Don't Call Me Dead

5. The Dream

"Come on, just admit it. We're lost."

"Nope," Gia says without looking at me. "We'll reach the town in an hour."

"I think we're only getting deeper into the swamps." As if to prove my words, my foot slips into a puddle, and I curse quietly.

She glances back with a worried expression, but then grins as I retrieve my foot. "Just mind your step, that's all."

"This place doesn't look like it's close to any towns."

"Sure it doesn't. It's a forest. Did you expect direction signs or a freaking McDonald's?"

"Let's just turn back."

"After two days' walk?" She stops, drops her backpack to the ground and turns to me. "Maps don't lie." She shakes the crumpled map in front of my face. "It says we're real close."

"You've been saying that for a while." I lower my bag to the ground, too, and stretch my back. "We've clearly made a mistake somewhere, or you're not reading the map right."

"Well, why don't you do that yourself, then? If not, stop whining. You're stressing me out."

She scowls at me, her sweat-soaked black hair sticking to her forehead and her cheeks. She tries to look angry, but I know her enough to read the underlying insecurity. She doesn't have a clue what she's doing - and, as usual, I let her drag me along.

I look around. The ground is mostly mud, with occasional tufts and tussocks. Pools of murky water glimpse in between them, partly covered by rotten leaves. The stunted trees stand still, moss hanging limply from their branches, not a whiff of air to disturb them.

"This is most definitely a swamp," I say. "And the guy who sold us the map said to stay clear of the swamps."

Gia looks at me with exasperation, and opens her mouth to reply, but then her eyes fix on something behind my back. She shuts her mouth with a snap and makes a small whimpering sound.

"What?" I follow her gaze but see nothing unusual.

"Hush!" She raises her finger, still staring past me. "I think I saw someone," she says in a quick whisper. "Something moved. But now I don't see it."

The skin on my back crawls. "Someone or something?" I whisper.

"I don't know," she whispers back. "Couldn't see properly, just noticed some movement. Oh crap. Check your phone. If we're close to the town, we might get service."

With shaking hands, I retrieve my phone from my backpack, all the while scanning our surroundings. The bent trees with their ghostly veils of moss seem frozen, like a movie put on pause. It's completely quiet, too.

I check the phone. "No service," I whisper. "What should we do?"

"Go back, I guess." She meets my gaze, her eyes wide. "Maybe I just imagined it. But I think you have a point, this direction must be wrong." She picks up her backpack. As I follow her example, she begins to walk.

"Wait, we came from that --"

Before I can finish the sentence, there's a splash, and Gia drops from my view. I look down and find her up to her hips in a puddle of muddy water. She looks at me with shocked expression.

"Wow, that's deep," she says. "It didn't look deep. Give me a hand."

Stepping carefully on the drier areas of grass and moss, I approach her. I look around for something to hold on to with my other hand, but no trees are within my reach.

She grabs my hand, and I pull. She's heavier than I expected.

"Come on," I say. "Help with your feet."

"I'm trying, but it's all mud down there," she puffs. "Nothing solid."

Her hand slips out of my grip, and she sinks back up to her waist. For a moment, we just stare at each other.

"All right," I say slowly. "Don't move. Take off your backpack. I'll look for a stick to pull you out."

She nods, her eyes round. I begin to turn, and then she screams:

"There! There, right behind you, look!"

I jerk with surprise, and my foot slips and lands into a puddle of mud. Before I know it, I'm knees deep in it, cold water filling my boots and soaking my pants, the dirt sucking me in. Gia keeps screaming, and I try to turn and see what she's seeing. At last, I manage to look back, and then...

I open my eyes with a start. I'm lying all alone on a forest clearing. The ground, although covered with moss, is dry and solid. No muddy puddles. The trees look cheerful in the sunlight filtering through the leaves. I sit up and look around. It was just a dream. Yet it felt so real.

Gia.

Gia was real. She was my friend, back when I had a name. We went backpacking. And we got to the swamps. And in the swamps...

I don't remember.

I get to my feet. A light breeze stirs the leaves. Birds chirp happily.

Then, someone steps out from behind a tree.

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