1 The White Mist

In the dream from which she'd walked in silence, Mira had trekked through a narrow woodland path - where the trees danced and waved as the winds blew hard from afar, dried leaves falling from them . A child held her hand - a boy, who led her deeper into the cold and dark woods that marred their passage. There were shadowed faces amongst the trees, and - with each step they took forward - Mira heard whispers and low moans coming from the dark places where her eyes dare not look. The child led her by the hand until they came upon a stone altar at the very heart of the woods, surrounded by thick and ancient trees. Wordlessly, the child guided her towards the altar where she climbed over the grey stone surface and laid on her back.

The winds blew hard as the skies thundered and rumbled, and dark clouds gathered above. She was sure it'd rain, but the cold droplets never fell. The child stayed by her side, still grasping her hand in silence. Then she heard a low rumble from the shadows between the trees, quiet and distant - looming ever closely with each moment. Ghastly figures in black robes crawled out of the darkness, their bodies bending and moving as though they were insects as they slowly made their way towards the stone altar. Their forms trailed the soft grass, and the child's grip tightened around her hand as jet-black eyes met the brown of her own.

"The harrowing shall begin soon..." The child said, his voice reverberating. For a brief moment, as the specters converged around the stone altar - their bony, ash-like, hands grasping at its edges - the child's ghastly features softened, as if it pitied her. "Be strong..."

Then darkness enveloped her, and she could not even hear herself scream as cold fingers wrapped around her limbs and pulled.

.....

She awoke in the middle of the night, panting and covered in sweat - tears streaming from her eyes and dripping all the way to the damp sheets beneath. Her hands shook, and her arms quivered as she pulled her legs close to her chest and wrapped her arms around her knees as tightly as she could. Her face twisted into a mask of horror as tears poured and fell from her brown eyes; it was his face again - that child in her dreams. Why did it have to be his face? Why was it always his face?

"Brian...." Her voice trailed off into the dark, and her mind drifted to memories she'd longed to forget. But the biting pangs of pain in her chest made it so that forgetting was impossible - just as it'd been six years ago. "I'm so sorry..."

Her eyes absently drifted towards the panda stuffed toy across her, sitting atop a pile of old books - crooked and torn in places, with stitches running over much of its center and jutting off into random directions. One of its ears were missing, its left eye was close to falling off, and much of its color had faded and browned over the years. It was an ugly thing to look at - she would know; she made it herself - but Brian loved it when she gave it to him for his sixth birthday - hugging the stuffed toy so close to his chest she thought its arms would pop off. Every night since then he'd taken the stuffed toy to bed with him, calling it mister bunny.

It was the only thing left of him now.

Mira shoved her face into the folds between her arms and wept, and found no sleep till the breaking of dawn.

.....

"Have you been taking your medication for today, Mira?"

She nodded, eyes baggy and dark - her face ragged and worn after a mere three hours of sleep, the rest of the hours she'd spent staring at the wall across her, hoping her eyes would grow weary and she'd simply fall asleep. But Mira knew for sure that wouldn't happen; she desired for rest just as much as she dreaded her own dreams.

"You've been taking it for well over a year now; have you felt better? Have you noticed any improvement at all?"

She forced a smile. "I think I'm getting better, overall...I have less nightmares and less episodes...I think the medicine is really working."

"What about these nightmares you've been having; are they still the same? Do you still see him?"

She nodded, eyes closed shut as a thin streak of tears fell from them. Then she gasped and bawled, hands shaking. "I still see his face every single time I sleep, doc. It's always his face in every dream I have, and there's nothing else. Just his face, and something cold and dark wrapping around me..how could I- how could I-"

"It's okay, Mira; we don't have to talk about it if it makes you feel uncomfortable, okay?" The doctor laid a hand on her shoulder as she wiped her tears away. "Look; try taking some time off work. You told me you haven't used up any of your work leaves, right? Now why don't you indulge in some time for yourself; maybe visit a spa, go to the beach, go on vacation - just a change of scenery."

"But..." It was pathetic; she knew it. But working for hours and hours with hardly any breaks in-between was the one thing that helped her forget. The one time she didn't have time to think and remember. It wasn't healthy, and was probably destroying her body - she knew that much; but no one could possibly understand what it was like to be afraid of sleeping, and yet to crave it every day.

"Mira...as your psychologist, I'm telling you to go on vacation - and I'm sure your boss has pretty much told you the same thing; am I right? The medication works now - true - but even I know it's not a permanent solution. I don't want you to be dependent on meds for the remainder of your life."

She could only nod; of course the medication wouldn't be permanent - heck she wasn't sure if it worked at all, she wasn't sure of anything these days. But the thought of going away from all this - from the city, from the same empty hallways of her house, from the same room and the same bed she'd come home to every single night. 'Perhaps I really do need to get away from everything...'

The silence of her own home gnawed at her. Where once there'd been colors, now there was only shadows hanging loosely. Where once there'd been music and laughter, now there was only the monotone whistling of the wind and the endless quiet. She hated it; she hated every second she spent in that house, and she hated herself for lacking the strength leave and never return.

"I guess...I could visit my parents and stay with them for a while."

Her doctor smiled and leaned back on his chair. "That's good; your parents live in a rural area, right?"

"Yeah, they live in a beach-side property...come to think of it; I've never even thought of visiting them till now." For once, Mira cracked a genuine - but sad - smile. "I wonder how they're doing..."

"Well..." The doctor smiled. "There's only one way to find out right? You should go and visit them; I'm sure they're dying to see you again."

.....

The road was strangely empty as she drove through the long stretch of asphalt and cement. Then again, it wasn't exactly the holiday season or the weekends, and very few people drove off on a hundred mile trip at dusk. At the side of the road was an open stretch of water, toiling and crashing in the distance, its waves occasionally drenching the side of her car with a thousand droplets salty droplets. 'I'm glad I closed the windows...'

Thunderclouds rolled in from the distance, and already she could see the makings of a storm coming to pass over. 'That's strange...the weather report didn't say anything about storms...'

It was nothing to her of course, soon the storm will pass and break, and by then she'll be long gone from here. But when she turned to gaze over the dark and distant clouds once more, Mira noted the strange mist that seemed to creep over the road from the waters, steadily rising. By the time her eyes returned to the road ahead, the mist had risen to obscure much of what she could see. Thunder and lightning flashed in the distance, and a faint humanoid silhouette appeared briefly behind the clouds.