar! It's dad, he's not breathing." he cries out. "Quit playing around, Chill. It's not funny." I say and my heart is pounding in my chest. Wave Chill appears at the bedroom door with tears streaming down his cheeks. I instantly throw the console on the bed and sprint down the stairs. The sitting room door is wide open and I can see my father's gray hooves on the sofa. Slowly, I walk in to find him lying across the sofa as if he's sleeping; it's not unusual to find him like that. The daily newspaper is folded up on the floor and is sitting neatly at the end of the sofa and the television is softly playing in the background. Dad's favourite show is just finishing, it's called 'The Bill' and he watches it every Thursday without fail. "Dad?" I call out softly. When there is no answer, I walk over to him slowly and shake him. He's completely still, his chest isn't moving at all and even though I know that it's impossible for him to get so cold so quickly but he feels like ice. A scream escapes my lips as I continue to shake him, begging him to wake up. He was perfectly fine a moment ago; we spoke not so long ago. He promised that we'd have flight training later on today. He's fine, he's always fine. Frantically, I run over to our rotary phone and dial for an ambulance. Tears are streaming down my cheeks as I wait for an answer. "Hello, Cloudsdale Emergency Services, how may I help you?" A gentle voice comes from the other end. "C-Can I have an ambulance please, it's my dad. He's not breathing." My voice breaks. "Okay, sweetie, can you tell me where you live?" the mare says. I tell her our address and she says they'll be here as soon as they can, not to worry. She also says that they will probably have to send the police over to us too due to protocol but everything will be okay. She's wrong though, nothing will be okay anymore. Maybe this is just a dream; this is all just a dream. I pick up the phone again and turn the dial as I ring mum's work number. After a few rings her voice echoes down the line. "Hello?" Mum calls cheerfully. "Mum..." I whisper weakly. The line is silent for a few moments before she speaks again, "Soar? What's up, darling?" I glance back at dad who is resting peacefully before talking down the line again. "Dad's not breathing. He's not breathing, mum, you need to come home." "Soarin', that's not funny." She says sternly. "Do you think I'm joking, mum?" I yell before saying in a calmer voice, "Please, just come home." "Okay, okay, I'll be there as soon as I can, I promise," she whispers before the line goes dead. I place the phone down slowly before running up the stairs to find Wave Chill sitting on the floor with tears running down his cheeks, the Gamepony completely forgotten about. "He was perfectly fine, Soar, I swear," he sobs. I look at him before sitting down beside him and putting a hoof on his shoulder. "M-Maybe he's just unconscious..." I say weakly. It's not real, this isn't real. He's alive, he's alive. I look at my hooves as I hold my tears back as well as I can. "Don't worry, Wave," I whisper. The doorbell rings sharply through the room, causing us both to jump. I scramble to my hooves before going to answer the door. I find the paramedics there with a few police ponies. Cautiously, I pull back the door and let them in. A mare in a black police uniform steps forward to talk to me. "Hello, sweetie, we're just going to check your dad to make sure he doesn't have any bruises since this was a sudden event. Okay?" "Does he have any recent injuries that we may notice?" another police pony asks. I look around at everypony as I try to scrape my mind for anything, but it's too hard to talk right now. "H-He crashed the other week and broke a rib, but that's it." I whisper. "Okay, sweetie, is anypony else home with you?" The first mare asks. "My younger brother, Wave, is upstairs. Mum said she'd be home soon." The mare sympathetically puts a hoof on my shoulder before nodding. "Why don't you go up to your brother now, we will let you know when your mum is home." I nod and slowly walk up the stairs, leaving them to do whatever they need to do. My whole body feels numb and I can't feel anything but the roar of blood in my ears. I don't understand what's going on, why is this happening to me, to us. Everything was going perfectly, it was perfect. Now, it's ruined. I sit beside Wave Chill in silence and we both leave each other to our own thoughts. The rest of the day goes by in a blur. It's now about nine pm and the police are still here, as are the paramedics. Throughout the day, ponies have come in and out of my room, asking me questions. "Are you okay?" "Do you want anything?" "Do you need to talk?" I, of course, said "No," to all of them. I just wanted to be left alone, why can't they just leave me alone? They're now about to take dad's body away and bring him back to the hospital. I sit alone in my room as I watch out the window. The paramedics are bringing a trolley towards the house now so they can bring his body out. Somepony knocks at my door and I turn to see that it's mum. Her eyes are red and her mane is a mess around her face. Her entire body is violently shaking, like it has been since she returned home. "They're taking dad away now, do you want to say goodbye?" She asks softly. I stare at her blankly. Why do I need to say goodbye when he's going to be coming home again? Slowly, I shake my head and return to looking out the window. I hear my door creak shut and hoofsteps grow further away from the door. I watch as they bring the trolley out which now has a dark body bag on it as well. I wince as I slowly climb to my hooves and return to my bed before collapsing onto it. Maybe if I fall asleep everything will be back to normal when I wake up? I think as I close my eyes, my body feels emotionally weak from everything that has happened today, so I almost instantly fall asleep and into a dream world where my dad is still alive.