Birds were chirping outside the window. I opened my eyes to cold morning light from my window; the curtains are being blown in by the cold November air. I yawned and stretched in my bed. The sheets felt cold although I have slept in my bed for more than twelve hours now. Wishing I had coffee on my bedside, I fumbled for my cigarettes. I always place them beside my head whenever I go to sleep. Lazily, I groped for my lighter. I thought I placed it near my pack of Marlboro Lights but somehow, they have wandered into the folds of my blanket.

Finally, after several tantalizing minutes of searching, I found it and struck to light my cigarette. Red ember and gray smoke filled my head. I looked at the wafting smoke for a minute and I remembered my dream. I was dreaming of a cave whose walls are encrusted with gem stones. Rubies, emeralds, quarts, sapphire, diamonds, amethyst and all sorts of colored crystals were all over the cave. They shone with an inner light and a voice was calling to me. “Save me, “it said and the cave walls burst into a kaleidoscope of colored light. One gem shone brighter over the others and I knew that was where the voice was coming from. At first, it came from an amethyst but when I tried prying it off the wall, the light died and went to another gem. It was like playing that game in the amusement arcade where you had to pound hamsters sticking their heads out of holes. After a while, I was able to see that the gem I was really looking for was an emerald, just above my eye level. I started scratching it out of the wall with excitement. It pried loose and gave a final burst of light. Relieved, I clutched it in my hand and when I opened my hands, I was holding a green frog, dead and cold in my hand.

I think that was the moment that I woke up from the dream. Sitting up slowly, I looked around. I had to get up and answer nature’s call.

Getting out of the bathroom, I noticed that something was amiss. The house was absolutely still. I was alone. Regularly, I could hear the hustle and bustle of the kitchen my mom maintains for her small restaurant just next to the house.

I padded downstairs to the living room. I glanced at the kitchen. I went into my parent’s room. I even tried my sister’s room although I knew that she has work that day. Nobody was home.

I turned on the radio and played my favorite CD. It’s a collection I made for myself so I can relax and go to sleep. I always had problems sleeping. But when I sleep, I sleep deeply and dream dreams that are always surreal or grotesque.

After a while of just sitting down the couch, I got tired of doing nothing and I decided to go to the nearby river that I always went to when I was a kid. I had good memories there because that was where my father and I bonded. Plus, I can even catch fish to put into my aquarium at no charge there.

Getting to the river bank is quite a chore. I had to walk first towards the hanging bridge already overgrown with vines. Sometimes, I think the steel cables aren’t really strong enough to hold the bridge up. It was just held taut by the vines. Crossing that bridge always gave me the exhilaration of doing something dangerous. It sways to and fro and the floor boards are so weather beaten that one wrong move might mean a plummet into the river, some 20 feet down.

After the bridge, I started climbing down the steep cliff where foot holds have been carved so people could get to the river. I always try not to soil myself whenever I go down there. This time was no different, I made a wrong step on a piece of rock I thought was steady and I started slipping down the cliff leaving a fury of dust after me. It was a good thing that I was on that one path were a huge rock jutted forward, making an overhang above the river. Otherwise, I would’ve soaked myself at that early time of day.

Dusting myself off, I noticed that the tide pools were empty. No water, much less small trapped fish or tadpoles swimming with naiads. A red dragonfly flitted past me. I followed where it flew and I was blinded by the sun, already halfway to the summit of its slow ascension in the azure sky. As my eyes adjusted, my ears also picked up the chilling cacophony of the cicadas living in the woods.

I started walking up stream following a stony path just a foot away from the water. The grass there were not green as it should have been for the time of the year. I found wrinkled and dried brown moss and they crunched beneath my feet when I trod on them. I hated walking through grass. I was not at all concerned with rashes that other people usually get from them or snakes lurking in thick tufts of grass. I was much more concerned of seeing a huge spider with long spindly legs. Good thing I didn’t see any.

After 30 minutes of walking, I reached my favorite spot. It was where the river grew shallow and water cabbages grew alongside hyacinths. I always thought that water cabbage flowers were prettier than hyacinths. I tried looking for a wide and dry rock to sit on so I can rest. Some of the rocks there were huge and a chore to climb on to but good thing the last flood turned some over that were flat and low enough for a person to sit on comfortably.

I took in the surroundings like a draught of cool water after being thirsty for a day. Water was trickling and burbling constantly. The drone of the cicadas still went on. Red and blue dragonflies skittered across the river. The hyacinths and pink water cabbage flowers called black and blue butterflies to them and occasionally, fish jumped out of the water.

I closed my eyes and I fell asleep.

This is a story I wrote some time ago. I thought I would post it here so everyone can read it. I hope you can make comments on it. Thanks!