Coming to Light

She woke up. She was not where she was when she went to sleep, however. At least-not that she could remember. Like a dream, it felt as if she had entered another realm. Adrienne Waters often had very vivid dreams, and at times it was difficult to differentiate reality from her dream world. She placed her hands over and around her eyes, rubbing vigorously in hopes that it would bring her back to reality. It was dark, and as she opened her eyes, she could see the light of a full moon, behind pine trees. That is when she realized she was outside, in a forest? Her hands met the ground around her, she grasped at pine straw, dead leaves, and dirt. Her brain was foggy, as if she had spiraled into another dimension. Her eyes began to adjust to the dark night. There was a fire burning at the bottom of a ravine, and a cloaked woman stood beside it. Could it be Sophia? The woman who left that little black notebook at the café?

It was another mundane Wednesday afternoon in Blueridge, Georgia. Adrienne was working her usual evening shift at ‘The Mug Café’. She was often the only barista working, and she liked it that way. She could always get more done working alone. Adrienne took online college courses, working in between classes, and studying and writing in between orders. Little did Adrienne know, today would not continue to be another ‘typical mundane Wednesday’.

The usual suspects were at The Mug Café today. There was Bill, a freelance writer working on his novel. Bill took his drip coffee with a splash of 2% milk, in his mug he brought from home. He would also bring a PB&J sandwich, and munch on that for approximately 2 hours. Sophia with her black coffee and one raw sugar, always sat in the back corner of the café. She was quiet and eccentric, she looked foreign, possibly Greek? Adrienne didn’t know much about her, other than she read Tarot cards over the internet, and was always scribbling in her little black notebook. Sophia looked to be a noticeably young, attractive forty or so, with curly black hair and striking blue/green eyes that looked as if they pierced your soul. Vaughn was a young 30-something, content creator. He came by The Mug to edit his videos, and would order a café au lait, one Splenda. He was an adventurer, hiking the Appalachian, skydiving in Hawaii, swimming with sharks in the Atlantic, you name it. This guy was insane. It was rare for Adrienne to see a face she did not recognize.

The Mug Café wasn’t your typical coffee shop. It was decorated more like a lodge in the mountains, less the animal heads mounted on the walls, thank God. The interior was all wooden, the owner Maxine Johnson was a woman of many trades, including but not limited to: wood carving, contractor, bee keeper, coffee roaster, business owner and mother. Blueridge is a small town, and was in desperate need of a nice, comfy coffee shop. Everything in the café was handmade by Maxine and her husband Jacob. From the beautiful glossy wooden bar to the stools and chairs. The mugs and art on the walls were designed by a local artist. The building itself was designed and built by Maxine and her husband.

Sophia approached the bar with her mug. Adrienne hardly noticed as her head was buried in her laptop, writing a paper for her Creative Writing class. “May I have a refill, please?” Sophia asked, setting down her mug and reaching for her wallet in her extremely large bag. “Oh, of course. I’m sorry I didn’t even see you walk over here.” Adrienne said, getting up from her barstool behind the counter and reaching for the fresh pot of coffee she had started a few minutes earlier. “Oh, you’re fine. I just smelled the fresh batch you were making and couldn’t resist. What is this one?” Sophia inquired. “This one is a special ‘Blueberry Pie’ blend, a new concoction by the owner. It’s actually pretty amazing. I think it’s my new favorite.” Adrienne stated matter-of-factly. “Well, I can’t wait to try it, it sounds delicious. You know, I never know what to tip here. What’s a good amount? I know you’re a struggling young student, I just never know what’s appropriate.” Sophia said genuinely. “Hmmm, $20,000?” Adrienne laughed, “I kid, I kid, that’s just what I owe right now for my classes. I don’t really know either, whatever feels right, I suppose.” Sophia placed a $20 bill into the jar and winked. “Let’s manifest that this turns into the $20,000 you need.”

