The Path

I awoke from the dream

I awoke from the dream. Moreover, from the nightmare.

I felt a little confused, at first, because I have not had a nightmare since I was a child.

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I lay on my back, in my bed, staring at the evening sky through my sky light. I was trying to make sense of what my subconscious had just presented me.

Normally I would simply pass off dreams as just a collection of jumbled thoughts, but this one was different. It was so vivid, so real.

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I got out of bed and went to my bedroom door. I took the housecoat hung there and threw it on over my nightshirt and sleep pants.

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I opened the door and walked down the hall to the double doors that opened to the deck. As soon as I opened one of the tall glass doors I was met by the cool night air.

I often came out to the deck at night to cool off and to listen to the sounds of the night.

It offered me a break from the usual total confusion that surrounded me every day.

As I closed the door behind me, I was aware of something different; it was quiet.

Too quiet.

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I walked to the end of the deck and looked down into the water below. The ducks that were always around the thick trunks, that protruded from the water, were not there.

"Strange."

I looked out across the lake. The water, as always, was calm and the horizon was a warm red, as always. Sure signs of another beautiful day, in the Kingdom of Whisper.

I sat on one of the benches and smiled.

Even after all these years, it still brought a smile to my face. How many people can say that they have a kingdom named after them?

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A sudden chill on the wind made me look up.

"What is that?"

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I could see something on the horizon. Not so much something, as the absence of something.

The warm red horizon was now black.

That was really strange. since the sun never really set in the Land of Nine Kingdoms.

And what was making it even more strange, was the fact that the black seemed to be moving along the horizon, covering more of it.

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I got to my feet and stood at the railing.

"This is not right."

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As I watched, I thought I could see something moving from the darkness. At first, it looked like a solid black mass, but as it neared, I could see that it was a mass made of thousands of single items.

I looked back toward the house. It was dark. There were no lights on.

I looked across at the Traverse house. It was the same. There was no indication that anyone was awake.

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I felt uneasy. It was a feeling that I certainly was not familiar with. I could feel my heart rate increasing.

Something was definitely not right.

I felt alone and even more unusual, I felt scared.

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