Excerpt 2
Outside my windows, the wind growled and groaned and the deluge was back. It came down in cycles, downpour and calm, downpour and calm. My need for slumber overcame the chill that traced up and down my spine.
My sleep returned me to the grey and mushy, spongy ground that sank under my feet. The song was much closer this time. More audible, I could tell it was a woman’s voice. Through the thick air, I was able to make out movement and a shadow.
Instead of following the voice I pursued the shadow. I continued my journey towards it. I felt if I could just reach it the ferocious storm outside would subside and I would be out of harm’s way. The rain falling faster and harder, I was sopping and my visibility was more and more limited. Through the rivulets invading my eyes the shadow appeared to be large and oval. I grew closer and closer finally able to identify the soft form of a face.
The image before me was fuzzy but I could see outlines of the eyes and a nose but not the mouth. Under the nose was still something indefinable. Soaked to the bone I continued. Somewhere inside my soul I had heard the lullaby before. A memory flooded back in disjointed pieces; being held and rocked, a storm and a man.
Suddenly, to my right, he came out of the fog towards me. “There you are,” he said. His voice sent a sharp pang echoing through me. As a reaction, I ran. My feet driving hard into the sinking ground beneath them. The rain turned to blood and a wooden chest, the kind a woman would use to preserve her wedding dress in, materialized before me. Scrambling to reach it and close the lid I jolted awoke.
Tears covered my face. Outside, the lightning illuminated the sky and water pounded my window. The dream had unleashed a very real terror inside me. My body shivered and I yanked the covers up under my chin and curled myself into a ball. I could hear my own heart beat.
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