Dreams of Reality

I walked silently and carefully in the dark.  Where, I’m not sure, but I knew I had to get there.  There was an old broken down house in front of me.  Where did it come from?  No clue, but the woods were familiar so I figured I should recognize it.  I walked up to the house and all I could see were vines of wisteria taking over the side walls and roof.  It was spring for sure, a waterfall of purple flowers was consuming all four sides of the building while masses of ivy crawled and broke into every crack and crevice.  The stone path to the door was barely visible and covered in a green and yellow carpet of wire grass and sand.  The concrete steps in front of the entrance seemed to be a shadow of their former strength.  I was scared to even touch them for fear they would crumble to dusty rubble. 

Tip toeing to the door, I noticed it was barely hanging from its rusted and rotted frame.  As far as I could tell there were no windows inside.  Great, a dark room with lots of unknown’s and creepy crawlies, that’s just what I need.
“Go” whispered a voice.  I turned around, glared back into the woods I just came from and then towards the house.  Not sure what I was looking for, I just stood there.

“But I don’t understand?  Why?”  I responded confused and a little frustrated.  The voice was familiar.  Soft and motherly, she encouraged me to go into the house. 

Cautiously, I peeked into the room and spotted four more doors; one in each corner of the small house.  Each door had a strange ethereal glow that seemed to be pulsing with light cutting through the dark room with ease.  I heard the voice again.  Usually she hummed sweet melodies that calmed me, but this time she was whispering frantically, urging me forward again.  I couldn’t really tell what the words were but I knew that she wanted me to visit each of the rooms.  Seems like a silly idea, but I’m dreaming, what harm could it do?  Strange, I even know I’m dreaming.  Hmm…

I decided to head towards the back left door first and as I slowly stepped inside the room, I had no clue what to expect.  I looked around and spotted the source of the beautiful light I’d seen from outside.  It was coming from a table with shabby legs standing in the center of the room.  Though it was frail and rotting the table held its ground while supporting an unusual weight, shards of glass that were driven deep into the wood.  It was the glass that was creating the unusual array of colors.  Greens, yellows, and browns flowed and flickered across the shards of the glass.  I looked around the room to see what they were reflecting, but there was nothing. 

“Can I touch them?”  I asked the voice.  There was no response so, being the curious devil that I am, I slowly reached out and pulled one of the shards out of the table.  An instant later, I felt as I if I were surrounded by the greatest forests on earth.  I could smell the fresh tangy, rain swept pine bark along with the sweet and warm aroma of strong oaks.  I could even hear the new leaves budding from the branches.  Bright yellow flowers exploded into life from the tips of the fragile stems of other trees and the fragrance was so sweet I could swear the flowers were directly under my nose.  Where had I seen these flowers before?  It reminded of something familiar but I wasn’t sure what that was.  I even felt grass growing beneath my feet.  I reached out to touch the yellow flowers but instead, the tiny glass shard slipped from my fingers.  I was back in the sad little room.  There was no grass growing between my toes, the sweet, deep forest smell evaporated and all the leaves and trees had disappeared.
 
I heard the voice whispering to me, telling me to go to a different room.  With the memory of the forest behind me, I walked into the back right room.  It was just as sad and lonely as the forest room but instead of a table, it had an old rusted water basin sitting in the middle of the floor.  I walked towards it still keeping an eye out for the creepy crawlies.  I shuddered at the thought.  Leaning over, I looked inside the basin and again found shards of glass similar to the ones in the forest room.  They were floating in the basin and I was surrounded by shades of blue that even the vast seas, oceans, and sky would envy. 
Gently, like the room before, I picked up one shard and I was engulfed in the sound of waves crashing, brooks babbling, and streams trickling.  Water flowing in cool clear rivers invaded my mind and surrounded me in their continuous flow of life, yet I remained completely dry.  The voice had started to call out to me again and when I dropped the shard in the basin everything was quiet.  I knew I was dry but I felt as if I’d just left a fresh bath.  I could still smell the clean crisp air all around me.  With a quick turn, I left the room.

