Heart of My Mountain

Chapter 4B: Awaken

You gasp, sitting upright, back against your hiking pack, which was now warm from your body heat. You feel yourself, sighing in relief. You're  alive.

It was a dream.

You know your hands are shaking and so were your body. You're going to have a real panic attack right now.

You hug yourself as tight as possible, trying to focus on your breathing.

It's not real. It's just a dream. Nothing happened, so get over yourself.

You actually manage to calm yourself down enough that you could function again. Hot tears drip from your face and land in the cold snow as you push yourself up, grabbing your stuff. The fire was now reduced to only hot ambers, glowing red.

You looked over at the memorial. It was still there.

Of course it was still there. Did you expect it to grow legs and leave?

Stupid thoughts rush into your head. You wonder why you were like this, so irrational and childish. You were brash to people's feelings, and sometimes you wouldn't even care at all. You can feel that clone, that-

Part of you, watching, waiting. 

Waiting for the perfect moment to strike. You knew she was here, she was here somewhere maybe. You might not be able to see her, but the more you acknowledge this, the more the squeezing in your stomach worsens.

You ran out of there, jumping over rocks but stopped. In front of you was the same old ruins. The old castle with their broken down walls, except there was no purplish hue and floating space blocks.

You punch the ground, and yell curses at it as you shake your hand.

You don't know what's real and what's not anymore. Was that really a dream? You can't tell, but you knew something was horribly wrong. You ignore everything around you, only stopping to talk to Theo, who has already made camp here before you. The thought that he climbed even faster and easier than you made your blood boil.

You can see his excitement in his eyes as he shows you the photos he took on his trip here. They weren't bad at all, in fact quite professional. You had no doubt that he would be like his grandfather, or even better. You share your excitement with him, complimenting him. He grins, and suggests that he takes a selfie with you. You freeze, and quietly decline, but he just grins more. Before you could react he has already took a picture. It came out as bad as you'd expect, looking like you accidentally photo bombed it at the worst moment possible.

Theo could tell that you were upset, and tried to cheer up the mood, saying that he won't post that one. You were about to leave home before you say that it would be fine. Theo apologizes and tells you his about his name in Instapix, and says you should check him out sometimes. You sigh, saying you don't even have a smart phone. He looks beyond disappointed as you walk away. After climbing a bit more, you see the info booth.

The exact same info booth that was in your dream.

You didn't care about it now as you speed towards it, hands shaking as you dial your mom's phone number. The seconds of wait felt like hours, slowly killing you as you wait for her to pick up. When she does, you try to stay calm and tell her what happened, but she notices your breathing. She told you the same times she had told you before.

"Focus on your breathing honey, I'm here."