Scared. I was very scared. The scenery danced around me and I couldn’t make out where I was. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead. I grasped for something to hold onto but there was nothing. Nothing was holding me up and I fell . . .

“Whoa!”

I started and my eyes flew open. Clutching onto the mattress, I managed to keep myself from falling onto the trundle bed below me. Heart pounding, I stared at the empty bed for a moment before even attempting to pull myself back onto the top bunk.

Minutes passed before I slowly made my way out of the bedroom. Everyone was already awake and the living room was bustling. Mackie was running back and forth between Evie and Tay, Zac and Lynnie were serving as Jessie and Avie’s main source of entertainment, Diana was holding Zoë in her arms, and Isaac was making his way into the room from the kitchen, glass of milk in hand.

“Good morning, Sleepy,” he said pleasantly, giving a smile.

I gave a weak nod and walked past him, into the kitchen. As if I lived there, I walked to a cupboard and took a glass out and then filled it with water. I took a long drink from it before turning from the sink.

Isaac was standing in the kitchen doorway, staring at me as if I were a visitor from outer space performing a strange ritual. For a moment, neither of us spoke. Finally, Ike took a couple steps toward me and asked, “Did you have that dream again?”

Staring at the tabletop, I nodded. “Only, it was more real this time. I could feel it, you know? I could feel myself falling -” I looked up at Isaac. “I’m scared.”

He closed his eyes momentarily, as if deep in thought. When he opened them, he said, “Jaye, people have dreams about falling all the time and nothing bad happens.” He was careful to keep his voice down, and I was silently grateful. The last thing I needed was to worry Lynn or - more importantly - Evie.

“Correction: People have dreams about flying all the time. And even if they dream about falling, I doubt if it’s every single night,” I told him.

Isaac thought for another moment. “Maybe something’s going on in your life you think you can’t control and that’s where these dreams are coming from,” he said rationally. “Maybe it’s because of when the transmission on you van blew -”

“Ike,” I whispered, cutting him off. With a weak smile, I added, “Now who sounds like the psychiatrist?” Isaac gave a smile as well, so I continued. “It couldn’t be from that because I had that dream before the van died. I told you that already.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Isaac remembered. “Well, I don’t know what to tell you. I wish I knew what was going on, but . . .”

I nodded, understanding. “I wish I knew what was going on, too,” I told him.

Isaac gave me a kind of slight half-smile. Something in his brown eyes almost softened. He’s worried for me, I realized. It was almost endearing. He barely knew me, and yet, Isaac was worried.

I managed to give a small smile in return.

Just then, from the living room, Zac cried, “Ohmigod!”

Isaac broke the gaze the two of us had been sharing and jogged into the living room to see what his brother was yelling about. I followed.

“Ohmigod!” Zac cried again. He was pointing at the TV, gaping. I glanced at Ike. He just shrugged. I turned back to Zac just as he yelled, “It’s the amazing Electro-Vacuum! No household is complete without it! Mom! Get your credit card, quick!”

Diana looked at her third-born doubtfully. Shifting Zoë in her arms, she reached over and touched Zac’s forehead. “Are you feeling all right, sweetheart?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Surprisingly, Diana reminded me of my own mother. Smart, witty - fun. I liked her.

Zac made a straining, smiling face at his mother and made a strange noise. I laughed softly and shook my head. Then, turning to Isaac, serious look on my face, I told him, “Your brother is crazy.”

Equally serious, Ike nodded. “I know.” Then, holding his finger to his lips, he added, “It’s the family secret.”

We shared a smile then. It was fun being able to share jokes with Isaac, just as Evie and I often did. And, speaking of Evie . . .

“Jaye? Shouldn’t you go get dressed?” she asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

I looked down, not having realized I was still in my pajamas - which consisted of an old T-shirt. I smiled at Evie. “That would be a good idea, wouldn’t it?” With that, I shuffled myself back to the guys’ bedroom.

When I emerged from the room about five minutes later, everyone was pulling their shoes on. I walked over and sat down next to Evie. “What’s going on?” I asked.

“We’re going to the park,” she replied, tying the laces of her shoe together.

I nodded. “Cool.”

Diana looked at me critically. “Aren’t you coming, Jaye?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I replied. “I’m coming. Why?”

Tying the tiny laces of Zoë’s baby shoes, Diana said, “Because you’re not putting your tennis shoes on.”

Evie and Lynnie both laughed. “She doesn’t wear shoes,” Lynnie said with a giggle.

“She was wearing shoes yesterday,” Diana pointed out.

I smiled. “That’s because I didn’t have a choice. If I don’t have to, I don’t like wearing shoes,” I explained.

Diana gave a small smile. “I see,” she said with a slow nod. I just smiled at her.

Jessica and Avie ran straight for the swings.

I smiled, remembering what it was like to be their ages. I then gave a small laugh, feeling silly for remembering “their ages” like it had been decades since I’d been there.

Slowly, I made my way over to the merry-go-round. So did Evie, Lynnie, and Tay. Lynn sat down in the center of the large metallic circle and smiled angelically. “Jaye-Jae, push me,” she requested.

I grinned. It had been . . . just - forever since I’d pushed a merry-go-round. “Alright, Lynnie-Bear,” I agreed, grabbing onto one of the bars and pushing it. Before I went all the way around, Tay and Evie were helping me. After we’d built up enough speed, I jumped onboard.

