The Beach Dream
(A writing exercise.)

The world of my imagination is so close to the surface that all I need to do is close my eyes to start my decent into my soul. The darkness of these depths embraces me and I can feel its bare sable skin against my own, as soft and smooth as crushed velvet. The pulsing of my own heart shakes me and threatens to tear my make-believe world apart.

Sunshine strokes me softly, gently, affectionately, like a mother caressing her child. The sun warms my body with loving kisses of golden nothingness and the sand reflects a million kisses solidly to warm my back.

I open my eyes to behold wonders. The sand sparkled like gold dust and the sea mimics the sky only a tint darker than the original. The palm trees seemed to be rooted in the sky as well as the beach to form an isolated ambulatory leading to nowhere. The sea sways to its own lullaby to lull me into a dream within a dream.

I awaken from my nap and find it is late in the evening. The sun, which had risen from a morning sea bath, is now at my back. For the first time I turned to face the west to watch the sun inch down a mountain staircase. In the foreground is a gray monstrosity resting upon a low plateau. It echoed my stares just as loudly as any sound...

Gazing on intently, I found the huge gray thing in question was actually an enormous castle draped in vines. A grand curiosity indeed. Studying its structure I find banks of gargoyles jutting from each wall whose purpose was to vomit waterfalls during rain. There are also huge stain glass windows spilling rainbows and a multitude of flying buttresses ending as thinly as a fawn's leg to support the vast amounts of stone. Only a rough hewn wall as tall as a man circled the castle, no filth ridden city nor any tilled fields crowd the surrounding grounds. It looks to have been deserted for decades.

The sun is now dipping below the horizon and the clouds are turning red as the last golden rays disappear behind the mountains. There are several shadowy regions in the tall trees and dense shrubs between me and the castle. One shadow in particular seems to grow the longer I stare. Suddenly waves of hot and cold crash over my spine like an ocean tide as I realize it's someone approaching.

A feline male striding upright padded toward me. His pelt is white with gray crescents spotting his coat at random. The sky darkened and to my amazement his pelt darkened in equal degrees until he was a sooty black with the crescent moons beaming darker than the rest of his fur. His ears stood straight up like the feathered wings upon Mercury's cap and their edges looked to be gold dipped. The feline was naked except for a breach cloth and a cloak falling to his calves clutched with a jeweled pin at his left shoulder.

I'm certain that this castle belongs to this human cat standing before me. He reaches out to briefly stroke my cheek and golden tears streak from his eyes to create a cheetah's tear line.

I look at his hands and see that they are marbled with a pale moon tint which fades half way past his wrist. He speaks and I see his bright pink tongue.

"Pretty damsel with a warrior's name."

"How did you know..?" When I was born a war ended and my uncles who had went returned unharmed and thus I was named. "How do you know about me?"

He merely smiled and replied, "You are my life's joy, a piece of my soul, my very own soul." With this he put his arms around me and I cuddled close. I wanted to slumber on in these sable depths eternal but I know this cannot be. I awoke to the true world from what seemed to be a century's sleep knowing that I loved him because I loved myself.

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Asdzani Bah & her Pandora Box