Sara's Sight (working title)
an excerpt

She was having that dream again. She’d had it often enough through her life that she knew it immediately and yet this information didn’t wake her, she simply allowed herself to enjoy it while its pleasantness lasted.

The details of the dream had changed as she'd grown, places and people and ideals matured with a person, but the overall effect was still the same.

It was an incredibly beautiful day-the kind that really only ever happen in movies or in books, because we are always too busy or trapped inside by our daily routines or distracted to really enjoy them other than a passing note of "what an incredibly beautiful day." The air was crisp and clean, just a slight hint of chill in the breeze that foretold of the cold icy winds that would follow in the weeks to come. The sun was shining brightly, and the sky was still a brilliant blue, not the weak watery blue of winter. Everything was still green and vibrant, the first frost still a long way off in this area of the country so far south that you were frequently carving pumpkins or even turkeys before a real freeze hit.

The campus was buzzing with activity -people taking and smiling. There were even a few guys playing with a Frisbee in the grassy area near the library.

"That’s a new addition," she thought to herself. "Have to think about that one tomorrow." But now was not the time to analyze what these new residents of her dream world meant and what was it that her subconscious was trying to tell her by moving them into the neighborhood.

As she moved down the sidewalk, past the fountain people would smile, its expression reaching all way up into their eyes. Some would wave from across the mall or even call her name. One voice in particular caught her attention and she turned around. "Sara!" The details of his face her hazy, the sunlight was coming from that direction and it was difficult to make out anything with clarity. But it was clear that he was someone that anyone would find attractive. She estimated that he would be at least a head taller than she and broad enough for her to hide behind successfully. He had an easy walk that clearly evidenced that he was confident and relaxed. His hand was raised in a stilled wave as he walked slowly down the sidewalk towards her. His steps came slower with each one, time stretched out with each moment longer and longer than the last. The sunlight which had been so warm and inviting was strained, more of an incredibly bright hot spotlight with a garish pumpkin filter over it. The laugher and talking that had filled the quad just a moment ago had both slowed so that each sound stretched almost to breaking, and become shrill and unnatural, as if it was coming from a chorus of horribly mistuned electric guitars rather than people.

In that weird, artificial light, the shadows were instantly more noticeable; darker and deeper, as if you could reach your and into one, or that something could even reach out of it towards you. The man was still moving toward her but no longer with that confident walk, but a hulking lumber that swayed jerkingly from one side and then the other, barring the path of anyone who would wish to approach and attempt to pass.

The crisp breeze of earlier had stopped and the air didn’t move at all now. It was thick and sluggish, increasingly resistant to her efforts to move it in and out of her lungs. ‘This must be like it feels to be trapped in amber,’ she thought. She read about how the beautiful golden gems were formed so long ago from prehistoric tree sap and how on occasion a hapless insect would be in the wrong place at the wrong time and become entombed in this translucent mausoleum to be admired so many eons later. The sap of the world was creeping up all around her, the air solidifying in a sticky viscous mass like molasses, only completely clear and invisible. Soon she would be frozen too, trapped in that same spot and position like so many ancient bugs and beetles and spiders; to be stared at and displayed and admired, but not for what she was, but rather for what had become of her.

She shape was even closer, incredibly close but still mercifully out of reach. She knew she had to move but the air clung to her, resisting her, pressing in on her from every possible direction. She had to move, now or everything would be over; and in that instant she knew that it wouldn’t be the end of her, she wouldn't die if she was trapped in this matrix. She’d go on, with no air or food or anything, but just suspended animation tin there. Aware and thinking but frozen and time and space forever. That thought was enough to push her to move, to wrench her entire body around in place; she had to run. But like the beetle and the fly before her, it was already too late before she'd begun moving. They were there behind her and as soon s she turned to face them, they descended.

She woke roughly, sitting up fast. Her breath as coming in ragged gasps, like someone who’s been held under water too long and has just given up hope of ever reaching the surface again. She looked around fast - was anyone looking at her? On girl a few tables over glanced up from her note taking, but quickly returned to her studies, disinterested.

"Well, at least I didn't scream this time."