Grace’s Dream

Prologue

It was another nauseating Monday, waking to the annoying alarm clock demanding that I awoke. I slammed my hand down on the snooze button and stretched my arms above my head. I gazed around my room.

Clothes were strewn across the floor along with old papers. My backpack lazily sat by the door. There was something off.

The colors of my room seemed duller than usual, and there was a gray shimmer in the air. I set my feet on the floor, and got dressed. All I had to wear was white, white shorts, white tee-shirt and white shoes. White.

As I shrugged on my blue backpack,the house seemed oddly quiet, as if I was the only one who occupied it. I shoved some toast in my mouth and headed for the front door, mumbling a goodbye to Mom. No response from her room. She must have been asleep.

As I walked toward the corner my friend and I met at, I noticed the Gregor’s car was bustling alone in the driveway. It sat quietly as if waiting for time to start the day. Strange.

I turned my head and stopped in my tracks. Not only did my friend stand in a matching white outfit, but her entire family. The girls wore white dresses and skirts, the boys wore shorts and tee-shirts. Their expressions were blank.

What the heck was going on?

I quickly strode toward Jackie, her brown hair swirling around her, as if she were underwater. She held in her arms three items, a white panda bear, (how I knew it was a panda is a mystery, they aren’t white) a pencil and an art notebook.

She stepped forward to meet me, her bright eyes dulled and glazed. She leaned forward and whispered into my ear, “You have brought this upon my family.” Jackie then handed the three items to me one by one. After this was done, she gripped my shoulders and shoved me back.

The world crumbled around me, I fell into darkness, Jackie’s bell-like laugh echoing after me, her blank stare the last thing I saw.

Chapter One

Flight

The darkness was hard to move through. It’s dense vacancy consuming me as I tread into the crowded space.

The memory of my existence in this place was gone. It no longer resided in my head. I knew I remembered somewhere in my unconscious mind. Something blocked the memory from me. A wall that wouldn’t let me through.

It was as if my mind was keeping it a secret. A dark secret that wasn’t mine to share.

The snowy white bear walked next to me, it’s baby features sniffing around the ground. It’s fur brushing against my leg.

A pencil was shoved into my back pocket and a green sketch book was in my arms. I pushed forward as a gust of wind tried to sweep me into the stretch of blackness behind me. I had made so much progress already, well at least that’s what it seemed.

I hoped with all my heart that I hadn’t been walking in circles. I couldn’t see two feet in front of me, though the bear seemed to know where it was going.

I looked down at the plush fuzz ball that stopped to look around. It sniffed the ground once more than headed off to my right. I followed willingly, wanting to leave this place as soon as possible. I remembered reading somewhere that if you were in complete darkness for two or three hours with your eyes open, you’d go blind. I was timorous.

Despite my better judgment, I thought I would wander around in this dark hole forever. I didn’t know where I was, what time it could be and a bear was showing me around. There was something wrong here. Very wrong.

I hoped with all my heart that this was just a dream and, my mom would call my name over the intercom and tell me breakfast was ready. Or tell me that Jackie had come early again. Anything to get me out of here. Anything.

The bear stopped once more and pointed it’s nose to the sky. Well, maybe not the sky, there weren’t any stars or a moon in that general direction.

I shrugged and looked up. A patch of the darkness above was a lighter shade than the rest of the space. I looked down at the bear with optimism.

“Is that the way out?” I asked the small creature aloud. It felt silly talking to this young white fluff like this.

“You bet!” The bear smiled and sauntered to the left.

I stared blankly at the little creature. Bears didn’t talk. Animals, in general, didn’t talk. They didn’t smile either. I really hoped Mom would wake me up soon.

I quickly shuffled after the bear, not wanting to be left alone. The bear stopped and clawed at something in front of it. The pieces of dark brown flew in all directions as the young bear scratched at the surface.

Suddenly it stopped, the bear turned to me with a satisfied grin on his face. “This way.” His young voice echoed into the portal he had made.

Soon I couldn’t see his fur, I decided I’d follow the strange beast. Best not to be left behind in the eternal darkness.

I crawled into the damp tunnel, it was cramped and smelled of moss. Though it was still dim, a light in the distance encouraged me forward. There had to be a way into the world I had come from.

I scampered on all fours, trying to reach the end of the tunnel, feeling a warm breeze that smelled of fruit and the ocean. Anything was better than the dark space I left behind.

“We’re almost there!” The young bears boyish voice pulled me forward. Just another consolation to pull me ahead.

