How Strange, a Dream Fairy!

Intro

Dazzling light flickers across my closed eyes, shining bright reds and golds. Eyelids flutter open to a glorious canopy of green, softly dancing leaves stretching miles above. Shafts of sunbeams burst through the dancers, illuminating the vast forest below. 

Branches swish gently back and forth, trees have always had such a soothing effect on me. The array of colours amazes me from deep blacks to blazing whites and everything in between. A breeze ripples through the branches making them flurry and sway.

My eye focuses straight above, at the crown cover, a large gap streams in sunshine. One branch has grown and stretched higher than the rest, reaching a tendril, a hand towards the sun.  A waft of sour acrid air distracts my gaze, eyes dart to the source, a sweetly sour odour, so delicate, images of creatures running through the bushes conjure in my mind, skunk maybe or possibly something more sinister. I take notice now, more notes in the air, the damp earth combined with decaying leaves that surround me, somewhere not too far there’s a stagnant pond it’s sulphuric tones are mellowed by the sweet gorse bush behind me. That ignites something in my mind. A childhood that could be aeons ago, a gorse bush, children laughing, running and playing. The heady scent wafting over the meadow mingling with the familiar smells of home…

Something sharper creeps through my daydream. A thick Iron or Copper taste fills the air, like the jar of pennies Uncle Matt kept on his desk, I remember the smell would stick to my hands after counting them out. I loved to count them into piles over and over again. The smell would be so thick you could taste it. Like now, the smell was so strong I could taste it. Instinctively my hand runs over the rough ground, cold radiates up into my already numb form. The forest floor is littered with cast-offs from the towering trees, sharp needles and blades, twigs and branches stomped down to an earthy mulch. How long have I sat here? The tranquil calm the forest brought me was leaching away, my heart thunders in my chest, it’s song beats out a sad tune. Love and joy bubble to my mind and crashes down around me. A face conjures in my mind, a beautiful face that brings such joy and utter broken-hearted loss.

The pool of blood has absorbed into the forest floor, his cool body grows heavy in my arms. How long have we been here? Looking down at his body I focus on his face, I can’t see his eyes they have swollen shut, the purple and black bruising obscures his features. Do I really want to remember him like this? The clamour of fighting in the distance grows louder. Panic and fear jump-start my instincts. I can’t stay here, I’ve already been here too long. Urging myself on I lay his body gently on the forest floor with one last glance I run into the trees. 

Branches and briars snatch and grab as I barge through the forest, the forest seems to be thwarting my every move. A root catches my foot and my ankle pops, pain shoots through my body, falling, the ground coming up fast to meet me as I fall. A soft flump, as the bedsprings, protests against my prone form. Blankets tangled all around me, warmth spreads through my core. I’m home, in bed, safe.