Memories (Of Dreams and Demons)

Naoko

"What is this place?" I ask wonderingly.

"It's ours," she replies, and claps her hands again as she looks around.

"Doesn't look like much," I grumble. She turns and punches me gently on the arm.

"No one has ever been here before," she says to me, "ever. We are the first."

"How do you know that?" I ask.

"We were the first to imagine it, silly," she replies. Grabbing one of the many torches embedded in the dirt wall, she marches off down the tunnel.

I follow closely behind. As my eyes adjust to this place something does not feel quite right. Everything is an unnatural grey, as if my sight is blanketed by a shroud removing all color and vibrancy. Every step rustles up thick dust. Sometimes I can almost hear running water off in the distance, but I can't tell from which direction the sound originates. The longer we walk, the larger the tunnel around us becomes. It gets larger, until I could stand twice as tall and still have plenty of room to move around.

After about an hour of following her, the air becomes less thick. There is a sense of light up ahead, and she abruptly shoves her torch back into the dirt wall. Our pace quickens when we realize the tunnel expands ahead into a large cave.

When we reach the cavernous space our eyes widen. She lets out a short wondrous gasp. Before us sits something out of a beautiful fantasy novel. Large cracks above us allow dim rays of light to shine down throughout the cavern. It reflects off rocks filled with precious stones, making them sparkle like little glimmers of hope. A rich collection of lush green flora barely illuminated grows alongside small creeks and ponds. There is more colour here than in the tunnel, but it feels subdued.

In the middle of the cavern a huge, gushing waterfall races down from a large hole. There must be a river above that channels down before us. The water is crystal clear, reflecting what light is available, glistening like a thousand bright stars. It rushes down to break on the rocks and flow off in multiple directions. I can hear smaller water channels nearby, and the occasional frog or bird calling out. Half a dozen large stalagmites jut up from the ground, matched by many more of varying sizes hanging down above us.

"This doesn't seem real," I gasp, and she immediately turns to me.

"Don't think that," she warns, "you have to believe this is real!"

"Why?" I ask, "it doesn't seem real. It's like something out of a fairy-tale."

The ground rumbles. It's as if something slightly out of mind is trying to claw back into my consciousness. The stalagmites quiver, and a number of rocks break and fall around us. Her face turns gravely concerned, as if she is about to lose something very important.

"It is real," she says, nodding to me matter-of-fact, "we imagined it and made it real, remember?"

The cavern shakes violently, and my eyes narrow. Patches of life now sit dreary as if all light has been sucked out of them. A large stalagmite suddenly splits in two and crashes violently to the ground, breaking into a thousand pieces. The birds and frogs have stopped singing, and the waterfall rages, suddenly loud enough to deafen.

"What is happening?" I cry, "we have to get out of here!"

"No, no, no," she says, shaking her head, her eyes closed. Tears stream down her face, and her hands cover her ears, trying to block out the sounds, "we just got here."

Then I see them. The waterfall warps and belches sickeningly to one side. The flowing water takes on a dark cloudy hue before morphing into thick, black shadows. Hands and figures take life from the blackened water and dart out in every direction, smashing the stalagmites, trampling on fauna, and stamping out any glimmer of light. It's the shadows from the library, they've somehow followed us here.

The ponds and creeks around us bubble black and dry up. The cavern shakes harder, more stalagmites threaten to collapse. I quickly grab her and jump forward a little, dodging rolling rocks and debris as the tunnel we entered from crashes behind us. Seeing us stumble, the shadows gain confidence and twist towards us, stronger with every passing second. I know they are going to reach us. With nowhere else to run, she turns and holds onto me tightly, her tears leaving streaks of dirt down her face. All I can do is hold her too, desperately looking around at the shadows bearing down upon us, my eyes tearing up.

'We've found you,' the shadows whisper again, 'nasty little dreamers, "you're in trouble now. Can't do this.'

She squeezes my hands as the shadows wrap their limbs tighter around both of us, pulling her away from me.

"No!" She screams, "I don't want to go anywhere!"

"Don't take her!" I shout at the shadows, holding her back just as tightly. I can feel them tugging away at my clothes, grabbing and twisting my arm, pulling my hair.

Before we know it we are both separated and firmly in their grasp, ready to be taken home. We reach out to each other, wanting to stay in this cave together with our dreams and stories and adventures.

My fingers brush her own. Her touch is the only warmth in this cold darkness. I look into her eyes, but I am too far away to see my own reflection within them. Our moment is almost over. Still, I am now a boy knowing he has found the most important thing in his life. My expression gets serious for a child so young.

"I will see you again," I say, "I believe it. I promise."

Her eyes tearfully widen and she nods.

"What is your name?" I ask desperately.

She smiles at me sadly and says, "Naoko."

Neither of us notice a small animal pounce from outside her backpack and into my own. A promise given life.

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