To dream of her

Daniel stirred, the light of dawn cascaded through a gap in the blind, dust danced as snow in a globe settling in puddles and pools on every surface that lay dormant.

He was running through the woods, he could hear the sound of hooves in the distance, his breath was hard and heavy, his lungs fishing for air as best they could.  His legs were heavy underneath him but he could not stop, he had to keep running.  He was aware of someone with him, someone else running, they too were frightened but they both just kept on running.  He glanced over but could not make out her face but she was beauty itself he did not need to be able to see to know this to be true.  He was not sure where they were running but he knew the way, somehow he knew, the forest was dense and thick, branches struck his chest, his hands and face.  They bled and she was weeping. They reached a clearing and from there they could see their village below them. Pulling her to his side they halted to catch their breath.  The air had turned to chill, their breath snaked around them caught in gasps at the sight of their village engulfed in fire.

The black riders were already in the village, many had already been slain. The black riders left only one alive to tell of their victories.

`Brighid, I must go to my family` he caught her face in his hands `I must go to them, you must stay here, you will be safe here`

`No` she cried `Stay here with me, we will both be safe here, they will not know we are missing, your family may have already perished as may mine, we can do nothing but protect each other now` she clung on to his arm with such strength it hurt to the bone. `Please don’t leave me`

`I must Brighid, I must help fight with the others, if god chooses to take me it must be in honour with my family, but Brighid I can only go if I know that you are here, you are safe, do you promise me you will not leave this spot, no matter what ?`  Brighid shook in fear, her eyes welling up spilled sadness across her face and breast. `Brighid do you promise ?` he shook her now. She nodded catching a swift kiss before he galloped off in to the distance.  Glancing back as he ran he caught sight of her now, she was so beautiful, her pale skin flawless like a summers morn, her soft brown hair caught in tendrils in the wind, blew around her face, her eyes bright like a wolves shone in the early light, he was sure he had seen her before, he was sure of her beauty of her magic. It was HER.

He woke with a gasp, sitting bolt upright in bed, his chest heaving for air, his limbs knotted and tight. It was fine, it was just a dream but it felt so real, so chilling, so sad.  He was crying it startled him.  `It was just a dream` he reassured himself again.  He was in his apartment, he recognised that, it was early, he also recognised that but the air felt different despite its similarity it gave itself away, something was changed.  He swung his legs over the side of the bed resting his head in his hands he tried to make sense of what had happened last night.  Clothes lay strewn around the bedroom, he caught fleeting glimpses of what had preceded his waking. Her skin as soft as satin, high heels and nothing else, the warmth of her kisses, the smell of her hair, the smell of her sex he rose at the very thought of her.  The connection they had formed and the tenderness with which they made love, as though they had enjoyed each other before. The sex was passionate and tender at the same time, she consumed him with a fire which burnt to his very core and he ached for her.  Those eyes, mesmerising and constant like the tide, they drew him in.  It was HER.

Jumping up he searched for any trace of her.  Her clothes were gone but her scent still lingered on his sheets, on his skin, it was not a dream.  Rushing to his phone he checked numbers, names and messages.  Surely he was not careless enough to let this one slip through the net but there was nothing.  Only work contacts and old friends, no mystery women here.  Shaking his head in disbelief he sank on the sofa clutching to a sofa cushion as though it were her soft warm body, he breathed her in with soft sighs of sadness.  He must be bloody crazy.