Dark Shadows and Chrystal Pools

The grass crushed beneath her feet, like soft green velvet, and the sweet smell of the earths perfume scented the air. The young girl stood, transfixed, her violet eyes wide open in wonder. Ahead, amongst the trees, a large deer raised his majestic head and sniffed the air. At once he felt her presence and smelled her strange scent. Frightened, he shivered and took off across the glade.

Sunlight streamed down through the thick canopy of trees and reflected off her long auburn hair, making it glow as though it were on fire. Turning, she walked unsteadily towards the large pool of water that had filtered down through the rocks from a small stream nestling further up the valley. Her legs felt weak, and unable to go any further, she lowered herself carefully down onto a small flat slab of rock by the waters edge. Reaching out, she skimmed the top of the water with her delicate fingers. The water rippled, and sparkled like broken Chrystal in the sunlight. Startled, she snatched her hand away, and holding her breath, watched as the water fell from her fingers. Slowly she began to laugh. A small rabbit scurried through the undergrowth, alarmed by the sudden disturbance. She saw the flash of white and, jumping to her feet, she watched as the small creature disappeared down a tiny hole underneath a large oak tree. She sighed in wonder, and shook her head. Closing her eyes, she began to sing and all around her, grew silent as if the very earth itself were listening to the strange but beautiful sound.

After a while she grew quiet. An awareness crept over her, and scared, she lowered her gaze. She was being watched, she could sense it, feel it, and this time she knew it wasn't a creature like the others. This was no animal. Her heart started beating faster, and she raised her eyes. There, in the shadow of the trees directly in front of her. Holding her breath, she waited unsure of what to do. She wanted to run, hide, but her legs felt numb and she was unable to move. She heard a sound, deep, guttural, a language not unlike her own.

'Toby, come on boy, where are you?' The young man peered through the long grass, trying to catch a glimpse of his small dog, a Jack Russel. It was always by his side, but today he was acting strange, jumpy.

'Damn it Toby, come back'

Impatiently he kicked a small stone and sent it skimming into the water. Watching it sink, he suddenly realised that he wasn't alone.

Violet eyes were watching his every move. startled, he smiled.

'Sorry, i didn't see you there, I don't suppose you've seen a dog run this way, have you?'

He looked friendly, so relaxing slightly she answered.

'A dog?, no I don't think so'

He thought she looked confused. perhaps she didn't understand English?

'What are you called?' she asked curiously.

Unsure of what she meant, he hesitated. 'Oh you mean what's my name'

'Yes your name' she sounded uncertain.

'Marcus' he smiled, 'What's yours?'

'Laya'. Her voice sounded strange, song like.

'Do you live around here?' Marcus glanced around, certain that he had never seen a house this deep into the woods. And he was sure that she didn't live in the village nearby, he would have noticed her a long time ago.

Laya, smiled not answering. Turning her head to look at the water, she whispered, 'come and look'

Intrigued, Marcus followed her across the clearing until they reached the pool. He watched as the girl knelt down by the waters edge. Leaning forward, she skimmed her fingers across the surface and giggled. Marcus began to feel very uncomfortable. There was something very weird about her. Her actions touched on the insane. He looked closely at her clothes. they were unlike anything he had ever seen before. The blue of her tunic seemed to glow with it's own inner radiance and her eyes........

Startled by his thoughts, he stepped backwards and stumbled. The sudden disturbance seemed to break the spell, and the girl looked up. 'What's this called?' she asked softly, childlike.

At first Marcus didn't understand. Then realising that she was referring to the pool, he turned on her angrily. 'Is this some sort of joke? because I am sorry but I don't find any of it particularly funny'.

Seeing his anger, laya stood up and walked over to him. Reaching out her hand, she touched his face gently, like the wings of a butterfly.

Marcus shivered, her touch was electric, he could feel his body respond to her. He looked into her eyes, so large, so beautiful. He could see no madness, only uncertainty and maybe fear.

Laya spoke.

'Take me into the sparkle' Her eyes pleaded.

Marcus looked at her. 'Water' he said softly.

'Water' she whispered.

Taking his hand, she turned and stepped carefully over the rocks to the waters edge. The sunlight torched her hair to flame, and Marcus could only watch as she reached up and pulled the tunic over her head. Naked, her body glowed pale in the sunlight.

