Night hadn't progressed much; it was just around 8:30 pm. Mrs. Ephraim and her 14 years old son, Junior, were in the kitchen picking beans to be cooked very early the following day. The kitchen was brightly lit, with a bright LED bulb fixed at the center, sharply illuminating everything.
Everything was fine until a very loud shout emanated from the master's bedroom which was obviously the sound of Mr Ephraim.
"Jesus!" Mrs. Ephraim exclaimed in shock at the sound of the shout. She got up and headed to the bedroom to check what was happening. She saw Junior getting up from the bench to follow her and she quickly shunned him
"Sit there! Pick the beans while I go and check!" she instructed Junior, who frowned a little but nodded in affirmation and sat back down to pick up the tray containing the white beans.
Upon entering the room, Mrs. Ephraim found her husband sitting in the center of the bed, his hands resting on his laps, panting heavily.
"Honey, what was that? I heard the shout. What did you see?" she quickly rushed to the bed and bombarded him with questions, then went silent, waiting for an answer.
Her husband didn't respond immediately; he kept panting, using his left hand to wipe his face.
"Come on, it's just a dream, and you've been working tirelessly these days. That's why you've been sleeping very early. When the body is overworked, nightmares like that are bound to happen," she reassured him, trying to comfort him with some cuddles
But he didn't seem to want comfort. Instead, he softly pushed her arm away, got up from the bed, and moved to a spot on the wall where a rectangular mirror was hanging. Mrs. Ephraim watched in surprise as he pulled down the mirror and began to scatter things around the room.
"Did you see something like a netted cobweb with feathers attached?" Mr. Ephraim turned to face his wife, who was totally lost in confusion.
"I'm asking you!" he raised his voice slightly when he noticed his wife's distraction.
"I saw it, I removed it this morning while sweeping the room. What is it? Are you doing voodoo?" she replied, her frustration evident by her trying to walk away from the room while he rushed and softly held her by the waist from the behind and it worked magic on her body system
"I didn't destroy it, I just threw... Wait, I'm not telling you anything until you tell me what it is," she almost gave out the details until her second instict pinched her to stop.
"Okay, I do have bad dreams, horrible dreams, just like the one I had just now. And that substance you threw away is a dreamcatcher. That's what has been helping me," he explained, his tone softening.
"Why didn't you tell me before now?" she asked, smiling now that she understood.
"Honey, that's because I didn't want you to think I was using voodoo..."
"Shhhhhhhhh!" she cut him off with a kiss on the mouth and immediately, the quest to find the dreamcatcher was thrown off. They spent the rest of the night in each other's arms, the lost dreamcatcher forgotten. The next morning, she retrieved it from the bin and hung it back in its place.
For Junior, he quietly went to his room to sleep immediately his mom left the kitchen.
Thanks for reading.
This is also for day 17 of #Aprilinleo prompt. Do well to read the full details here