Carmen stepped from the shower, snippets of the dream still present in her
groggy mind. She couldn't recall what had happened or where she had been,
but she could remember the fear and utter cold she felt – the sensation of
falling and impacting the ground. She didn't want to remember. Wrapping her
hair in a small towel, and a warm terry cotton robe about her body, she
wandered into the kitchen and pulled a soda from the refrigerator. In the
living room, the television hummed with the sounds of commercials. She was
going to tell her roommate that the damn thing had finally broken down, but
when she had woken up last night, her roommate, Jody and one of her
sorority sisters had been sitting there watching Ever After. Strangest
thing. Jody had said both the tv and the Dish were working perfectly.
Her computer seemed to be up and running again as well. She'd had Kim look at it when he'd arrived earlier that afternoon and he couldn't find a single thing wrong with it. It was as if the entire electronic community was conspiring against her. The entire situation reminded her of that frog from the old cartoons. For the pauper, the frog would sing and dance his green Broadway laden vocal cords out. For the rest of the world, he would sit like a lump and ribbit. Well, now that the television was ribbiting like a good little entertainment device, she was going to lounge in front of it, nibbling on popcorn.
She was still thinking about that dream... she'd had that overwhelming sense of foreboding all day. Even while Kim and Giao were kidnapping her for an afternoon of Badminton, it had been like a cloud over her, haunting her steps. Each time the shuttlecock was spiked towards her, she'd watched it, her breath slowing while her pulse pounded in her ears.
She collapsed into the chair. X-Files was starting again. She'd seen it before; she'd seen most of them before, but it beat most of the other dribble on just after primetime. This one was particularly frightening. It was "Elegy." There were ghosts of recently deceased people that could only be seen by those that were dying. Carmen sat, frozen before the screen, too afraid to eat a piece of popcorn until the commercials were on. The phone went off during one of Mulder's rants, the ring eliciting a yelp before Carmen realized she needed to answer it.
"Hello? God, Kim! You freaking scared me! I'm fine. Yeah, I'm watching X- Files. Yeah... okay. I'll see you guys again on Sunday. I'll try to find Pablo's number before then, okay? Yeah. Okay. Bye."
She sighed, returning to her seat, embarrassed that a little call had startled her so. After the episode began to wrap up, the television began to hum. A few minutes later, the screen began to flicker. As the credits began to appear, the images warped and the audio became garbled again. Where were Jody and Kim when she needed them; where was the crowd that would give witness to the pauper's dancing frog?
She wasn't even going to try the computer right now. That would just be folly. But she wasn't tired just yet. If the little demon infecting her tv and laptop were trying to give her a hint to go back to sleep, then they'd be put off for a while longer. She would read instead. There was at least another hour of daylight available to her – and besides, Kim had leant her a book of poetry that he'd borrowed from the library earlier that week. It wouldn't take her the entire hour to peruse the slender text.
She retreated to the couch near the window and opened the curtains – to face the largest dust storm she had seen in many years beginning to uproot the trees nearby and cover the sky. It was depressing watching the red clay dust swirling and impacting against the window. She could hear the distant cracks of thunder. A dry storm. No wonder her hair was standing on end.
She stood watching as the red sky darkened and the trees became sinister figures that beat against the pane with fingers she could no longer see. Jody would probably wait until it passed before coming back. Shivering, Carmen walked into her bedroom and dressed in her flannel pajamas. She checked the thermostat. It was at 80... how could she be cold? She retreated back into her room and burrowed beneath the thick comforter. God, it was ironic. She was in the middle of the desert in June of all months, and there she lie, under the largest comforter she had. She chuckled, snuggling down for sleep.
.....
She awoke in her dream. She was lying on her back. There was grass near her head and many small rounded rocks. Carmen hadn't thought one could be groggy in their own dream, but she was. She groaned, sitting up slowly. Her chest hurt but when she looked down, she seemed fine. The landscape looked familiar, but she couldn't place it. There were mountains far in the distance and close by a forest. The sky was dark – near dusk – and a few clouds flitted overhead. Yawning, she arose. This was a dream and yet ...
