Lucid Dream

Lone footsteps echoed across the spreading marble of the spacious hall. The light was dim and reminded the girl of flickering candle light, but the constant glow of a full, silvery moon loomed greater in the back of her mind. She laughed softly to herself, amused by the fact that her internal eye set the mood of her external being.

But then she remembered that it was all internal tonight, so she supposed she'd open both sets of eyes and stop thinking too much.

A voice approached from behind, so the girl turned to see a friend coming towards her, followed by many more. She smiled in greeting and felt the relief of companionship wash over her and as it did, she forgot the moon and the flichering candle light as the room filled with light.

The girl looked around admiringly at the milling companions, then turned toward the door and busied herself with hanging the coats.

When the coats were hung, the girl paused before opening the door and returning to the room. There was no more light coming from under the door. She crossed her arms and shivered, then reached out tentatively and pulled upon the door.

Darkness met her when she entered the room, adulterated only by the external light of the moon.

She shuddered again and hit something that seemed to be drifting in mid-air and thought how quickly things change.

Her eyes focused and the room became clear to her sight. The floor had been reversed and where feet had once touched bottom, they now hung from the top.

Nothing floated in the air but the absence of life.

The girl looked upon rows and rows of black-garbed bodies hanging sack-like from their feet from the ceiling. They seemd to swing together, in rhythm with the time they'd lost, like a waltz that no one more could play.

How quickly things change, the girl thought. How quickly things end.

She wove her way through the rows of swaying sacks of bodies, running blindly--

Until she found herself on the water.

It was the shore, waves inky black in the blinding sun. From the waves protruded a mermaid who beckoned to the girl.

Come! Follow me, she said. There are revelations beneath the water.

The girl took her hand and let herself be led below to a world of eery light. Seaweed caught between her limbs.

Soon they came to a cavern.

A muse, said the mermaid, a seer, to make things clearer for you.

Around the table made of a flat rock protruding from the ocean floor sat the muse, the seer, garbed in seaweed and darkness. Three friends sat in rock seats beside her.

They were the bodies swaying, the girl thought. Are they back from the dead?

The friends motioned for her, their smiles eerily inviting.

The muse nodded her head to the mermaid and she turned, exiting the cavern.

To the first friend she said: You will be promised good fortune, so there is no worry for you.

To the second friend: The sky will never fall on you, but beware of the ground rising up.

To the third: Keep to the path you are on and you will find that which you seek.

Then all faces turned to the girl who felt a shudder begin deep inside her.

The seer leaned forward so the girl could see every vein of her eyes.

Aah, the seer breathed. You are the unfortunate one. For you are trapped inside yourself. This is your Fate for you are too scared to change it: All that you wish for and all that you seek will never be attained. yo uare too content with dreaming and it is the World you cannot grasp. Foolish girl. You are the only one here for whom Fate is a choice and you choose Misery instead of bliss! I have no pity for you.

The girl shrank back and saw the bodies swaying behind her eyes. She swayed in time with them, her feet bound together in death by stubborn time just as her soul was fettered in life by cowardice.

She opened her eyes and the bed was warm.

It had been nothing but a silly notion, and nothing but a dream.