Falling

II

Alicia

Do you ever get that feeling? Where you're falling, but as you hit the bed you wake up?

I was chasing a deer. She glided through the thicket gracefully. Branches snagged her coarse brown fur, she neither cared nor noticed, the forest was her home; it protected her.
I ran. I didn't know why, but something about the crunch of leaves under my feet and the crisp air that danced in my lungs enticed me to go on. I felt free, soaring over ivy-draped branches, weaving inbetween the whispering trees. The deer kept running. She bounded over branches, and somehow I too manoeuvred the tangle with ease. The colour and light flooded around me. I sped on - the world just a blur of greens and browns. Grass and leaves and the cool fresh air filled my senses. Nothing was on my mind except the thrill of such freedom and the beauty of the forest around me. Light broke through the canopy following me as I ran. My feet were bare and as I pushed off my toes would sink into the soft warm mud. I laughed out loud rejoicing in the pleasure of being there. One with nature, at peace with the world. I was.. happy.

I glanced around and I was in a medow. Vast expanses of flowery emptiness stretched around me. The sun prickled my shoulders and pollen swung around me in floaty golden bursts as I disturbed the irises beneath my feet. They were red, deep as the mountain peaked sunset I saw in the distance. The deer was running straight towards the sun, a firery Amber ball sinking into the horizon.

The moon replaced the sun and I ran in the eerie twilight. I ran like the deer never tiring, never slowing, but never catching it.

It was dark and the shocking cold hit me at once. I did not stop. The deer kept bounding across the fields, and so didn I. The ground opened in front of me; as if the whole medow had split in half. I stared towards the vast gorge. Before I could stop she leapt cleanly over the chasm. I sprung forwards, feeling the wind carry me as my toes left the crumbling edge.

I fell.

Down and down. Falling towards the rocky below.

My eyes opened as I hit my bed.

Dreams are linked to your subconscious. I've devoted too much of my time trying to understand dreams. I even keep a dream journal. I write everything I can remember in my pretty little brown notebook secured with a purple ribbon. I don't understand why I just feel like I owe it to myself - to a part of me, to remember my dreams and keep them safe.
I sighed. When would I have time to write this dream down? It was so detailed. So real. It was different to my normal dreams, it was so unusual yet oddly familiar... It was so vivid I could still feel the crunch and snap of twigs beneath my feet.

I shook myself. Focus. I needed to get up. I peeled myself out of bed - secretly hating myself for doing so.

I went downstairs, and started getting breakfast. Dad was there. His arms folded. "What are you doing awake?" Momentarily forgetting the horror of the day before I responded. "Getting ready for school..?" He sighed deeply and sat down on the chair next to me. The wooden legs squeaked awkwardly against the tiles.

"You're not going." I opened my mouth to protest, but he spoke before I had the chance. I could
see how hard he was finding it to be strict. He wanted to give in, to let me do whatever I wanted; but I could see the redness of his eyes and the worry that lay behind them. I knew I'd have to listen to him because he's only trying to help me. I nodded my head slowly because I knew he was right. I did not want to repeat the embarrassment of the day before. I stared into my cereal and suddenly I was back there...