𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐎𝐟 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞

𝟏. 𝐁𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐝

I stood in the middle of a meadow, a rainbow of prairie grass, sun flowers and lavender were slowly caressing my legs. The sun shone only as much as we needed it, giving to the scene a sense of, let's say, fairytale. A warm gentle breeze kissed my cheeks as I stared out across the land. I had the strangest sense of deja vu, like I had been here before.

Suddenly, an indistinct whisper sounded behind me but I didn't dare to move a muscle. How could someone bother talking when they had this beauty in front of them?

I couldn't make out what the whisper was, but as the minutes passed, a figure behind me was getting closer and closer. I could smell the scent from a mile, a scent that I had absolutely smelled before. An intoxicating cologne.

I turned but I couldn't see the face clearly, the sun's rays wouldn't let me. He took a step forward and his face was finally visible. Eyes of dark green, piercing holes into my body. He had a false smile, watched me like a wolf observing its prey.

"You," I whispered under my breath.

"Victoria," he whispered with an oily voice.

There was something about his voice, something about his haunting presence that was familiar. My eyes shifted from his bloodshot ones to the beauty around me. I was completely sure that I had seen that man somewhere.

"Who are you?" I asked him reluctantly.

"Victoria," he whispered again, making chills run down my spine. The quality of his voice had changed, no longer intimidating, no longer male. Something strange was happening.

"Victoria," he loudly yelled this time, making my heart hammering inside my chest. His voice was entirely female and oddly familiar.

"Victoria, wake up."

I felt someone pushing me and shaking me, I quickly snapped back to reality, finding myself in the back seat of a cab with my sister Alice beside me.

"Rise and shine sleepyhead," she playfully hit my shoulder.

I brought my hands to my face and rubbed my eyes, I was still seeing the same man in front of me, I could still hear his brazen voice playing on repeat into my head.

"Where are we?" I asked Alice.

The cab slowly came to a stop, while the driver motioned towards us that we had arrived. There was a suggestion of movement from underneath us. It was formless and indistinct, like a piece of shadow shifting. Probably the sun.

"To our aunt's house, did you forget already?" she asked me, giving me her biggest smile.

"That was quick," I told her and a laugh escaped my lips.

"Oh no no, that was many many hours, you just slept through the whole thing."

"Jet Lag I guess," I laughed again.

"You were talking in your sleep by the way."

"Yeah right," I rolled my eyes.

"You so were," she replied and winked.

"If this is another trick to get me to confess something," I looked at her profoundly annoyed.

"Oh my god, you are always so suspicious of me," she made her victim face again. She had mastered that face, unfortunately for me.

"With good reason," I said. "What did I say?" I asked her. It came as an electrical storm in my brain that, quite honestly, was painful. Perhaps a sort of frozen panic with nowhere to go and nothing to do.

"Something about a guy and wanting him to dance for you in a kilt," she started laughing uncontrollably.

"What?" I asked her shocked.

"Relax, I am just kidding," she answered while laughing. "Come on, let's check this place out already."

I slowly but steadily walked out of the cab and followed Alice towards the old house where our aunt used to live. In the fresh air my lungs expanded as if on automatic refill, and with the rising of my chest came a sense of calm. As I breathed the images of my dream came to my thoughts, and with them the song of sky-borne birds. That dream wasn't like the ones I used to have, it was so much more compared to what I was seeing some days or months ago. 

This time, my dreams took me back to that meadow again but a man was there. In the soft light and humid air I would tune into the noises like they were an auditory jigsaw puzzle. On each conjuring of that sacred place I felt a frisson of joy, the same kind as I felt when my sister greeted me after a long day, only many times more intense. The leaves would feel wet and more tough than they appeared, the aroma went right to my brain, intoxicating, rich. Then with a steady gaze I'd pick one small place and stare until I had unmasked the camouflage of the creatures hidden in plain sight.

Still I was stuck with those dreams, never leaving me not even for one minute but there was more to every story, or so I had heard them saying. I always gazed into the infinity of the sky, observing it change its hues at different times of the day, seeking answers to a particular paradoxical question. Why was this happening to me?

I always looked up at the sky, observing the stars, maybe I was misunderstanding everything. Maybe I was in the wrong place. Maybe, I wanted my fate to change.
Maybe, all that I perceived was the dreams deceiving me.

It was hard to tell where my mind was at. Leading an army of ten thousand into battle perhaps? Or sailing the seas alongside my unflinching, undaunted crew. Adventures of perilous journeys and triumphant outcomes to satisfy any young heart. Or perhaps I wasn't thinking at all, but instead simply taken by the endless sea of black that silently rocked above my head, flawed only by the dark clouds.

I spent most of my time inside dreams, a place where life was full and death afar. No worries other than my own, no rules other than the ones I governed, no pain other than the grief I was placing each time upon my own shoulders. Wonders beyond my comprehension, fears waiting to be faced, kingdoms waiting to be conquered, lands waiting to be protected, skies waiting to be admired, wilderness waiting to be explored. Pleasure in danger, pain in stillness. A hidden world never to be silenced and still, I wanted it to be silenced.