Later that evening, after everyone had left, Adrienne was performing her closing tasks at the café. She was able to keep up throughout the day with most things but sweeping and mopping was always an inevitable closing duty. First, she would always begin by wiping down the tables, and then sweeping. It was then that she noticed something. Sophia had left her little black notebook on the table. It was a black, roughly 3x5 notebook, with a gold rim around the cover, and in gold writing it read “Coming to Light”. “Odd.” Adrienne thought to herself. It looked slightly worn and old, like it was an antient artifact. Adrienne looked outside to see if perhaps Sophia was making her way back to retrieve it, but there was no sign of it. Just an empty parking lot, with a lovely view of the mountains, and beautiful starry sky. Adrienne hesitantly picked up the notebook to take it to the back office to hold onto for the night. The notebook was surprisingly sturdy, despite it’s appearance. Sophia was a regular, so she would most definitely be back tomorrow.

Thursday came and went, and there was no sign of Sophia. “How odd.” Adrienne thought, shaking her head. As she locked up the store, she again admired the bright starry night. The moon was almost full, and it lit up the mountains beautifully. It was a chilly October night in Blueridge, and Adrienne loved nights like these. Friday morning, just after her morning classes, Adrienne needed to stop by the bank to deposit her tip money. “$200 for the week, that’s not too bad.” She thought aloud. She received her deposit receipt and headed to The Mug for work. As she grabbed her bag to head inside, she noticed the balance on her receipt. “This just isn’t possible.” Adrienne said aloud, in shock and awe. She grabbed the receipt and looked closer. The balance read $23,850.77. That’s $20,000 more than should be in the account. Was it Sophia? How? Adrienne pulled out her phone and got on the mobile banking app. Sure enough, her balance was $23,850, direct deposited Thursday morning at 9am on the dot. Adrienne sat in disbelief. Excitement, relief, happiness, even guilt, all overcame her at once. She had no clue what to feel. Her smile larger than ever, and yet tears started streaming down her face. “Why am I crying, this is amazing.” Adrienne said through cries. “I cannot keep this. I have to speak with Sophia.”

Adrienne composed herself and headed inside to The Mug Café. Maxine was working the morning shift and noticed Adrienne’s demeanor and teary eyes. “What’s wrong?” She asked Adrienne. “I-I don’t even know, nothing is wrong, just something crazy happened.” Adrienne stammered, trying not to start crying again. “I promise, I’ll tell you later. You go ahead and go, I’ve got this.” “You sure you’re okay?” Maxine asked in a mom-like way. “I’m great.” Adrienne’s smile was convincing enough, and Maxine headed out. Friday, just like the day before, came and went with no sign of Sophia. Saturday morning, Adrienne hoped that perhaps Sophia would be back, but she still had not come back. Bill came up to the bar for his refill. “Just a little bit of 2%, please.” He would say every single time. Bill was a kind older man, with kind blue eyes and jet-black hair. I swear he had to dye it, he had to be in his late 60’s. “Bill, have you heard from or seen Sophia?” Adrienne asked as she rinsed his mug. “Who?” Bill asked. Adrienne poured the fresh coffee into his mug. “You know, Sophia? The beautiful Grecian woman that sits in the corner? Dresses kinda like a gypsy?” Bill looked at her confused. “I have no clue who you’re talking about. It’s usually me, Vaughn and sometimes Jacob in here in the evenings. I don’t remember any women.” Adrienne was astonished, perplexed. She grabbed the milk out of the fridge below the bar, and poured a splash in the mug for Bill. “Huh.” She said, finally. “Never mind.”

Later that evening after Adrienne finished closing up, she went to the back to check the tapes. She went back to Wednesday, and sure enough, there was no Sophia. Tuesday, Monday, Sunday, and no mysterious woman in any of the security footage. Adrienne sat in disbelief. Chills fluttering her body, raising the hair on the back of her neck. Was this all a figment of her imagination? Too much creative writing, and fantasy? The book was real, though. Wasn’t it? Adrienne opened the drawer to the desk, and there it was. Sophia had to have been real, but what-or who- was she? Adrienne grabbed the notebook and took it home.

