The Dream

            Morning sunshine in a meadow of yellow daisies.  They nod and sway as the light summer breeze blows.  The wind caresses her cheek as it brushes a tendril of her strawberry blonde hair into the air.  She draws a deep breath of pine scented air into her and exhales as she floats down to the earth.  The ground below her is moist cool; the grass feels like a down cushion hugging to her body.  She takes another slow inhale feeling the light as it flows easily through her, relaxing her body until it weighs nothing but the touch of a feather.  The sky above is azure blue brilliant and completely cloudless.  My heaven, she thinks, her thoughts vibrating in an echo.  She has never felt so serene.  She gazes into the horizon drinking in the majestic rolling mountains that unfold all around the meadow.  She wishes to stay here forever.  She closes her eyes and breathes deeply, contentedly.
Suddenly the silence is broken. 
         There is the sound of frantic beating by gargantuan wings from somewhere above.  Alarm races through her at the speed of adrenalin.  The sky grows dark as black clouds choke the sky.  The sound increases to the deafening howl of gale force winds.  She is up and running, looking for shelter but the meadow goes on forever.  The wind is whipping against her, trying to pull her clothes from her body.  She screams but the sound is lost.  She stumbles in the darkness and keeps running.  She knows that something horrific is coming.  Every fiber of her is vibrating with fear.  She finally reaches a stand of tall pine trees and falls to her knees, clutching at the trunk of one.  Across the meadow she sees an immense shadow descending from the thunderheads above.  The pines blow and bend in a great tidal wave of motion as the shadow disappears into the stand of trees.  The wind begins to calm. As quickly as the silence was broken, it returns.  She is crouched and trembling in the little grove.  Her hair a wind whipped mess, clothes covered in leaves and pine needles.  Some of them cling limply to her hunched and quivering shoulders.  She slowly lifts her head, waiting for something to happen.  Her heartbeat is beginning to slow.  Now there is only silence and the indigo inked sky above. The meadow is now dark and motionless.  She strains her eyes in the darkness and can see nothing in the woods across the meadow. She stands and has the feeling of being watched.  Turning around, she sees nothing but pine needles and dark shrubs.  She walks further into the grove, wanting to get away from the feeling of doom.  Something is here, something is looking for her, and she feels it very keenly.  Is it getting closer?  She begins to run.  Panic is returning.  Her eyes grow so wide she looks like a junky high on meth. Her mouth opens wide as the howl rises from her chest.  Great heaving breaths pump adrenaline into her legs.  She feels that her legs have been carrying her for what seems like an eternity.  Then she thinks she can see the end of the trees.  A hill rises up out of the trees ahead.  She has the sensation of running full force but not moving forward.  She cries out in frustration and exhaustion.  There is a blinding flash.
Suddenly she is sitting in the kitchen of her house.  Sunshine is streaming through the window over the sink.  Sitting at the speckled linoleum table, she has a bowl of cereal in front of her.  She looks at the stairs as her father walks down them.  He is dressed in his blue work shirt and smiling at her.  She feels strangely calm, like she has been sitting in the kitchen for hours.  And she is glad to see her father.  He gets to the bottom of the stairs and stops.
“Bethany,” he says in a dreamlike voice, “I will miss you.”
“Why Daddy?”  she raises her eyebrows. 
“No time for that now.  You will find the one, if you are both searching.  But don’t let the others get to you.  They only want to destroy.  Be careful.  And never lose your faith in God.  I love you, Red.” 
“Dad, what do you mean?”  She asked him.
Her father begins to shimmer like a thousand tiny lights.  The lights cascade to the ground like the sparks of a firework falling and fade.  Bethany stares at the final step where her father was just standing. 
And the panic returns.