The light burst as I fell out of the opening of the tunnel. The bear nuzzled me to my feet and pointed to the left.

A grassy stretch of land ended abruptly, crumbling to a whirlpool. The dark waters threatened to jump up and swallow me in its clutches. It’s foamy jaws asking me to join a grave of ships and sailors.

To my right there was a field of yellow sunflowers. It welcomed me to prance in its golden ray buds. The sweet smell of the blossoms filled my nose and I took a step to the right.

“No! This way Grace!” The bear bit my sock and pulled me toward the doomed stormy gray waters.

“Are you crazy?” I asked. Why would I jump off a cliff to my death?

“You don’t understand. Those flowers are an illusion. Can’t you see through them?” The bear groaned through his teeth.

I looked at the sunny field and it flashed from a golden field to a dark graveyard, the sky threatening to smash all that resided under it’s menacing sparks of lightning.  A scream hallowed my ears. I looked at the bear.

“Come on!” His cold nose nudged at my knees, pushing me to the left.  I lost my balance, the ground dissolved beneath my feet. I tumbled over the edge, the dark waters still prominent in my eyes.

My white boots dangled above me, I could see the tears from my eyes float above me as my descent became faster.

The cliffs edge was still in sight. A white figure jumped over the edge, plummeting toward me. His voice echoed off the rocky bowl that would soon consume me.

“Open your wings!” He shouted, the echo deepening my fear.

“I don’t have any wings you crazy mammal!” I screeched after his voice.

“Yes you do! Open them!” He replied with malice.

I tuned my head to glance at my back. There on the small of my back was a printed image of feathered wings. How was that supposed to help me?

As I struggled to find the meaning of the bears words, the image grew and moved up my back.

I screamed as felt the cold waters engulf my body. The dark waves spun me around, trying to devour me.

I pushed my arms into a point above my head and kicked trying to find my way to the surface.

The cold waters rocked me back and forth, as I slowly pulled myself upward. The harder I tried, the farther I got pushed down. I desperately needed air. I felt light headed and fought harder. I had to get out of this current that threatened to take my life.

The cold bit at my bones, I felt numb. I tried with all of my energy, to find relief from the pressure that crushed me. I wanted oxygen so badly, I fought with everything, I clawed at the water trying to find escape.

I was loosing control of my limbs, I felt like a stone. I couldn’t move anymore. I gave up.

Slowly I floated downward. Nothing to stop my drop.

I drifted away from the light above my head. I thought about home, I thought about school and my friends, I thought about Jackie.

Tears instantly stung my eyes. Jackie, what had happened to her? Sure this was a dream but, her expressionless eyes burned a hole in my heart. Her smile no where to be seen. How dare I even think of such a horrible sight? Her personality was gone, she was hollow. An empty shell of what she was—is—how could that happen to her of all people?

A flash of anger strangled me. How could I sit here and let Jackie suffer like that?

I forced myself into a straight position and looked skyward. Once  more my arms were arched above my head and I torpedoed out of the flowing storm.

The dark water parted for me, afraid of my speed. I could feel the terror slash my path through the tempest.

I gasped in as much air as I could, gulping it down like a sweet drink of lemonade on a hot summer day.

I was suspended in the air. Bobbing up and down in the sky with the sound of heavy flapping behind me.

Confused, I looked around, what now? Was a giant bird preparing to attack me? Wasn’t almost drowning enough torturer?

Once I turned my head I gaped and the sight my eyes beheld. Long white wings bristled in the wind, holding me in place.

I looked down at my feet, I had to be about thirty feet above the waves. Then it hit me. If the flowers had been an illusion, was this one as well?

I focused all of my concentration on the whirlpool, willing myself to see through the lies and into the truth beneath the surface.

I watched as the black waves flow into themselves, swirling in a continual cycle. The black water didn’t hesitate, even though I knew the storm clouds above no longer existed. All that was above me was a clear blue sky. How could the storm blow on without it’s wind?

I flew a little closer, finding the air drop a few degrees the closer I came. I shivered and let my hand brush through the waters icy grip.

It wasn’t water, but a thick winds current. A portal. I turned to the bear who soared down to meet me.

“What are you waiting for? Get in!” He growled.

I swallowed everything I thought I knew, it was hard, and turned to look at this monster that I was willingly giving my life too. I looked to the bear and sighed.

“Here goes nothing.” I scowled and let the vortex swallow me whole.

Chapter Two