Dreamwalker
an excerpt

“Dance with me Jace.”
I knew I was dreaming. I knew in the way my mother looked, the way her face held the youthful beauty I had come to love. Her eyes sparkled; the deep shadows I remembered had disappeared. I smiled back at her and followed her movements. Lithe and graceful, she stepped around the symbols etched in salt on the floor of our home. Effortlessly. That was the word that struck me as I watched her, trying to mimic those steps, those movements. She laughed and shook her head at me.
“Counter clockwise. That’s how we always do it.” She teased, the hem of her white dress slapped softly against her legs as she moved again, her feet seeming to float, almost like she wasn’t touching the ground at all.
I stumbled behind, ungainly and awkward, my limbs not made for such delicate dancing. She laughed harder and I found I didn’t mind. Not at all. It had been a long time since I had heard that melodic sound from her lips. I chuckled with her, forcing my too large feet to tap out the sequence, one, two, one, two, one, two.

We had completed the full turn of the circle and was once again at the start when she stepped outside the white marker. I stared down at the infinity sign beneath my feet and looked up at her in puzzlement. This was a change in routine. We never left the circle until afterwards. She’d always warn me about breaking the line.
“What you doing Mum?” she just shook her head at me and smiled that sad little smile that I had seen too often in the past months. My heart constricted as she turned and began to walk away from me.
“Mum, wait!” I called out to her, fell onto the floor as my own feet tripped me, scrambling for balance as my big toe slipped over and through the white line, spilling the salt in all directions. I felt the rush of air, of power slip through and knew it was a bad thing. I looked towards her disappearing back and made my decision.
“Mum!” I called as I ran after her, my eyes on the flicker of her skirt as she walked. She looked over her shoulder at me and turned back towards me. I felt a sense of relief as she waited for me, both hands outstretched.
“Come on Jace. You’re so slow.” She laughed. I moved faster until I was running. I should have been closing in on her. I should have got close but I was still running towards her and she was getting farther away even though she was standing still.
“Jace, come on.” She called again, this time there was a note of impatience in her voice as she wriggled her fingers. “You’re getting as slow as your father.”
I ignored the whisper of doubt in my head and ducked my head down and sprinted for all I was worth.
When I looked up again, she was still a long way away. I reached out my right hand.
“Mum!” I tried willing her to me, tried willing myself to her. Nothing happened. She just kept getting smaller and smaller until the darkness swallowed her up.

Whatever the noise was, it woke me up. Sweat clung to my upper lip and dribbled down my chest. I was breathing hard, like I’d been running for a long time. I wiped my face and rubbed my eyes.
A shadow was standing near the window, highlighted by the moonlight. I couldn’t see much more than a faint outline. I wasn’t sure if I was still dreaming or if I had taken leave of my senses so I did the only thing I knew how to do.
“Mum?” my voice sounded fuzzy and hazy. I was sure I was still half asleep. It all felt so surreal that I wasn’t sure what was real and what was dream. I tasted something awful in my mouth and swallowed hard.