Adrienne lived alone, in a tiny little cabin in the forest not too far from downtown. She pulled into her gravel driveway and made her way inside. The front door light was flickering, it was in need of being changed for weeks now. She sat at her dining room table and put the book down. It was time to see what this little book was about, maybe it would have an address or phone number, something that could lead her to Sophia. The first page had some foreign language scribbled on it, she had no idea what it said or even what language it could be. Below, much smaller in the bottom corner it read “Property of Sophia”. The first page was the same sentence written over and over again. “I am. I am. I am.” The entire page, filled. The writing was written in gold and the lettering was raised, Adrienne traced the lettering with her fingers. At the top of the page, the date read 1725. The next few pages didn’t quite make sense either. Some of it was written in another language, there were some names she could make out, but everything in English seemed to be things such as: “I am God. I am Abundance. I am Wealth. I am Beauty.” Adrienne had no idea what any of this meant. As she flipped through the pages and got closer to the end of filled pages, everything was in English. There were moon spells, manifestation techniques, astrology charts and sentences like: “Maxine Johnson is successful.” Written over and over. The very last thing written, was very odd indeed. It read: “Adrienne Waters has $20,000.” Over and over.

She shut the book. Adrienne sat there in disbelief for some time, trying to take in everything she had just read, in combination with the fact that Sophia never existed, I guess? At least not to the rest of the world, or the security camera footage. If any of this is real, Adrienne had to test it out. Starting with manifesting Sophia.

She fished around in her purse for a pen and clicked it open, trying to think of something to write. “Adrienne Waters is with Sophia.” The black ink flickered and turned to gold, her handwriting even changed fonts and raised the lettering. She dropped the pen and jumped back. What could this mean? That night she struggled to fall asleep, tossing and turning. Finally, she fell asleep around 3:30am.

She woke up. She was not in her cozy bed, however. Rubbing her eyes and face vigorously to take in her surroundings. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the nightscape, the full moon, the pine trees. This place looked familiar, like the forest behind her home. Had she slept walked? At the bottom of the ravine, she could see a fire flickering. A cloaked woman stood tending to the fire. Sophia? Adrienne felt like she was dreaming, like she was in-between dimensions. “Adrienne.” Said a familiar voice. It sounded like Sophia; however it was as if the voice came from right next to her. She shook her head and looked around her. There was nobody there. She looked back down the ravine, and Sophia took down her cloak hood, and was staring straight up at Adrienne. As if she were in a trance, Adrienne made her way down the ravine, sliding and climbing down to the bottom, staring into her eyes the entire way. “You’ve made it.” Sophia stated. “What do you mean? What is happening? What is that notebook?” Adrienne asked perplexed. “So many questions, but I think you know the answers.” Sophia stated all to calmly. “What? What could you possibly mean? I don’t think-“ Sophia cut her off, “Stop thinking.” She said, raising her hand. She lowered her hand and Adrienne sat down. “Stop thinking and look within. You have all the answers within.” Adrienne, still perplexed, did as she was told, oddly starting to understand Sophia’s cryptic words. Adrienne looked into he fire and suddenly began to understand everything. “I am.” That short, but powerful sentence began to replay in her head. In a trance like state, the phrase repeating itself in her minds eye over and over. She felt consumed by the secrets of the universe, fully embodying the phrase “I am.” Adrienne broke out of the trance, “I am.” Adrienne said aloud, turning towards Sophia, but she was no longer there. Adrienne shook her head again and looked around. The sun was beginning to rise, and the fire was almost completely out. “Sophia?” Still no sign or trace of her. Adrienne made the hike back home and went back to sleep for a few more hours.

“Adrienne… excuse me, Adrienne?” Sophia’s voice rang in Adrienne’s mind. She sat up to her laptop in front of her, and suddenly she was back in the café. “I am.” Adrienne said quietly, still waking up from her trance-like sleep. “Yes, I am.” Sophia said with a wink. “May I have a refill please?”