Our Dreams Keep Us Alive

A Chapter by Kristine

This is only an extract

"The room was dark and damp, a small ray of light came in through the window from the luminous full moon outside. He watched the light for a while, breathing uneasy, he had never had a dream like that before, so vivid, it seemed so real. He was still thinking about it, the dream, he couldn’t stop, it had been so captivating, he sat up looking at his hands, mesmerized by the dream. He could still see the forest so clearly, the old silver trees, light shining through the mosaic of leaves on to the river, sparkling. He could smell the dew in the air still, he could hear the water flowing in the river, the birds tweets, and her face, he could see it so clearly, her clear ice blue eyes illuminated by the light, her soft brown hair flowing down on her face.

‘Do you have any dreams?’ She had asked, while they lay on the grass looking up at the thick layer of leaves, the light occasionally hit her face when the wind brushed the leaves away, making way for the sun. He didn’t reply, he wasn’t sure what to say, he hadn’t thought about dreams in a long time. Not since he was a child, and of course he had dreams then, but they didn’t seem to apply anymore. He just looked at her and said coldly ‘Dreams are for children.’ She smiled at him ‘I don’t have any dreams either, I used to have a lot of dreams, but suddenly they all seemed pointless.’

At a moment he remembered, he also forgot, all the peace he felt. He saw a darkness inside, an emptiness, which made him fall back, onto the bed. He closed his eyes, wishing he was back there, in the dream, in that place. Something came over him, a queasy feeling, he could feel his head pulsing, he felt trapped, confined. There was a sound from the apartment above, a rumbling sound, like a washing machine, it made him dizzy, he could hear it so loudly. Silence came again, he sat up on the bed, watching the light of the moon, now on the floor, how clear it was. He thought ‘I must be going insane’. He got up and looked outside; he could see a beautiful little silver bird sitting on the windowsill, looking at him, looking straight at him. It freaked him out a bit, the tiny black eyes, looking straight into his, something almost ridiculous about it. He opened the window slowly, the bird still looking at him, then he heard it, whatever it was, the song. It came from the bird, but in clear words, like the bird really could sing. It was in a beautiful female voice, so soft, so clear, so piercing in a way, yet with all the sorrow in the world. There was something so familiar about the voice, something so soothing about it, it made him feel warm, loved, safe, it made him feel like he was home.

“Leaving no one behind,

Through these trees

I have come for you

My shimmer

Find me before I fade,

In this beauty

In this silver haze””