Awakening

A vague sense of unease filled me as my gaze slid off of the body. Open mouth, staring eyes. I put my arm across my sister’s shoulders, purporting to comfort her when it was actually me that sought comfort. Seeming to ignore me, she cast a shawl about her shoulders, murmured something to my brother about a draft, and after giving the body a final look, turned and walked away.

A malevolent spirit entered the room. I sensed the horror of it even as it began to crush the breath from my chest. The weight pushed me down, down…I could not breath. I passed through the floor and into below.

Dream, I thought. The realization hit me like an electric jolt, and sections of my mind, previously inoperative, abruptly opened. Clarity swept through me like a refreshing breeze, and I surged upward into the night sky, throwing away my oppressors and leaving them far below.

I found myself walking through a city built of stones. Cobblestones below, great, square stones forming rising walls, and beautiful river-stones forming a fountain in the courtyard. Above me a purplish-dark night sky, studded with far-away stars. Lucidity filled me and I tried to rise again.

I was able to get a few feet above the ground, but nothing like before. I stopped struggling and walked on, curious as to what wonders this strange city had in store for me. Was this an abandoned Jericho, silent and unchanging, caught up in some strange dreamland, a residence only for my echoing footsteps?

A feeling of being on the edge of an exciting discovery swept through me, something I had not felt so strongly since childhood.

It was then that it came to me – there would never be another night without stars. The body had been mine.