Moving right along, I headed to the door at the front right side of the house.  When I stood next to the door I could hear whispers and rustling sounds of motion.  Not sure if there was something alive in the room or not, I nervously cracked the door open.  Looking around for the source of the noise I heard I found nothing.  There was no air flowing nor was there any visible living creature moving about. Searching for a window thinking the wind outside was blowing, I found none.  My only guess was that mirror shards were here as well. 

Without much searching, I found them above me, seeming to float from nothing in the air.  They shimmered and flickered silently.  I reached out to touch one just as I had in the previous rooms curious as to what I’d see this time.  Just barely placing the tip of my finger to the lowest shard, I was immediately engulfed by sounds of gale force winds followed by soft whisperings of a light summer breeze.  It felt as though I was being blown away and warmly wrapped all at once by the sheer strength and yet gentle caress of the flowing air around me.  Though the shards above weren’t moving, I could still feel the wind as if I were standing at its source.  I dropped my hand from the floating shards and exhaled sharply.  I turned and left the room, heading towards the last door.

I went towards it almost fearing what could surpass the previous three rooms.  This door showed signs of the brightest light yet.  I walked in and searched for the shards that were guaranteed to be there somewhere.  In the center of the room was a chandelier, an old one that used to hold candles but in place of the candles were to no surprise, mirror shards.  Just as I had in every other room, I reached out to touch the closest shard but it wasn’t cool like any of the others, it was scorching hot.  I jerked my fingers back waiting for the pain, but there was none.  Carefully, I reached out and touched the shard again.  I was absorbed by all its warmth and light.  I could easily imagine how darkness must fear this room.  Such radiance and warmth can only be a welcoming thing.  The source of the heat is so incredibly small I wondered where such power could come from.  Light coursed through the shards as though they were alive in some way pulsating in its own personal rhythm.  Surely nothing cold or dark could exist as long as these mirror shards were in the world. 

I removed my hand from the shard checking for burns again, even though I didn’t really expect to find any and left the final.  I went to leave the house, unsure of what any of this meant. 

“Please, why am I here?”  I pleaded with the voice.  I was so confused and the dream wasn’t ending.  It should be ending, but I couldn’t wake myself up. 

“Turn around” she murmured. 

When I looked back all the doors in the room were gone.  In the center wall between the spot where the rooms of forests and water had been, there was a diamond shaped mirror hanging on the wall.  Each corner of the mirror released the unusual glowing array of colors. 

“What do you want from me?”  I waited for instructions.  There was nothing.  What I did hear took me off guard.  I listened closely and the framed diamond seemed to be speaking, whispering, and beckoning me to its framed remains.  The voice was warm and welcoming, very similar to the motherly voice that led me into the house but not the same.

I reached the framed center and an amazingly beautiful pendant began to appear.  It was tear shaped but within that tear drop flames, trees, and wind all intermingled with each other to form this amazing piece of art.  When it faded all that was left was my own reflection. 

“Bizarre,” I muttered closing my eyes.  “This is enough.  I want to wake up now.  Please, let me wake up,” I whimpered.    Opening my eyes again, I was still looking into the mirror only my eyes seemed different.  In fact, they didn’t seem to have any color to them at all!  They flashed from bright white and yellow to golden oranges and frightening reds.  My skin was crawling with gray ripples and appeared drained of all life. 

Terrified, I started to pinch myself.  “Wake up, wake up, wake up!!”  I screamed.  My emotions seemed magnified as I watched the changes in the mirror.  As my eyes changed colors, so did my skin.  Yellow streaks consumed my sight and my skin remained gray.  The more annoyed I became, the more the colors changed.  As I began to get angry my eyes and skin became a burning red and orange color while the rest of me seemed to get suddenly warm. 

“See yourself, embrace it.  Your parents need you.  This will lead you to them.” 

“What are you talking about?!?”  Confusion, frustration and fear consumed me.  Why can’t I wake up?

“What do you mean ‘see myself’ and what about my parents?”  I demanded.  There was no response.  In fact, when I looked back at the mirror it had gone completely dark and was no longer whispering anything or reflecting bizarre colors on my skin or in my eyes.  That’s when my real eyes opened and the dream finally ended.