The bed caught her body. She closed her eyes and tried to forget about the day that slowly ticked by. But she could not. Heavy thoughts kept her down, the bed tried to swallow her whole. Something otherwordly pushed her into the bed. Tears pooled around her body; memories of the past flashed in slow-motion in front of her. Her armed raised, she touched the vision of her younger sister that drifted in front of her.

"Maya," she heard her own name.

It was her sister calling her from beyond the dream.

"Maya."

"Maya."

More tears pooled around her. Joy overwhelmed her body. Her sister was there, she could touch her.

Yet the calling never stopped. Her name became a curse. It pulled her deeper into the dream; as if lead on a boat deeper down the river. She took her sister's hand and went deeper and deeper into the forest that now encapsulated her mind. They ran through the shallow pools and their bodies got wet from the fog that kissed their skin. She turned to her sister but it was not her sister that held her hand. The freakish figure looked into her eyes; they were glowing a strange purple color. The mouth was open and blood dripped from it. She tried to pull back but nothing happened. She stared into the eyes of the figure that tried to pull her closer.

The forest changed from a space of youthful bliss and ignorance to a hellish space in which even the trees tried to pull her deeper into their foul-smelling world. The figure's eyes leaked a strange black substance. She again tried to pull away to no avail. The grip was too strong. Then she heard her name again.

"Maya!"

Did it come from the foul mouth of the creature that held her hand?

"Maya!"

She wrestled with the thoughts; she did not know where to look. Nothing helped. The trees' stems and trunks became fingers that tried to snatch at her. The ghoulish figure still held her hand but it also turned into a trunk and stem like the many others that surrounded her.

"Maya!"

Something called her again. She closed her eyes and everything faded. The pristine youthful forest returned and her sister was holding her hand again. She shivered with fear as she did not know if this was her sister. She did not know what was happening. Her name rang like a constant bell. "Maya, Maya, Maya!"

She woke from the dream alone in her room. The sun was setting. A lonely hour of the day. The sun hung heavy in her kitchen on the horizon as she poured herself a glass of warm white wine. Her body was sweaty, she could not face the reality of a shower now. She walked outside and sat on some of the stairs that led to the lawn. She pulled the bottle closer and poured herself halfheartedly another glass of wine.

Rather than hear her own name, her sister's name rang in her mind. With each sip of wine, she could hear it fading ever so slightly, replaced by a strange ringing. It comforted her. She drank until the sun hid itself behind the horizon and the moon revealed its own nakedness.

Postscriptum

The story is coming along. Slowly but surely. I think I have a couple of good ideas brewing in my mind waiting to be released on the paper.

I hope you enjoyed this installment of the story.

The writing is my own. The photographs are also my own.

I hope you are well. Happy writing, stay safe.