Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop: Waking from the Dream

Elle opened her eyes slowly. She sat up and gazed around in amazement. She was in the middle of a field of wildflowers that danced and played in the gentle breeze. In the distance mountains rose up to brush the sky and a lush green forest ringed the edges. She felt like she had been here before.

She stood and spun in a slow circle. A sense of freedom filled her and she began to spin faster and faster until she tumbled to the ground laughing.

“Well, I’m glad to see you are happier but you need to get up, Elle.”

The voice jolted her back to sobriety. She whipped around and stared at the woman standing behind her.

“Lillian! Oh my God!”

Elle leaped up and grabbed Lillian in a bear hug. She sobbed into her neck.

“Was it just a horrible dream? Please, tell me it was just a horrible dream.”

Lillian gently disentangled Elle’s arms fr0m around her neck.

“No, darling. It wasn’t a dream.”

Elle stared at her, tears running down her cheeks.

“You’re dead? That phone call…it was real?” She collapsed to the ground, sobbing.

“Elle. Elle, please. You have to calm down. You have to listen to me.”

“I have nothing now. No one. I might as well…” She looked up, her eyes widening. “…kill myself.”

Lillian smiled soothingly, “Come here Elle. I need you to see something.”

She extended a hand that Elle grasped onto like it was the only thing that could possibly save her. She followed Lillian slowly to a small pond. As she watched Lillian waved her hand over the water and turned it into glass. An image slowly grew brighter on the surface. Elle gasped. It was the courtyard at the hospital. She could see people standing around, patients and nurses, and there were individuals in uniforms pacing the area. As a small crowd separated, Elle fell to her knees and planted her hands onto the glass. Her fingers splayed out framing the scene before her. She could see the body on the ground, bent into a horrible unnatural shape.

“I did it. I never really thought I could but the voices…and the sensations…and everything.” She looked up at Lillian. “With you, I thought I could get past this, figure out what was wrong with me, and then…I got that call. And then nothing mattered. Nothing, “ she ended in a whisper.

Lillian waved her hand over the glass again and the image disappeared, dissolving into the ripples of the pond. She kneeled down next to Elle and took her by the shoulders. With a single touch, she brought Elle’s eyes up to hers.

“I know this is confusing for you. But it was my time. Everyone has a time. There isn’t much you can do about it in the end.”

“So, it was my time too, then? I don’t mind. It’s not as if life was all that great anyway.”

“No, Elle, that’s the thing. It wasn’t your time. In fact, I’m not sure if you can die. At least, not like a normal person.”

Elle looked at her, confused. Emotions raged in her golden eyes. Lillian felt herself get lost in her eyes, just like she had the moment she had laid eyes on her, all those years ago.

“But, if you are dead…and I’m not…where are we?”

“It’s sort of an ‘in-between’ place. Sometimes, even though it’s your time to leave your life on Earth, there are still things that you have to do. This is where you do them or where you wait for someone or where you get to reflect on your life before you move on. It serves many purposes.”

Lillian stood and began to walk slowly through the meadow. Elle scrambled to her feet and followed. She took a deep breath and marveled at how sweet and clean the air smelled.

“I feel like I’ve been here before.”

“You have, in your real life. I based this place on the location in the mountains your parents fled to when you were a baby. It’s not exact but it’s close.” She pointed off into the horizon at a small trickle of smoke rising lazily up to the clouds. “That’s roughly where the cabin would be”

“The cabin. Lillian! Is my mother there? Is she waiting for me?” Elle broke into a run towards the smoke.

“No, Elle. Your mother was here but she left a long time ago. She completed what she needed to do and moved on.”

“Then why am I here? What am I supposed to do? Why am I here??”

“I wish I could give you the answers you need, Elle. Truly I do. What I do know is that something somewhere will give you the answers you need. It might be a cataclysmic event or it might be an innocuous comment by a mailman but when it happens you will know. Until then, you have to continue as you are. Dr. Page has a lot of experience working with illnesses of the mind and while I know…I know, “she interjected very strongly seeing Elle about to interrupt, “you do not have an illness like that, her techniques and therapies can help you.  Once you learn to control the impulses, the voices, the sensations, you will be able to do what you need to, what you were created for.“

Elle sat down suddenly. Tears welled in her eyes again.

“What if I can’t Lillian? What if I can’t handle it, without you there?”

“I’m not gone, Elle. Not really. As long as I stay here I’ll be able to help you. Not like I used to but you’ll know I’m there. As it is, we need to get you back. You’ve been ‘dead’ for a long time so it’s going to be…interesting dealing with the reaction. You won’t be able to just wake up with no injuries so don’t be surprised if your body feels like you’ve been hit by a truck. ”

“I would have thought time would stand still or something. You know, like in those movies when people go to alternate realities but in their reality it’s like they have been gone for only a moment.”

“This isn’t Hollywood Elle, “Lillian sighed. “Now stand up. I need to touch you to do this.”

Lillian reached out and lightly laid her fingertips along Elle’s brow. She brushed her wayward hair away and stroked Elle’s cheek gently.

“I love you, Elle. Don’t you ever forget that. If you ever feel lost, just think of me. The dreams can’t hurt you. Nothing can hurt you.”

Lillian’s voice trailed off to the faintest whisper. Elle felt a breeze lift up her hair for a moment before she was suddenly and violently pulled backwards. She felt herself falling for a second that seemed to last an eternity until she slammed into the ground.

Her eyes popped open and met the gaze of young police officer who happened to be bending over her. For an instant everything was silent. And then his scream echoed throughout the courtyard and the world erupted into chaos.

 

This post is part of Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop. The prompt was #5

“If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up.”  ~J.M. Power

This is yet another piece to Elle’s story, a novel I’ve been developing as inspiration takes me. You can read more by checking out the page above.