She took a few hesitant steps towards the forest, something in the back of her mind warning against it. She wondered what could be the harm. There was certainly nothing off towards the mountain, nor in the plains surrounding the forest. She proceeded into the dark woodland, her feet finding soft underbrush upon which to tread.
Her path was uncertain, but as far as she could tell, she had been walking in a straight course for nearly an hour. But what was an hour in terms of dreams? As far as she could tell, the sky was now black. But that blackness could not outdo the gloom of the forest itself. The trees themselves seemed to move and block her path. She couldn't even be sure of the way she had come.
Above her, the night was obscured by the thick canopy and the leaves shifted when she walked below. Curious, she finally stopped and looked up – just in time to see a dark shape drop down upon her. She felt herself being rolled and covered in a sticky substance. Something penetrated her abdomen and she felt herself becoming faint. The last instance she could recall was the feeling of flight as she was pulled into the trees.
.....
Carmen rolled over, kicking off the cocooning comforter and opening her eyes. Between the blinds of the window, the world still lay in darkness. She strained her tired body, her hand searching beneath the bed frame for the alarm.
"God, it's only 2 in the morning?" She pushed the clock back under the bed, and went back to sleep.
.....
She was falling. It was strange, waking up within one's dreams to the sensation of falling, yet there she was. It did not take her long to hit the ground.
"Ow," she grunted, more out of habit than pain. She was not sure if she was injured; she didn't think she'd feel the hurts either way. What had happened before the fall, she did not know. Again, that stifling air of familiarity was there... tangible to her, but just out of the reach of her memory. She began to walk through the wooded area. So dark was it within the forest, that she could not tell if there was light beyond the trees.
She heard the sound of water splashing not far off and she began to hurry towards it. She hadn't seen the river until she had fallen into it. There was a sensation of cold and she became submerged in the shadowed waters. Beneath the surface, where she would have expected death, she instead found herself walking along the pebbled bottom and voluntarily making her body float through the liquid. At one point, her head broke the surface and she caught sight of a figure, silhouetted by a series of torches.
It called out and the torches were immediately extinguished. How curious, she wondered to herself. Though she could not see it, she knew the figure had been moving closer, following her progress downstream. She stiffly swam towards the land on which the figure had been seen and waded onto the bank. Her limbs were not responding as she wished, and once out of the water, she had trouble standing on her own. Her legs gave way and once again, she had the sensation of falling to the ground. She could feel that the figure was near to her now. Standing over her. Speaking to her. The words were muted and the world faded from view.
Her computer seemed to be up and running again as well. She'd had Kim look at it when he'd arrived earlier that afternoon and he couldn't find a single thing wrong with it. It was as if the entire electronic community was conspiring against her. The entire situation reminded her of that frog from the old cartoons. For the pauper, the frog would sing and dance his green Broadway laden vocal cords out. For the rest of the world, he would sit like a lump and ribbit. Well, now that the television was ribbiting like a good little entertainment device, she was going to lounge in front of it, nibbling on popcorn.
She was still thinking about that dream... she'd had that overwhelming sense of foreboding all day. Even while Kim and Giao were kidnapping her for an afternoon of Badminton, it had been like a cloud over her, haunting her steps. Each time the shuttlecock was spiked towards her, she'd watched it, her breath slowing while her pulse pounded in her ears.
She collapsed into the chair. X-Files was starting again. She'd seen it before; she'd seen most of them before, but it beat most of the other dribble on just after primetime. This one was particularly frightening. It was "Elegy." There were ghosts of recently deceased people that could only be seen by those that were dying. Carmen sat, frozen before the screen, too afraid to eat a piece of popcorn until the commercials were on. The phone went off during one of Mulder's rants, the ring eliciting a yelp before Carmen realized she needed to answer it.
"Hello? God, Kim! You freaking scared me! I'm fine. Yeah, I'm watching X- Files. Yeah... okay. I'll see you guys again on Sunday. I'll try to find Pablo's number before then, okay? Yeah. Okay. Bye."
She sighed, returning to her seat, embarrassed that a little call had startled her so. After the episode began to wrap up, the television began to hum. A few minutes later, the screen began to flicker. As the credits began to appear, the images warped and the audio became garbled again. Where were Jody and Kim when she needed them; where was the crowd that would give witness to the pauper's dancing frog?
