The black pool

A single tear escapes the corner of her eye, the wind gently cools its passage cause her to wake from her dream. It felt so real, she thought, and with that, her hands spring into action and grab her stomach, no warm wetness or pain, It must have been a dream then. She rolls onto her back and sighs outs her relief, the sound of the wind dancing through the leaves mimics that of the sea. Some of the golden rays slip through the chaos and warm her closed eyes and face. 

She lays there, dreams slowly smudging the edges of her thoughts. Then she feels it again, the spark of cold droplets over her face, followed by the cool passage as they slid down her face. Her eyes pop open, she is looking into a blue morning sky. Her hands casual leaves her stomach to obey a stretch, then slip behind her head. She is looking out at a meadow; the wind touches the tips of the tall grasses and a single tiny butterfly takes flight. A glance up shows her the great arms of a tree, she thinks he can feel one of its roots under her back, she moves slightly and then decides its not too bad. The branches seem to move with the great trees breath, this causes the leaves to drift between colours, red to orange, orange to green, green to blue……blue to purple?

Her lazy morning cracks, her mind had been swims through all her sense, distracted by the suns warmth now started to pick up the pace, frantically grasping at memories. Trees don’t have blue leaves….where am I?

A memory surfaces, she was in her bed reading, her mum's faces appear around the door with a gentle smile on her face, with a hint of amusement in her voice she says, “Don’t stay up too late reading sweetie, you have school tomorrow”. The book twitches slightly so that she can see her properly, lazily she says, ‘Yes mum, love you’. The face disappears and a few seconds later she hears the parent’s door close and mumbles voices. She smiles to herself and sinks a little deeper into her bed. Then the memory starts to skip, or flitter, she in her room, but it’s like her room is filled with black water. Her lamp is still on, but its unnaturally dark and all the colours have become muted, as she begins to move the air feels as thick as soup. She throws the covers back, as she lets go the covers drift to her bed, What’s going on, am I asleep? She thinks. The freezing cold air snaps at her legs as she swings them to the ground. She looks around, it seems like there is a line drawn across her room, like a tide line. She sluggishly walks towards it.

She stands about a foot away, her hand slowly and cautiously approaching it, fear and fascination mixed. She has levelled her hand with the edge and had just mustered the courage to dive through when she freezes. A deep sense of wrong roars out of her stomach and takes control of her body. She wants to scream, to run, to do something, anything! But she can’t, her eyes and breath are all she has. Her chest is hammering her body, it's causing a hum of energy that she cannot use, her eyes desperately seek what has caused this reaction. Then, from her bedroom doorway, she sees her enter her room, a broad, almost frantic smile painted across her face. The newcomers’ eyes are unnaturally wide and wild as she looks around the girl’s room. Her black-gloved hand skips across the desk knocking one of her school books onto the floor. The newcomers head is tilted to one side, rolls towards her books shelf, a second later her body follows, she pretends to be interested in the books.

 The girl strains, she needs to do something! Scream maybe, or run, she reckons she could get past this weirdo before she notices. Her eyes explore the newcomer, her gloved hand is hovering in front of some of the books, drifting back and forth, almost like she wants to touch or take them, but can’t. She is wearing well-worn leather boots and an unbuttoned black coat. Her long black hair is half tied up and has decorated plates in it. Apart from the creepy expression and black makeup, she is very pretty and her skin is the colour of honey.

The newcomer rolls her head to onside towards the girl, her hand does a slow wave at her and she mumbles something. Then like she missed a step she can move again, RUN her mind screams, she obeys and launches forwards. TUD, she bounces off the wall, her hand rubs her head, That really hurt. The women’s expression doesn’t change, but she does start to approach the wall, she lines herself up with the girl and stars at her. She stars into the girl’s eyes and stars the sway in a snake-like manner. A flash of silver reveals a long wavy dagger, it must have been hidden in her coat. For the first time since entering the room the newcomer expression and posture changes, she looks almost sane. She seems to steal herself, she levels her hand with the girls head and then slowly forces her way into the dark pool. With a snap a wave of pain hits them both and her hand it through, she grabs the back of the girl’s neck and forces their forehead to touch the girls. She speaks without sound, their eyes meet for a second, is that a tear? Ooof, She punched me in the stomach! Then again, and again, each one getting faster. What is she playing at! Each impact sight starts to tingle like she has pins and needles in her stomach. The women squeeze her neck and kiss her almost intimately on the head and release her. The girl's hands go to her stomach, it's so warm….and wet, Why is it wet?. She looks at her hands, something grey and sticky is one them, her legs buckle and she goes down to her knees, she looks up at the women in confusion, for a second she looks sad, then the crazy eyes and smile erupt onto her face……

She sits up, her breathing is heavy and her eyes wild, Was that a memory or a dream?

to be continued.........