by Margo Macabee

Created on: March 18, 2010

Teresa rose from her lumpy mattress in the rustic cabin and gazed at an adjacent figure under the thick bedspread. She slid quietly off the bed and padded past unpacked luggage to the tiny bathroom. The bare bulb above the sink glared painfully into her blood-shot eyes. She shut them as she splashed her face with cold water but the visions from last night’s dream flashed across her mind’s eye; a deep wood, barren of leaves, she dashed across a small stream, a child’s voice called to her;

‘Hurry.’

Teresa’s sleeping boyfriend, Mark and her were meeting his mother the next day. Teresa tried to dismiss her odd dream to the extreme anxiety about his mother’s high expectations of whom her son was dating. But the dream was so vivid it felt manifested from the surreal world, like the sweat from her pores on the pillow.

 “Hurry.” The child’s voice called from outside the door. Teresa gasped and stood stiff, “Hurry.”

Teresa slowly peered out of the bathroom at the motionless lump on the bed. She scanned the room but everything was tranquil, quiet. Too quiet.

“Mark? Was that you?” Not a sound, nor a movement as Teresa tipped-toed towards him. She reached out for the thick blanket and slowly peeled it back exposing an empty bed, “Where are you?!” Teresa called out in desperation and searched the few rooms, but he was nowhere to be found. She flung open the front door to a leafless forest, “Mark!”

“Hurry!” The child’s voice called to her from a wide trail leading into the deep woods. Teresa grabbed her coat and trotted frantically down the trail.

“Mark, you’re scaring me!” Tears of worry formed in her eyes and she quickened her pace to a jog. Teresa splashed across a small steam then froze in shock and examined her familiar surroundings. That was her dream.

“Hurry.” The child’s voice was loud and close.

“Hurry, where?” Teresa yelled into the trees, but the woods went silent again, “Hurry, where?!” Teresa ran down the trail, through the woods that eerily mirrored her dream. Tearfully, she rounded a large rock and there, laying down a blanket on the forest floor was her boyfriend, Mark. He turned startled at her sudden presence.

“Teresa? Darn it! You’re going to ruin it, sweetie! Turn around!” Mark curtly demanded of her and she did but reluctantly and nearly sobbing

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