ruby

In an interlude of life, I found myself floating through a forest of pines stretching into a moonless dome of black, uninterrupted except for stars sprinkled loose 'round the rim, where trees sway rhythmically alive with the cool wind as my fingers brush past pine needles and branches parting to reveal a mountain, grassy ridge extending toward me on left and right, but straight ahead, receding, converging, and at the intersection: a cave the shape of a cat's pupil, a vertical slit in the stone. I pass through the smooth opening. Darkness closes around me. Am I moving? Am I standing still? I float in fluid darkness thick and warm. All separation melts, as does time. Eternally secure, untouchable. But there's a distant red glowing that becomes a focal point I move toward. Stone materializes around me, water trickling down tunnel walls covered in primitive paintings: human figures fighting monsters of all shapes and sizes, as many beasts as there are men, paired up like dance partners in a crowd, but each pair in their own private world. I round a corner and stop amidst armies of towering stalagmites. Floating in the dead center of the expanse and glowing like a ruby: a girl larger than life. Her piercing gaze draws me forward like the idol of some fiery ancient goddess, face familiar but alien dark, hair hovering serpentine strands around her glowing head that almost touches the roof of the giant cavern, scarlet robe flowing to the floor. I collapse before her like a supplicant before my queen, weighed down by her holiness. She moves as if underwater, smiling slowly, hearing a silent joke, then tilting her head back, and her laughter splits the cavern air, and I shove my palms against my ears, quaking with fright until, mercifully, she stops and opens her mouth, and her voice booms. Be not afraid. You've strayed too far. I'm here to redirect you. She closes her eyes and the earth rumbles. The cave shakes, and stalagmites crack and plummet to the floor, exploding into numberless fragments. Where are you sending me? I yell and reach out to grab her dress, but the ground gives way, and I plummet into a pit that leads to my bed. And some days I wonder if this life is mine or the one she chose for me.