LOST

On a day I find myself sitting on a swing made of oak, on a porch made of pine, by a house made of stone. Lazily swinging back and forth I stare out at the dying sun. My right hand reaches out to feel the cold stone as I swing alone in the dark green wood. Cold mist settles in, slowly creeping at my feet filling them with dread and longing. A longing for something lost.

“Hey you…you…open your eyes.” A woman's voice speaks out softly. “Open your eyes, and look at me. What do you see?”

I don’t look at her. "There is a mirror - hanging in the woods."

“What do you see in the mirror?”

“I see a black street. All the houses are black, black stairs, black windows, black stars. There is a black clock next to me. It keeps quietly ticking through the glass.”

The woman giggles “What time is it?”

“It’s timeless and black. The lonely, cold street bends in complete darkness. Suddenly, a street lamp flutters on, and that is when I see the creature huddled on the other side of the mirror, it’s gnarly back turned toward me.”

“Can this creature see you looking into its world?”

“No, the creature is holding a box.”

“Have you seen this box before?”

“Sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night, I see this creature sitting there grinning, stroking the box. He opens it and I hear a howling.”

The woman whistles then responds “Sometimes the dream world does not remain where it should. Sometimes we invite something dark back in with us, to keep us company as we sleep unknowingly at night.”

I ignore her and continue. “The creature is staring at a girl. She is a ballerina. She is dancing under the lamp, wearing a satin blue see-through dress. Her eyes are always closed, her head tilted back. She is always on her toes, her arms as white as swans.”

“What do you think it wants from her?”

“Her youth, her freedom, her skin. She dances to keep the creature away from me. She dances for it every night so it doesn’t know I’m there watching.”

“This creature, where do you think it comes from?”

“The woods. It creeps from the woods”

“What does it smell like?”

“Danger…it smells of danger…and lost memories”

“If you were to run your hand across its body what would it feel like?”

“A deep black void, my hand would fall through the darkness.”

“This howling, what do you think it represents?”

“All the creatures I keep hidden. Locked up in this house of stone.”

“I want you to come back out of the mirror and back onto your swing made of oak.”

I swing lazily clapping my feet together. The danger is out there in the woods but I’m safe.

A cool hand touches mine “you need to come out of your dream and back with me.”

I stare up at my house. “But, I live here…”

“Only temporarily, now I need you to come back to the real world where you really live.”

“No, I’m not coming back.”

Darkness settles in. A shadow stealthily creeps through the trees. A cool shiver runs down my spine, but I continue swinging.

“If you don’t come back with me now, the creature will come for you and you will be trapped in the mirror with it forever.”

I get off the swing absently running my fingertips against the cold surface of the house. Shadows slowly turn into a small, well-lit room. I sigh and settle back into the couch at my doctor’s office.

“Well, I think we made a lot of progress today.” She smiles at me as always. “I will see you next week, same day, same time. Don’t forget your meds.”