In My Dreams

Bittersweet escape

"Clara?! Clara?!" The familiar voice stabbed through Clara's dark mind. She struggled to open her eyes. "Oh my god, Clara, you're okay! You're okay! Andy! She's awake!"

Clara blinked a couple of times. She swore she could see Josie Lavender's warm brown eyes looking down at her, her long curly brown hair framing her heart-shaped face.  "Lavender?" she managed to say, but her mouth felt thick. She looked around slowly, taking in the fluorescent lights and bright white walls. She looked down at her body, dressed in a hospital gown and covered in a simple white sheet. "Where am I?" she mumbled. 

"The hospital, dear. You were in a car crash. You're okay, now. It's all okay. Look, Andy is here!" Josie let go of Clara's hand and stepped aside. 

Andy rushed in and grabbed her hand then clutched it to his chest. He caressed her cheek with the other hand. He was just as she remembered. He was tall with broad shoulders, thick neck, and eyes so brown that they looked black. His hair was thick and wavy, buzzed on his temples and let loose on the top of his head. Dark stubble had already grown thick along his jaw and upper lip. He had always shaved for his job, but instead, he looked unruly. Unhinged. He wore wrinkled slacks and a white button-down with the sleeves folded up to his elbows. His plain black tie hung loosely from his neck. He almost looked like he did as a teenager. Almost. 

"What are you doing here?" Clara stared at him in awe. Was she free? Had she found a way to travel back to the real world? How was that possible? It couldn't be...she had been falling...she tried to remember, but it felt like a dream already fading from her memory. A white claw. A green hand. Yellow eyes.   

"They called me, sweetie. You've been in a coma for a couple of days...I was so worried. We all were," Andy said. Clara's heart filled with longing. She warmed at the touch of his hand on her cheek. It had been so long since he had looked at her like that. So long. She blinked slowly toward the figure standing awkwardly by her hospital bed. 

Her mother was wringing her hands and leaning in with her usual extreme worry. Her face always seemed to be frozen in fear. She had the same green eyes and black hair, but her skin held the wrinkles of her worry and age. She was tall and lean, as if she had been strong once, but she always stood slouched down. Her black hair had stripes of gray in it, still as long as if she had been a mermaid. Clara smiled and reached out. "Momma," she called. Her mother rushed to her side and kissed her forehead. Andy stepped back, but still held her hand. 

"My baby...I was so worried. I was so scared. I'm so happy you're okay," she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. Clara started to cry as well. She leant her head on her mother's shoulder, taking in her rose perfume on her skin and coconut scent in her hair. Mother was terrified of everything, including the airplane, but she traveled from Oregon to New York for her.  

"I missed you so much, Momma," Clara cried. She hugged her tight. In her arms, there was no pain. No danger. No scary villains in some magical world. She was here, in the real world. Married to Andy, sharing a life together with her highschool sweetheart. She was here, wrapped in her mother's warm embrace. She was here. It was all just a horrible nightmare. 

Clara!

Clara opened her eyes and moved out of her mother's hug slowly. She looked around. "Sweetie, is everything okay? Do you need water? Food? I can get some hamburgers from Harold's—your favorite!" her mother beamed. Clara shook her head and tried to sit up. 

"No, no, it's okay. I—I just need some air."

Clara! 

Clara furrowed her eyebrows. "Don't you...hear that?"

"Hear what, sweetie?" Andy smiled. He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and tried to lay her back down on the bed. She struggled against his grasp. When had he ever called her sweetie? She glared and looked up into his dark eyes. Yellow flashed in his eyes and vanished. She froze. She shook her head vigorously. Green flashed in her mind. A carved wand. White tusks. Thick brown braids. 

Bin mog g'thazag cha!

Clara jolted from the bed. I will protect you. Rok! 

"Clara, no, you need to lay down! Rest! You've been through quite an ordeal!" Andy urged. His eyes flashed.

Clara started to scream as he tried to hold her arms down. Her mother yelled for a nurse. A woman stormed in with a syringe. "This isn't real! This isn't real! Let me go, you monsters!" she screamed. 

"What's wrong with her?" her mother wailed to the nurse. The nurse shook her head, raising the syringe. 

"Hold her still!" the nurse yelled. 

"NO!" Clara screamed as a force blasted out of her. Andy, Miss Lavender, her mother, and the nurse all slammed into the walls. Clara's hands crackled with magic. She stared down at them in amazement. Then, she threw off the sheets and bolted out of the room. 

"Rok!" she called, running wildly down the corridors, winding around corners. "Rok! Where are you!" Her gown flapped in the wind as she escaped past nurses and doctors reaching out to grab her. 

Clara!

His voice. She panted as she ran down another corridor, following Rok's voice. Her mind flashed with memories of her fingertips against his to read his mind, riding on his shoulder through Blackthorn Forest, sharing a meal by the fireplace in his hut. "Rok! I'm here! I'm here!" she shouted. She remembered Aronin's story about the enchantress and the king when he whirled them around with a spell. The smell of incense in his office. The crow on his desk. The futon by the fireplace. The wand Rok carved for her. Then...the white claw. The magic pulling her away from Rok. She remembered. She remembered all of it.

As if a door had opened inside of her, she remembered where she had been and suddenly Rok's voice felt like it was all around her. As she ran, people began to fade. The white walls turned black and vanished. The tiled linoleum floor blended with the mass of darkness. Clara scrambled for footing. She began to fall. 

Clara's eyes shot open and she was suddenly surrounded by a large forest in a clearing. She looked straight up at big blue eyes. As she came to consciousness, she registered what was hovering over her. A large white beast covered in fur stood over her. Its sharp teeth glittered in the light. Its body was enormous, with a long puffy tail and long sharp ears. When she had fully awoken, she knew she was being pinned down by her arms and legs by the great Notherbeast. The largest white wolf she had ever seen in her life.