The First Dream

Marybeth's world came crashing down around her. Everything she once held dear vanished into the darkness of loss and pain. Her running team, the piano in her classroom, the smile on her sister's face. It was all disappearing before her eyes and there was nothing she could do about it. She wanted to scream. To use her straining voice to push back the darkness that was coming for her, but she was too afraid. Too alone. Instead, she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to hold together the falling pieces of her memories. She fell to her knees and wept.

The darkness stopped. A curtain of blackness that held itself in the air right before her face. The dark mass moved slowly like it was a breathing entity watching her waiting to see what she would do. Beyond the curtain of shadows, Marybeth could hear something. It sounded like the soft whimpering of a young child. It was a familiar sound. A sound that scratched at the back of her memories. A distant thought that she couldn't quite grasp.

Marybeth rubbed at her eyes, wiping the tears away. When she finally stopped crying she stared back at the endless darkness. It loomed high above her in an endless wall of nothing. She knew she should be afraid of the darkness but for some reason, she knew she needed to venture inside. To face whatever distant memory was hidden within. She took a deep breath stood up and walked into the shadows.

At first, she saw nothing, only darkness. She tried waving her hand in front of her face but again she saw nothing. It wasn't just the absence of light it was as if the light never existed. She turned around and took a step back from where she came from but the light she had before was no longer there. Her breathing grew rapid and her heart started pounding in her chest. She tried screaming. Calling to her mother to come and find her, but there was no sound. Did she even exist anymore? Had she somehow died? Was the world of Laws, talking birds, and fighting lizard-men, just a dream? Is Sophie just a dream?

Fear took over every fiber of her body. She didn't know what to do. She could scream, couldn't see and the sound of a child whimpering was the only thing she could hear. With no other options, she started to run. In what direction she couldn't tell. All she knew was that she could run.

It felt good to run. To feel her feet hit the ground, roll underneath her, and push off. Every muscle memory from her time on the track team took over. It was like a long-lost friend coming back to be with her. If she couldn't do anything else at least she knew she could run. Farther and farther she went with no sense of fatigue taking over. It was incredible. To run forever and ever. To not have to look back at the painful past or constantly question your uncertain future. All there that she needed was to be able to run.

Light blinded her vision as she burst out of the darkness. She had to cover her eyes from the glare of a nearby desk lamp. Her desk lamp. She recognized it immediately. It was her pink-glass flower lamp she used to have as a kid. The one she spent hours studying under its warm light. Next to the lamp was an old CD player with a set of headphones. They were her comfort when she was a kid. When she started hearing the yelling and the fighting coming from the other room she would turn on her CD player and listen to her favorite boy bands.

A flash of lightning shot through Marybeth's childhood room. The soft pattering of rain could be heard hitting her bedroom window. The room was exactly like how she remembered it. Clean, proper, and everything in its rightful place. Her twin-sized bed was placed in the corner with its white, ruffled-edged sheets and blue and black striped blanket. There was a matching pillow on the bed and nothing else. She wasn't allowed to sleep with any of her toys or her favorite teddy. It made nights long and lonesome.

The walls were plain white with only a few pictures. Pictures that were approved of, nothing too inappropriate. She was not allowed to have posters up or even her drawings. The only decoration she had in the room was a long cream-colored tent that was hung from the roof and draped over a pile of pillows. The crying was coming from there.

"Hello?" Marybeth called out in a whisper. "Is someone there?"

The crying came to a sudden stop. Marybeth could see someone hiding inside the tent. She carefully walked toward the tent not wanting to startle whoever it was. The crying sounded familiar. Maybe it was Sophie? Had Sophie somehow gotten trapped in this endless darkness and then found herself in this room as she had.

"Sophie is that you?" Marybeth asked taking another step closer. There was a sudden rattling from inside the tent and its long drapes shifted softly. "It's okay. It's me, Marybeth."

"Go away." The voice whimpered. It wasn't Sophie's voice but again she had heard it somewhere before. It was the voice of a little girl, that much Marybeth could tell.

"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. You can trust me." Marybeth finally reached the opening of the tent and knelt. "Are you hurt? Are you afraid of something?"

"Make them stop. Please make them stop." The little girl said between constrained sobbing.

"Make who stop? Is someone hurting you?"

The little girl rushed out of the tent, shoving Marybeth aside, and ran to the door.

"Wait," Marybeth called out but the little girl had opened the door and ran into the darkness.

Marybeth jumped up and ran after her. Once she passed through the door the darkness consumed her again. Somewhere in its endless void, she could hear the girl's footsteps. She pointed herself in that direction and ran. Running through the darkness felt different this time. She wasn't running for herself but for someone else. It felt like she was running faster than ever before. The darkness didn't last as long as before and Marybeth found herself emerging from it into her childhood house's living room.

It was still raining outside with the occasional flash of lightning. The room was empty besides an old tv, a glass coffee table, a potted plant, and a brown fabric couch. The door was wide open letting in a cold breeze and the drumming of the rain. A little girl stood at the door crying and looking off into the distance. The girl was half the height of Marybeth, wearing a blue jacket with the hood pulled over their head. They had their hands held to their face and were shaking. Everything here looked so odd yet familiar. No matter how hard she thought she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Hello?" Marybeth walked around to see the girl's face. "My name is Marybeth. Are you alone? Do you know where your parents are?"

The little girl lifted her arm and pointed out the door. Again a familiar sense came over her like a bad case of deja vu. Marybeth walked closer and eventually looked into the face of the crying girl. It was her. It was her when she was eight years old. Marybeth stepped back and bumped into the potted plant causing it to fall over and shatter. Marybeth lept out of her skin and turned around. To her surprise, she was no longer standing in her childhood home but a long hallway of a hospital.

She knew this hospital. She had been there before. She had been on her way there again. She looked down the hallway and there the little girl was. Young Marybeth was standing in an open doorway. Marybeth knew what she was looking at. It was all too familiar. A man came over to stand by the young Marybeth. A man she hadn't seen in a long time. In his hands was Sophie. Baby Sophie, no more than a year old. The man put his hand on young Marybeth's shoulder to which she broke down crying on the floor.

Marybeth wanted to run to herself. To let her know she could be brave. That she could get through this. That there were still happy days to come. But she couldn't move. She was planted in place and within an instance the darkness consumed her.

Marybeth woke up in a startle. Her breathing was ragged, her face covered in sweat, and the stain of tears drying on her cheeks. In the bed next to her was Sophie sleeping quietly. The window was open and a warm breeze was swirling about the room. Marybeth sat up on the edge of the bed and looked out the window. Below she saw the glowing lantern of Freebrook.