On the Eve of Forever
By
Disclaimer – Story mine. Characters are not mine.
Picture # 20
*
Every other December 23rd was the same.
She got up, saw the snow, called her family and made Christmas arrangements, went to work, smiled at friends and glared at work-related adversaries, then… finally… she would go home.
Prop up her feet, stare at the lights of red & white on her fake tree and fall asleep on the couch.
And she did all that, like clockwork… only the sleep she normally fell into and then normally fell out of once her watch alarm would go off at six a.m. – work habits die hard – didn’t happen.
Oh, she slept. But the watch didn’t go off and she kept on sleeping, caught up in the most amazing dream.
In this fanciful dream, she is running through a forest and looking around, like she was searching for something… No, someone, I am looking for someone… Everything is so green and lush, only the sound of her footsteps against the wooded floor. The sun is cascading down in shafts of hot white, hitting her bare skin.
Am I naked? Hmm, no… but this outfit is interesting, can’t say I’ve ever worn anything like this…
“Looking for me...?” A voice rumbles in the distance and she is spinning around, trying to find…
I know you, I swear I do. But where are you… hell, who are you?
The watch picks this moment to go off and Morgan Lewis blinks her eyes, rubbing the palms of her hands over her face. The time is 7:11. And this dream, unlike many others, did not seem to fade as she got up and took a shower and got dressed.
She ponders over the voice in her dream as she pours her coffee.
It is familiar, though I don’t know how. It was warm and friendly, like they knew me…
And something inside of her responded with ‘of course they do’, though she had no idea how she knew this… Morgan just knew.
~ ~ ~
The annual Christmas Eve party is in full swing, but Morgan finds it hard to concentrate on the drunken antics of her co-workers. In fact, she finds her mind downright perplexed…
Am I losing my sanity here? Should I have taken that two week vacation this time?
She spent all night, from the second she stepped into the building, looking at each person she saw and seeing someone else in their eyes.
Like Robert, the only person here that she cannot seem to find common ground with. He is always pushing her buttons and challenging her… And Morgan has this overwhelming notion to change his name to Varia.
What kind of name is that anyway? Varia… Have I ever known a Varia? Nope, don’t think so.
Or like Samantha, her confidant and stalwart supporter. She is always there to lend a hand or work longer hours or just listen to someone bitch… And Morgan feels her heart swell, remembering a girl named Lila.
Maybe someone has spiked this punch too much. Maybe I am just bored and my imagination is going into overload. Right? Sure.
Even Patrick, a good guy and hard worker, who is dancing around and getting laughs tonight… And Morgan knows him as another ‘good guy’ named Joxer.
This is too much. I need to get out of here.
~ ~ ~
She walks outside, leaves the block that this business rests on and heads out aimlessly.
The snow is still falling. It never seems to stop during the whole month of December.
The streets are eerily quiet and the stars too faint to see.
There are windows warmly lit up above her, holding families and lovers.
It is a magical and befuddling night.
And Morgan finds herself standing outside of a church, who proclaims that their doors are ‘always open’. She has not thought much about God or religion in a long time.
But something is shoving her, prodding her to go in and seek… What? What is going on with me?
She pushes the doors open and steps in.
It is silent. It is empty.
Except… for one person, sitting in the front pew, head bowed.
All Morgan can see is the raven-colored curtain of hair, but she feels drawn toward this person inexplicably.
She feels she is intruding and, yet, there is nowhere else she would rather be.
I want her to turn around… How do I know it is a woman, it’s not like I can tell from this angle… Turn around, turn around, turn around…
And then the person does, slowly and deliberately. Morgan sees the blue eyes first and her breath catches in her throat painfully.
“Were you… looking for me?” The now fully turned around woman asks.
And Morgan blinks once before passing out.
~ ~ ~
The watch alarm goes off and Morgan jerks awake. The time is 7:11.
What the hell kind of dream was that? I mean, it was just a dream… right?
She looks around and everything is as it was the night before. The lights are still on and she is still on the couch and it is Christmas morning.
Everything is the same.
Right. Everything is just the same.
Morgan gets up and goes to the bathroom, turning on the shower. But she pauses at the mirror.
She stares at her face intently, as if seeing something new there… something that she never noticed before. It is like… like…
Another person, but it is me… Lurking under the surface, someone else…
“Looking for me…” Morgan whispers to her reflection, recalling blue eyes and a church and the feeling that this year, this Christmas, something is about to change.
END
Story by: SPHEERIS1
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