The Stargazers Garden

I was running. I didn’t know where or why. I didn’t know anything, and I loved it. The wind blew through my hair and I felt no pain, I wasn’t tired. I was free. I ran and ran. I swear I ran everywhere. But one small thing made me stop. It was a elderly lady watering some plants. `It was nothing out of the ordinary to see, but it was out of ordinary to feel. I knew she could teach me something, a lesson maybe.

“Hello,” I called out. She turned, waved, and continued watering. “What's your name?”

“Who wants to know?” The lady asked.

I opened my mouth, but I just couldn’t answer. “ Someone,” I responded.

“Well ‘someone’ care to help me out?” She gestured toward a second watering can. I helped her till well past sundown and we chatted, a lot.

She told me about the lady who used to own these gardens, and how every night she would lie in the gardens and stare up at the stars till sunrise. She would sleep during the day. And no cloud dared to disrupt her. But she got sick and she died young.

“ I'm going to rest now.” the lady said.

“Wait- I have nowhere to sleep.”

“Sleep in the gardens” she said with a wink. Before I could argue she closed the door to her tiny cottage behind her. Not having another choice, I went to a stone bench in the center of the garden and got comfortable on it. It wasn't the best sleep I ever got, but it was fine.

When I woke up it was midnight. The stars were breathtaking here. I then noticed a lady standing in a patch of poppies, a few feet from the bench. Normally, I would freak out but I noticed by the look in her eye that she didn’t want to hurt me, instead she offered me a hand and pulled me off the bench. Then, we flew. She took me to places I never imagined, while never saying a word. It was a magical experience. I knew this was the stargazer, from the old ladies' stories.

Then came the darkness. A cloud from nowhere. It pulled her away. I saw she was scared, but I couldn’t help. Then I woke up.

I told the elderly lady about my dream. She turned to me, looked me dead in the eye and said, “Save her”

“You're crazy, It was just a weird dream.”

“But it meant something, you have to help.”

I sighed, there was no use in arguing. “How?”

“You must share the burden of your secrets, and come to terms with your reality”

I woke up, again. My name was June. I was in college with my dorm-mate, Anne. I pondered the dream. What did it mean? A dream inside a dream? The ladies' last words hung in my mind.

Anne walked in the room and I knew I had to tell her. The truth was, I was sick. So I took a deep breath and told Anne. I never told anyone because I didn't believe it myself. So, when I told her it felt like a slap in the face, but slaps also bring you to your senses. After I told her, she said nothing, just sat next to me and rubbed my back. Of course she wasn’t scared, she was brave. Because of that so was I.

That night I dreamed of the stargazer, back in the gardens, she took my hand again, we went everywhere again. Only this time, I never woke up.