Tay jumped up next, tightening his grip on the bar to keep himself from slipping backward. However, Evie was not so triumphant. She attempted to jump up twice, unsuccessfully, before Tay crossed the merry-go-round and held his hands out. Evie took his hands and finally made it up. The ride teetered slightly and Eve had to lean into Taylor to keep her balance. They both let out a little laugh.

After about five minutes on the merry-go-round, I grew bored and jumped off. For fun, I joined Jessica and Avery on the swings. They were trying to hold a jumping contest in which Avery was having a slight problem.

“You can’t jump far enough unless you swing higher,” Jessie insisted to her sister.

Avery wasn’t convinced. “I don’t know, Jess . . .” she began slowly.

Jessie rolled her eyes. “Here, watch me,” she said. With that, she sat on her swing and began pumping her legs. Within a minute, she had acquired the correct height and velocity and -

“Woo-hoo!” she cried, sprawling through the air and landing on her feet about five feet from the swing set. Jessica then turned to her little sister, “See?”

Avie looked at the swing doubtfully. “I still don’t know . . .”

“Look, Avie,” I interjected. “I’ll swing along beside you and we’ll jump together,” I offered. “How does that sound?”

Slowly, she nodded and made her way to the swing next to me. We began swinging side-by-side. Once we had climbed up high enough, I looked over at her and said, “Ready? One, two, three - jump!”

With that, the two of us leapt from our swings. I cut through the air in a manner I hadn’t in years. It was exhilarating. Quick, but exhilarating. Like flying for just a moment; having gravity lose its grasp on you. And then I hit the ground.

Hard.

“Ouch!” I cried, but it was drown out by Avie’s delighted squeals of, “I did it! I did it!”

I was still on the ground when Diana walked over, Zoë in tow. “I did it, Mommy! Did you see? Wasn’t it cool?” Avery cried.

“Yes, yes, I saw,” Diana told her. “That was very cool, Sweetie.”

In that moment, Diana seemed to notice me for the first time. “Jaye, are you all right?” she asked, eyeing me in the universal motherly fashion that every woman learns to execute.

I looked down at my right leg. “I think I kind of twisted my ankle.”

She gave a small half smile and nodded. “Is it bad?”

I stood up, putting all my weight on my left leg until I was completely off the ground. Then, slowly, I put weight on the injured limb. “Ow!” I cried, cringing back off my right ankle.

Diana handed Zoë off to Ike, who had made his way over to the scene since his mother had been talking to me, and walked over to my side. She took my ankle in a soft, mothering hand and examined it crucially. “It’s already swelling. We should probably get you back to the house -”

“No, Mom!” Jessica objected immediately. “We just got here!”

“Yeah, Mom,” Avery added in a pout.

“I’ll take her home, Mom,” Isaac offered.

Smiling, Diana stood up and took Zoë from her son’s arms. “Thank you, Sweetie.”

As his mother walked away, Isaac held his hand out to me and gave a small half smile. “Let’s get going,” he suggested.

“You should’ve worn shoes.”

I laughed, watching Isaac slide the key into the front door lock. “I twisted my ankle. Hate to break it to you, babe, but shoes wouldn’t of helped me,” I told him.

He eyed me critically, pushing the door open. “ ‘Babe’?” he asked.

Limping into the house with the aid of Isaac’s arm, I said, “I’m not trying to stroke your ego, don’t worry. I call everyone ‘babe’.”

He smiled. “In that case, I’ll try not to let it go to my head,” he said sarcastically. “We should probably put an ACE bandage on that ankle before it swells any more,” he suggested, this time his tone more serious. I nodded and he helped me into the bathroom. I sat down on the toilet lid and watched as Ike dug through the bathroom cabinet. Minutes later, he finally found the bandage and turned to me.

As he began wrapping my ankle, Isaac cleared his throat. Keeping his eyes on the bandage, he asked, “So, uh, do you think that this . . . Well, if this was what your dream was about?”

I couldn’t help but smile. It was sweet how Ike was so worried about me . . . “No, I don’t think so,” I said quietly, even though we were the only people in the house. “I think it was a joke on me by gravity.”

Isaac nodded, still not diverting his attention from my leg. “I see,” he said simply.

As he finished attaching the bandage, I let out a small giggle. He looked up at me and cocked an eyebrow. “What’s so funny?” he demanded.

I shook my head. “It’s just that . . . I don’t know. I just think it’s so cool how you seem to be so worried about me is all. I just . . . I don’t know.”

Isaac smiled. “Why is it so cool that I’m worried about you?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Because I barely know you, I guess. The only people I’m used to ever worrying about me are my parents, Lynnie, and Evie,” I told him.

Isaac smiled again, sitting up higher on his knees. “Well, I guess when you’re the oldest and you have six younger brothers and sisters, you worry a little more than most people,” he said, slowly, unconsciously moving closer to me.

I smiled too. “It’s nice to have people caring about you.”

Still smiling, Isaac moved closer to me. Or did he? It’s probably my eyes playing a trick on me, I told myself. However, just then, I felt pressure against my ankle. Slowly, the pressure mounted until -

“Ouch, Isaac. You’re kind of hurting my leg,” I said quietly.

He looked down at my knee and stood up. “Oh, sorry,” he muttered.

I shook my head and grinned softly. “It’s all right,” I said simply. I stood up. Foolishly attempting to put pressure on my injured limb, I succeeded in nearly falling forward. However, Isaac was there and he caught me before I fell flat on my face. I grinned again and whispered, “Thank you.” Unconsciously, I looked up at Isaac.

And then we were kissing, his lips pressing gently against mine . . .