"Dad! I hope you know, most times, my dreams do come through probably all the time." He said to him, looking straight into his eyes, his body was still very much wasted and his face looked curious with the thought in his eyes. He had a lot of questions that needed answering but his confusion was; if his Dad had the answers he needed at that moment. "Dad, whenever I have this dream, I feel frightened about it each day I think of it, some things tell me, and it tries to tell me something but I can't place my hand on it every time it comes. It is a message via my dreams and I think we have to do something about it," he continued to be pleased with his Dad to see from his point of view, but yet, as always, he never sees reason to believe Raymond when he talks. "Look here son," he replied to Raymond as he slowly moved and bent down to the bed and sat close to him, he added, "You know I always believe you right!?!," He asked Raymond, considering his trust in him. "Yes you do," Raymond immediately replied in a low tone of voice, he emphasized by saying, "You always do, this time, it is different from the others and you know it… my feelings tell me, you feel I am lying this time around. But—" he wanted to continue but was held to stop just immediately as he would conclude his thoughts from his mind. "What are you saying, Raymond? Of course, I know you wouldn't lie to me, I believe you, but I just want you to forget about it and perhaps pretend you never had the dreams at all," he replied to Raymond, but this time, his voice was a bit louder than the first time he started talking. "Hope you understand what I am trying to say to you?"
"Yes Dad, I understand. Now can I go and get ready for school?" He answered back with a low volume of voice, his head bent down, he kept looking at the floor and around the room, avoiding eye contact between his Dad and him. "Okay, that would be great, I guess I have to go to your sister's room to get her up from the bed too. But I promise, when I get back, you and I are going to have a father-and-son talk tonight. But please, hurry down the stairs, we are almost late in going." He got up from the bed and left the room so Raymond could have some privacy and get ready to go to his school. He was out of the room, he turned to hold the doorknob and pulled it towards himself. The door was shut tight close. Shortly after he had exited Raymond's room, he got to the entrance of Eily's room, and again, he knocked on the door. "I am coming, just a second," quickly came a reply from Emily from behind the door.
She was always faster when it came to preparing for schooling, and her social area in school was mostly her preferred Raymond when it came to matters of socialism. She was already up and ready for school, even before Raymond woke up from his sleep. "I knew you were going to be ready before I got here! Okay, I am going downstairs, hurry up and take your breakfast because we are already late!" He smiled and left the point he was standing on.
Finally, he came down the staircase leading to the dining room. He slowly walked down and quickly got to the dinner table and sat down on one of the chairs in the dining room. A plate was given to him by his wife and she put some food for him to eat before going. "Where are Raymond and Eily? I thought they were behind you right?" She asked him for answers. "No! Both of them said they were coming on their own. I couldn't say anything to them. You know they are all grown up; Raymond is obviously in his eighteen and Eily in her sixteenths; she had her birthday party just a week back so—..." He did not finish what he wanted to say. "Speak too soon, dear look over there!" He said to his wife. "Eily! What are you doing over there?" They spoke with each other, and both of them turned at the same time to spot where she was hiding. Eily was standing in front of the dining room through the staircase, her head in between the iron bars of the staircase. She was there the whole time her parents were talking about her and Raymond. She intended to stay calm under the hiding place of the stairs until they were done talking about her most of all. "Nothing Mum, I was wondering if I left something up in my room. That was all," she replied to quitting, which was asked by her parents.
She stood up from under the side of the stair's iron bar and walked out of the shadows that covered her the entire time. Slowly, she walked towards the table where her parents were seated already. Immediately after she got to the table, the question in her parent's eyes was noticed by her quick look, hesitatingly, she extended her hand towards the table and took out a lot of the beard. Forcefully, she had the entire beard quizzed inside her mouth continuously until there wasn't any space for more to enter. "Why were you standing over there?..." Her Dad asked her. She tried taking it, but she couldn't, her mouth was fed up to the limit. She intentionally did it because she knew her Dad was going to ask her a lot of questions if she did nothing about it. She quickly continued adding more food to her mouth when she noticed that the food in her mouth was becoming worn with the saliva in her mouth. "Please take it easy Eily, you could get crooked if you continue eating this fast. Please slow down so you won't hurt yourself!" Her Dad advised her to eat fast, he also knew she never wanted to answer the questions they had asked her. She felt she was playing a smart game with them but yet they decided to play along with her. "I asked you where Raymond was? You haven't replied to me!" He said to her again. "Yeah, Dad! I saw him on my way up the stairs. He said he would get to the high school on his own. He ordered you to not worry about him!" She replied to the question. "Why now?" He spoke loudly and angrily because of what Eily told him about Raymond's new changes of mind, he was always fond of that. Now, he was in for it…