She wasn't even going to try the computer right now. That would just be folly. But she wasn't tired just yet. If the little demon infecting her tv and laptop were trying to give her a hint to go back to sleep, then they'd be put off for a while longer. She would read instead. There was at least another hour of daylight available to her – and besides, Kim had leant her a book of poetry that he'd borrowed from the library earlier that week. It wouldn't take her the entire hour to peruse the slender text.
She retreated to the couch near the window and opened the curtains – to face the largest dust storm she had seen in many years beginning to uproot the trees nearby and cover the sky. It was depressing watching the red clay dust swirling and impacting against the window. She could hear the distant cracks of thunder. A dry storm. No wonder her hair was standing on end.
She stood watching as the red sky darkened and the trees became sinister figures that beat against the pane with fingers she could no longer see. Jody would probably wait until it passed before coming back. Shivering, Carmen walked into her bedroom and dressed in her flannel pajamas. She checked the thermostat. It was at 80... how could she be cold? She retreated back into her room and burrowed beneath the thick comforter. God, it was ironic. She was in the middle of the desert in June of all months, and there she lie, under the largest comforter she had. She chuckled, snuggling down for sleep.
.....
She awoke in her dream. She was lying on her back. There was grass near her head and many small rounded rocks. Carmen hadn't thought one could be groggy in their own dream, but she was. She groaned, sitting up slowly. Her chest hurt but when she looked down, she seemed fine. The landscape looked familiar, but she couldn't place it. There were mountains far in the distance and close by a forest. The sky was dark – near dusk – and a few clouds flitted overhead. Yawning, she arose. This was a dream and yet ...
She took a few hesitant steps towards the forest, something in the back of her mind warning against it. She wondered what could be the harm. There was certainly nothing off towards the mountain, nor in the plains surrounding the forest. She proceeded into the dark woodland, her feet finding soft underbrush upon which to tread.
Her path was uncertain, but as far as she could tell, she had been walking in a straight course for nearly an hour. But what was an hour in terms of dreams? As far as she could tell, the sky was now black. But that blackness could not outdo the gloom of the forest itself. The trees themselves seemed to move and block her path. She couldn't even be sure of the way she had come.
Above her, the night was obscured by the thick canopy and the leaves shifted when she walked below. Curious, she finally stopped and looked up – just in time to see a dark shape drop down upon her. She felt herself being rolled and covered in a sticky substance. Something penetrated her abdomen and she felt herself becoming faint. The last instance she could recall was the feeling of flight as she was pulled into the trees.
.....
Carmen rolled over, kicking off the cocooning comforter and opening her eyes. Between the blinds of the window, the world still lay in darkness. She strained her tired body, her hand searching beneath the bed frame for the alarm.
"God, it's only 2 in the morning?" She pushed the clock back under the bed, and went back to sleep.
.....
She was falling. It was strange, waking up within one's dreams to the sensation of falling, yet there she was. It did not take her long to hit the ground.
"Ow," she grunted, more out of habit than pain. She was not sure if she was injured; she didn't think she'd feel the hurts either way. What had happened before the fall, she did not know. Again, that stifling air of familiarity was there... tangible to her, but just out of the reach of her memory. She began to walk through the wooded area. So dark was it within the forest, that she could not tell if there was light beyond the trees.
She heard the sound of water splashing not far off and she began to hurry towards it. She hadn't seen the river until she had fallen into it. There was a sensation of cold and she became submerged in the shadowed waters. Beneath the surface, where she would have expected death, she instead found herself walking along the pebbled bottom and voluntarily making her body float through the liquid. At one point, her head broke the surface and she caught sight of a figure, silhouetted by a series of torches.
It called out and the torches were immediately extinguished. How curious, she wondered to herself. Though she could not see it, she knew the figure had been moving closer, following her progress downstream. She stiffly swam towards the land on which the figure had been seen and waded onto the bank. Her limbs were not responding as she wished, and once out of the water, she had trouble standing on her own. Her legs gave way and once again, she had the sensation of falling to the ground. She could feel that the figure was near to her now. Standing over her. Speaking to her. The words were muted and the world faded from view.