The Vale (Nanowrimo 2013)

Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

            “We’re here.” Aria said, pulling the horse to a halt. I looked around in the pitch black night sky, and only saw stars. In front of me just feet away, though, was a steep mountain that looked quite dangerous and sent chills down my spine. In front of me, was a small dark opening, no more than four feet high and one foot wide. I got off the horse, and walked towards the opening. I couldn’t make out much detail of it by just looking at it, but it seemed to be some sort of cave. I watched as Aria dismounted her house and tied him to a nearby tree.

            “Go on inside the hole you are looking at.” Aria said, walking towards the hole I was previously inspecting. I followed her instruction, and squeezed into the tiny doorway. I found myself in a large room, that I couldn’t make anything out of, since it was pitch black. Aria squeezed through right behind me, and suddenly had a match in her hand. She walked towards a wall that I couldn’t see, and held the match up, lighting a torch that was apparently built into the wall. She then walked around the entire room lighting every torch in the room, making up eight torches. As she lit every torch, it revealed another few feet of the room. When she was done, I was blown away. We were inside of a large stone room, with white marble floors. There was no furniture, except for in the center a large mirror that was bordered by gold, and stood on a gold stand. Aria walked over and stood in front of the mirror, simply staring at it.

            “Come on, Clara.” She called me over, with a worried tone. She seemed almost frightened of what lay ahead. Why was I brought to a cave with a mirror in it? I stood in front of the mirror by Aria’s side, and stared at my reflection. My reflection was not clear as most mirrors were, instead it was blurring everything, as if the mirror was coated in a layer of fog.

            “Touch it.” Aria instructed, still staring at our reflections. I did as I was told, and extended my arm out and barely touched the middle of the mirror with my index finger. The mirror then rippled, as if it was still water before I touched it. It rippled until it faded into a picture of a room, no not a picture… a video? I examined what was happening in the mirror more closely. Was that… me? That was definitely me, I was… laying in a white bed with my eyes shut, and it looked as if I was asleep. There were tubes and wires coming out of different parts of my body, such as my nose and wrists. I looked closer, and noticed there were a few people sitting on white chairs surrounding the bed I lay in. They all looked like they were in distress, and upset. I took a step closer to the mirror to see the faces of people. I immediately picked out Aria’s face, sitting in between a man and woman. I stood in shock at the people sitting on either side of Aria. They were my parents… the parents I saw in my dreams.

            “Clara… please… wake up….” My father said as he stood up and stared down at me. My mother stood up and sympathetically ran her hand up and down his back.

            “She will wake up… soon. I can feel it.” My mother said, as her eyes slowly filled with water and a tear ran down her face. Somehow I felt as if my mother didn’t even believe her own statement. I looked back at Aria, who was sitting with her head in her hands, her back shaking as if she was crying. I scanned my eyes along the people, and then back to the image of myself, who hadn’t moved and was still lying in the bed motionless with all the tubes and wires hooked up. The mirror then rippled again, and the image faded away, returning back to the original blurred reflection of Aria and I. I felt somewhat depressed now… what did that mirror try to show me? What was happening? I turned back to Aria, who was standing looking down at her feet, she also looked depressed.

            “What-what um… was that?” I asked, breaking the peaceful silence.

            “That was what’s happening the real world.” Aria said, shocking me immediately. Real world? What? What is going on!?

            “What? What do you mean real world?!” I yelled, suddenly worried and scared.

            “Clara, you’re in a coma. Everything that you saw in that mirror is what is happening in the real world. This is all a dream, a dream you are trapped in. If you don’t get out of the dream, you’re going to die in real life. All the things that have happened so far in this world have been imagined by your own thoughts. Nothing is at it seems, nothing is real. That is why the Queen wanted to kill you. Clara, this is your dream you can manipulate anything in this world if you really want to. You have control over your own thoughts, over your own figments of your imagination. You can make anyone do anything whenever you want if you really practice, if you really try. Even I, am a figment of your imagination.” Aria explained staring into my eyes. My heart started pounding, and I was speechless. Nothing was real? This was a dream? No… no this was all too real there is no way this is just a dream! I was full of anger, but also I was scared and worried all at once.

            “What? No… how? I’m in a coma? This is a dream? There’s no way!” I yelled, my eyes filling with water and preparing to spill onto my cheeks.

            “Clara, you were in car accident in the real world. Those injuries you woke up with in the forest, those are injuries from the car accident, they must have carried over into your dreams. You are slowly dying in the real world, the longer you are in this dream the less of a chance of survival you have. Time passes faster in the real world than it does in this world. You have been in this world for what seemed like three weeks and two days, but in the real world, it has been nearly a year of your in the coma. You need to find a way out of the dream, a way to wake yourself up.”