Take Two Fiction- Dream

3:30 AM. Or at least I think it was 3:30, as I woke up in a black room. I wiped the cold sweat from my face and groped for my glasses. The dream was still vivid in my mind as I sat up in the bed and shook my head trying to shake off the last vestiges of my dream.

 

 

White branches clawed the black-red sky. Pale grayish clouds partly covered a sickly yellow moon. Black crags rose in the distance, straining towards the moon. Wandering through a maze of dark branches, with strange creatures illuminated by the moon and glowing eyes where the moon somehow dared not touch, I was hunting something or even somebody. Snatches of my quarry teased me along the twisting path with wails and a low keening sound kept me going forward.

I threw my now clammy covers aside as I got out of bed and shuffled to the door. As I reached for the door knob, I thought I heard a keening sound on the other side. I hesitated, straining to hear the sound again. I slowly open the door, wincing at the creaking noise the old oak door made on its hinges.

 

 

I fought my way through the increasingly thick undergrowth, keeping my quarry in sight at all times. It wore glowing white, lighting its path through the brush. I followed it into a clearing and stopped, stymied. I could see my quarry up ahead, almost taunting me with its nearness.

 

I made my way through the dark hallway with one hand brushing against the wall so I could find my way around this suddenly strange house that I found myself in. I tried to find the source of that sound that nagged at me. I wasn’t certain if it was the sound from my dream or not but I had to be certain.

 

 

I spun around in circles, trying to find a way out of the clearing. The glowing whiteness of my quarry taunted me every direction I looked. A white stag approached me with a serious look on its face and pointed his antlers towards a hidden opening, now obviously apparent to me. I followed his directions and giving him a pat in return.

 

I turned the corner into what my mind told me was my living room and groped blindly for a lamp. A click told me the power was out. I turned around and felt for the wall again, still seeking the sounds I heard. I made my way slowly down the hallway as the sound started up again.

 

 

The keening sound grew louder and louder as I tracked the figure dressed in white teasing me. I wended my way through the bushes, keeping them away from my face. The figure darted closer towards me then darted away giggling. All the while the keening sound was getting louder and louder.

 

I finally made it to the kitchen where I knew I had a flashlight so I could go outside where I had a feeling he sound was coming from. When I bought the house and the land it stood on, there was this old building about the size of a medium greenhouse. I was told it was where somebody was killed 40 years ago over a dispute about a cow. Silly thing to kill over a mere cow, I thought. I pawed through the drawers hunting for my flashlight so I wouldn’t step into any holes in the dark when I went out to investigate. Finally my hand closed around the flashlight and it clicked on, illuminating the kitchen, now comfortingly familiar in the glow of the flashlight.

 

 

I was so intent on my goal, I didn’t notice that the sky was lightening and things were getting greener as I made my way down a broadening path and increasing light from a pale white moon, until I tripped over a branch in the path and fell. I looked up from the ground and finally glanced up, and seeing that the landscape wasn’t as eerie as it was when I began the chase. As I clambered up ungracefully, a pixie fluttered across the path. I gasped as I looked around a verdant forest that was a virtual paradise.

 

I stepped out the door and went straight for the building down at the edge of the property near where the forest started. As I approached the building, the sound kept getting louder and louder the closer I got. My hand reached for the door knob and I slowly opened the door, making sure the door was between me and whoever might be in inside.

 

 

My quarry was inside a rickety old building, giving me glimpses through the windows and open door as I quickened my pace to catch up to the figure dressed in white. The sound changed in pitch and tone, turning into a soothing melody as I got closer and closer to the building. I slowed down as I got within 5 feet of the door and paused making sure that there was nobody else around. I put my right foot across the threshold and entered the house.

 

When no bullets or other objects came out of the door, I carefully edged around the open door so as to not startle anybody or anything that might be in there. I swept the flashlight around, noting that there was just some furniture sitting haphazardly around with dusty cloths scattered around. My right foot was the first part of me to enter the house and my flashlight-wielding arm was next, shedding light into the corners. As my body entered the room, the sound had changed, smoothing out into a simple melody. I felt a prickling down my back and I quickly turned and beheld a woman in white. She beckoned me closer and I obeyed.

“Come with me, mortal, for you have been chosen to be the Faery King. For only certain mortals can cross the barrier into Faery and you have been deemed the best mortal.”
With that a portal opened, and we both entered the glowing portal.

 

 

The figure, a woman, I could tell now on closer inspection smiled gently at me. “A dream walking mortal. One who can enter Faery through dreams and turn it into reality. A perfect King to preside over our festivities. You will wake soon and please remember your dream for it shall come true. Come find me and you shall know more.”

1098 words.