Wake Not the Dead

CHAPTER 1: A CHAT WITH MY MOTHER

THIS STORY IS THE COPYRIGHT OF REBECCA GAGE. ANY COPIES, DISTRIBUTION, SALES, ALTERATION OF THIS STORY IS COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT.

CHAPTER 1 A WALK THROUGH DEATH
I was dreaming about her again. It was always the same and never changed but I could never quite remember until I woke up. But something felt different this time. I felt myself slipping deeper into sleep and then I forgot everything.
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I blinked, trying to force my eyes to work. They blurred as if I were seeing through oil.

Where am I?

 Cold grass tickled the bottom of my feet and I found myself on a grey plain. Sparse patches specked the landscape, giving variety to an otherwise monotone field. In some areas it appeared like a giant wheat field had been left untended for years. I shivered and not from the cold.

What is the last thing you do in a creepy place? Explore. But my next thought was, “You should look around.” Dumb, I know. What can I say? I’m cursed.

I craned my neck, not able to discern any difference in the landscape in any direction. The air drifted, flat and tasteless. A fine mist hung over the ground leeching everything of color.

Everything appeared colorless, a transparent skeleton of its former self.

Had I been here before? That had to be impossible because here was nowhere. Plus, I was dreaming.

Moments ago, I’d been having a deliciously up close and personal encounter with the crush-of-my-life in the school’s parking lot. Swoon. And a moment like that had never happened in real life. Never. I almost smiled at the thought of it. Therefore, this was definitely a dream. I was not that lucky. Perhaps if I wandered around this place long enough, my subconscious might do me a favor and switch dreams again.

Sighing at the change in venue and picking a direction, I started walking. Since I didn’t really know where I was going, it didn’t matter which way I went. I half-expected a rabbit in a waistcoat with a pocket watch to jump across my path.

Abruptly a section of the mist darkened, giving way to an outline smudged by the fog. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to approach it, but there was nothing else around. There didn’t seem to be any harm in it. As I walked closer, the shape began to form a silhouette.

I was ten feet away, wondering what was going to happen next, when it spoke.

“Lexi.”

I gulped, choking on a gasp. I knew that voice and would have recognized it anywhere. It brought back a rush of emotions I thought I had safely buried.

“Mom?” I asked, incredulous. “But, how…” The question died on my lips as my past resurrected with a vengeance.

“Hi, honey,” Mom said.

It may have been four years but she looked exactly as I remembered. Her rich brown hair was gently swept over one shoulder just as it had been for my entire childhood. She wore a long, plain dress with sleeves that stopped at her wrists. Her ankles peeked out from under the gown. Her warm brown eyes sought mine and I had to look away to prevent emotions from pouring out my eyes.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” she said.

I looked to her again, worried that the fog would reclaim her.

“I’ve really missed you, Mom,” I whispered, my voice cracking slightly on the last word.

A sad smile ghosted over her face. Her eyes brimmed with tears.

“I’ve missed you, too, hon,” she said.

Who cared if this was just a dream or not? Seeing my mom again, even in a dream, was like finding water in the Sahara.