Mirror The Light

CHAPTER - I

        
         Drowning. I have been drowning for an eternity. Feeling the depths against my skin. Knowing the movements around me, yet not being able to move. Arms and legs being kept tied by vines, trying to pull me along with them but my body refuses as it wishes to wander about.

         I feel a presence so close yet so far. Unable to reach it. Wanting to hold onto whatever it is. But I can’t.

         Creatures swim past me. I want to hold them, touch them with grace. Feel their skin on my fingertips. Explore their scales. But I can’t. I try and try and try and try and try. Yet I can’t. My body doesn’t budge on my will. 

         Why, I don’t know.

         All I ever feel is the endless blues around me. 

____________

         Her eyes spring open; unfinished canvas in her line of sight.

         Verena moved her hands gracefully as bristles dipped in ultramarine, met the textured cotton. She recalled hues of deep and bright blues that had surrounded her in those everlong recurring dreams. She wanted to capture such beauty and tranquility as it had to mean something if she kept seeing them. Once again, she found her eyelids going shut and she's back.

          Draped in silk whites that flowed along with the slight waves, vines curled around her wrists and ankles, keeping her from reaching the surface. Brilliant colours of aquatic swam around her in all curiosity as they found her not being one among them. Languid fins graced her skin; a soothing contrast to the stiff vines. There was pain but it was numb to her. Verena didn’t know from where it started and where it ended; everywhere and nowhere. Somehow without looking she knew that beneath her was a never ending hollow depth of darkness whilst in front of her lay a light so blinding her head began to sting, jolting her to come back. The sight of a hand reaching out to her being the only thing her eyes could recall.

          She pictured it again and again. Mixing colours or leaving as it is. Painting had always helped her from escaping the tangled mess that was confined in her head for as long as she could remember.

          At first, the dream felt more pleasant. Where she could relax from all the stress she endures when awake; something she could hold onto when she was just tired of everything. But as time passed, the voices confirmed it otherwise. She didn’t know what to make of it. For instance, it could be a predicament or a sign. A vision or a memory. The possibilities are endless, and that frightened her. Ever since she began to transport back underwater whenever sleep came, it turned harder for her to breathe. Sweat would form on her forehead and her heart would begin to accelerate. Thoughts of her drowning or laying lifeless, frozen in time made her jolt awake, having a hard time composing her breath in-take.  

          And of course, she hadn’t told a soul. No one would ever want to see sympathy in the faces of those that are like a second family. Causing them to think that they are too weak and fear something minute like uncertainty. All everyone ever does is leave it unattended, giving them the strength to grow dangerously. 

          As the paints dried away, the image that haunted her mind now had a place to stay. Sunlight from the windows beside her art space brilliantly lit the hues; she always thought that the colours would be the best when it was made to nourish under its parent.  Her lips stretched, forming a grin on her cool toned face. She was impressed with how it had turned out. Now that it was done and her mind can be at peace, she decided to take a warm shower.