Little Blue Strings

Sleeping Ruby

Everything is a brilliant shade of deep, dark, ruby-red. The sky above, the stream beside her, the dirt, the clouds, and even the air all hold the same color. Her hands, she realizes, are red as well. She holds them out in front of her, struggling to focus her sight upon them. Everything is fading in and out of double and triple images. Her hands... They are dripping with blood. Swallowing nausea, she takes an unsteady step forward. She stumbles, but manages to keep her ground. Step by step, she walks into the tangle of trees and plants before her.

The forest appears to be empty of all life except the foliage, but she can hear echoing, distant cries and sobs. They seems to be chasing her, following closely behind, no matter how far she stumbles. They are driving her to the edge. They're everywhere. Unescapable. Overpowering.

She trips over her own feet, falling against a wide, rough-barked tree. Her heartbeat is raging in her ears and her ragged breaths fill the air. She coughs, grimacing as the taste of blood hits the back of her tongue. Everything smells of blood.

Swallowing back the rising bile in her throat, she sinks to the ground with her back to the tree. She inhales, trying to ignore the scent of iron. The sound of her blood pumping pounds in her ears like an incessant drum. She sits there in silence, waiting for her body to calm itself. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

As she sits, the cries take over the bloodied forest in an unholy crescendo, the sounds becoming louder and louder by the minute. She tries covering her ears, but to no avail. Just as she thinks her head is about to burst, there is a voice that rises above the rest. It isn't a loud voice, but it isn't quiet either. It's firm and gentle, but commanding.

"Sleep," the voice says. The word seems to fall from the sky, not having any visible point of origin. "Close your eyes. That's it... Just sleep..."

The cries hush, like babies being soothed by some great mother in the ruby-red sky.

"Goodnight."

The voice fades like a whisper, and as the noises all but hush, it is almost as if there had been nothing disrupting the stillness of the forest at all. It is silent once again. She is alone with nothing but the land around her for company.

A little afraid, but oddly comforted by that motherly voice, she allows her muscles to relax and the tension to leave her stiffened body. She sighs, her head falling back to rest against the tree trunk. Through the dark branches, she realizes she can see small clouds. They are scuttling by at a rather hasty pace, even though there is no wind.

As they hurry by, they swirl into and out of different shapes. She swears she sees a large stag with even larger antlers in one, and in the other, chasing after the stag, a wolf. When they blow over and loose form, they are replaced with a soft looking dove. The dove wings its way across the sky for a brief moment before melting into the shadow of a raven. When the bird fades away, she sees it. All the clouds above amass into one puffy mound, mixing and expanding. A lengthy face appears, then two little ears, a fluffy but strong and solid body, and finally, a set of deep, beautiful eyes.

A bear.