Turning to Marcus, she smile and beckoned. His breath caught in his throat as he looked at her. She was so beautiful. For a second he thought he must be dreaming, then hands were undoing his shirt, pulling it from his shoulders. Soon a small pile of clothes lay on the bank beside them. Stepping off the rock into the cool clear water, leya carefully went deeper and deeper until her whole body was submerged. Tilting her head back, her hair streamed out behind her like a silken carpet. Her face showed an ecstasy that Marcus had never seen before. And she seemed to drink in the sunlight and air as though she would never see it again. Or maybe had never seen before. She was like a condemned man waiting to die. Snatching at everything and holding it forever in her mind. Marcus began to see through her eyes. Things he had always taken for granted. The heat of the sun, the deep green grass, the cool sweetness of the water. And, he though, where she came from, where she was going didn't matter. All that mattered was here, now.

Slowly, Marcus swam to her side. Reaching out, he stroked her hair, feeling the silky softness. Laya turned her violet gaze upon him. Then reaching out, she pulled him to her. He could feel her warm soft body, and tried to resist, but an overwhelming sense of wanting took over. Gently he steered her towards the bank. Climbing out of the water, he pulled her towards him........

The ground felt cool, damp. Marcus opened his eyes and yawned. The sun hung low between the trees, causing shadows to flicker over his body. His head felt muzzy. Trying to collect his thoughts, he heard a whimper and looked up.

Seeing his master move, Toby ran across the clearing and launched himself at Marcus.

'Hi, boy, where have you been?'

He nuzzled the dogs neck and groped for his lead. Suddenly he was aware of his nakedness. Puzzled, he looked across to where his clothes lay in a neat pile on the grass.

'I don't remember going for a swim'. He spoke softly to himself, disturbed. Shaking his head, he rose slowly, stiffly and made his way across the clearing. Retrieving his clothes, he felt something niggling at the back of his mind, just out of reach. Something he couldn't quite recall. he shook his head. 'That must have been some dream, if only I could remember it'. Dismissing the thought, he whistled, 'Come on boy, let's go home'. Turning into the shadows, he failed to notice the small blue object at the water's edge.........

Laya slowly opened her eyes. Violet orbs took in the cold metal dome above her head. To her left a pale shaft of orange light seeped through the window, and slanted across her bed. A small hand emerged from under the blanket, and three crooked grey tinged fingers reached up to wipe away a small drop of perspiration from her brow. Her smooth shiny head gleamed in the light, looking like polished marble. her mouth felt dry, sore. Outside she could hear the sound of hissing and crackling, as the giant electrical storm gave vent to it's anger.

Leya dragged her weak shapeless body from the bed and staggered to the window, hoping for cooler air now that the storm was nearly done. The sky lit up with blue and silver streaks, striking the air and intensifying the electrical heat.

'These dry storms are the worse', Laya thought, sighing.

Once again there would be no moisture to collect from the small drums placed by the elders just outside the town. Every week the small community gathered for their meagre rations, one pot per household. The moisture was always cloudy, grey and tasteless, but they needed it to survive.

Now they were running out, and this time there was to be no solace from the sky. The red dust rose up in spirals from the dry ground. Choking and sulphurous. Leya looked up at the two moons hovering above her world, her mind still trying to shake of the vision that she had seen so vividly in her dream.

The green landscape, the animals, the water, Oh the water, so clear clean and sweet. Maybe just maybe there was a world out there that hadn't been destroyed by wars and greed and self destruction. Not ruined like her world. maybe this planet had been like that once. She smiled at such nonsense. Outside, the air was glowing with electricity, bringing together two parallel worlds, so alike, yet so different, two dimensions touching, overlapping. The invisible nearly visible.

Leya smiled as she thought of the handsome young creature who had given her just a small taste of paradise.

She sighed.

'A dream'.

'Only a dream'.

I wrote this about twenty years ago, before global warming became a huge issue concerning us all. And we have always had wars, but in this day and age with so much technology, the possibilities don't seem so ridiculous. This wouldn't happen to Earth for at least a few thousand years, but after finding this in a drawer, I thought that it was quite relevant.

Copyright owned by M. loveridge (Nell Rose)

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