Strange Happenings

The clock on the nightstand read two in the morning when Maya was suddenly woken up from a deep sleep by something she couldn't quite grasp. A feeling that she couldn't ignore and couldn't quite understand. Something wasn't right.

Taking a look around, she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Everything was in its place and the room was as she'd left it the night before when she went to bed. Still, that nagging thought stayed with her. Sighing, she pulled back the covers and slipped out of bed as she then walked out into the hallway. Again, nothing was askew. The hall was dimly lit with the nightlight she kept near the corner of the room showing everything as it was supposed to be.

After taking a peek behind each door, she continued on downstairs. From her perch on the staircase, she could see the living room and again noted nothing. She was now beginning to wonder if she was going crazy. This was her home and she was the only one here; who did she expect to run into?

She got her answer as she turned the corner and flipped on the light switch. There was a figure of a woman sitting in one of the dining room chairs with her back to her. She nearly jumped in surprise and wondered what that hell was going on.

"Excuse me, hello."

There was no answer. The person remained quietly sitting in her seat as she read what appeared to be the morning paper. A thought that struck her as odd, considering it was the middle of the night.

"Hello." Nothing. No response whatsoever. "Who are you, and more importantly, what are you doing in my house?"

Either the woman was completely ignoring her or she honestly couldn't hear her. She didn't know which but this situation was getting more than a little frustrating. Still, she was leery of approaching the stranger. She searched her mind and wondered what could be going on. Was this woman ill? Maybe she was sleepwalking and didn't realize she wasn't in her own home. She'd read about cases like that in one of her books.

She looked around for a weapon just in case she was a psychopath there to murder her and found only her umbrella. Hoping that would work, she quietly stepped further into the room, a determined look on her face.

"You may want to put that down." Maya froze. "It won't do much good anyway."

"Who are you?"

The woman stayed silent for a few minutes more and continued to turn the page. Maya was about ready to pick up the phone next to the counter when she caught a glimpse of the woman's profile in the glass door. She gasped in surprise and took a step back.

"Who are you?" she managed to say again, though the sound came out hollow.

"You know who I am," the woman calmly told her as she turned toward her.

Maya still couldn't take her eyes off the person walking toward her. She wanted to run, to scream, to do something. She was so confused and scared out of her mind that she could only gasp as she stood there, paralyzed with fear.

"You can't run from yourself."

"This is a dream. Wake up. Come on, Maya, wake up," she whispered out loud, taking a minute to pinch herself only to realize that wasn't working. "I don't understand."

"You will," the woman told her. "Maya, look around. Where are you?"

"I'm at home."

"Try again. Concentrate," she stated. "Now tell me where you are," she added when Maya's eyes widened.

They were standing at the end of a pier that seemed to be millions of miles from the sand and beach. Tall mountains surrounded them on one side and the unending ocean on the other. There was no one else in sight. No sounds of anything but the waves beating against the pillars that kept the structure from collapsing. The sky was a gloomy overcast gray and there wasn't a bird in flight.

"What is this place?"

"You don't remember?"

"No, should I?" she asked, more than a little frightened.

"Let's take a walk."

"No, I'm not going anywhere with you. Not until you tell me who you are and where we are."

"That will come in due time. Right now I need you to trust me."

"Trust you? I don't even know you," Maya said, exasperated as the figure began walking toward the mountains. "One minute I'm standing in the dining room, and the next we're…here," she shouted as she ran to keep up with this person who looked like her.

"Yes we are."

"So where exactly is here?"

"You don't remember, do you?"

"Remember what?" Maya forced herself not to panic.

"You created this place."

"Excuse me."

"In one of your stories."

"Um…no, I think I would have remembered if I'd created something like this. This place is freaky."

"Well, your mind tends to wonder where it will."

"That doesn't make sense," Maya stated. "I mean the mind thing makes sense, but me being here talking to myself doesn't."

"Why do you doubt your senses?"

"Because any little thing can…oh, you're good," Maya laughed. "I know what this is. I must have been reading A Christmas Carol last night. Right, this is some kind of hallucination or dream based on that? Are you supposed to be Charles Dickens or something?"

"Again, the places your mind can take you is astounding."

"Are you saying we're in my head?"

"Exactly," the woman said. "Now we must hurry."

"Why?" Maya asked.

She didn't answer—just simply nodded toward the horizon. Maya froze in terror for coming toward them looked to be a massive wall of water engulfing the entire sky.

"Is that a…"

"Tsunami," she answered. "A very large tsunami. It represents what you are afraid of."

"Yeah…at the moment…drowning. Did I mention I never learned how to swim?"

"You're not afraid of drowning," she replied. "You'll figure it out soon enough. As for now, we have to go."

"No kidding," she cried as they took off running toward the mountains and off the pier.

To Maya's surprise, they made it back onto the beach in little time and were soon standing on the edge of a cliff that was now surrounded by water. As she looked around, Maya realized that she was standing on the only patch of land for miles around them.

"Well this is just perfect…" she was about to rant her opinions when she realized there was no one to rant to.

Where had the woman gone? Fear and loneliness overtook her and a disconcerting thought hit her. She was trapped. All by herself, no escape, no form of survival, and suddenly she felt light-headed. But, just as she thought she was about to pass out, she heard her name being called.

Sitting up, she realized she was in a different place. A forest of some kind and she was lying on the bank of a river. "Okay, I'm officially nuts," she whispered to no one in particular.

"You made it."

Maya whirled around on the woman. She stood up to give her a piece of her mind when she put up a hand as they heard a low menacing growl from a bush nearby.

"What was that?"

"You tell me."

"How am I supposed to know? Seriously!"

"Don't you understand? You created this. I'm just along for the ride."

"Well, your ride is about to end!" Maya exclaimed doing everything she could short of cutting off a limb to wake herself up. "Don't look at me like that."

"Well, if nothing else, I must say you are amusing."

"Gee, thanks," she answered sarcastically. "Now if you don't mind, I wanna wake up from this nightmare."

"That's not the way it works."

"And pray tell, how does it work?"

The low menacing growl began again and forced both women to look in its direction. "Alright, now would be a good time to run."

"Why run?"

"Low menacing growl from an animal that sounds like it could swallow us both in one gulp. Any other good reason you can think of?" Maya asked with a raised eyebrow.

Suddenly the bushes split and before them sat a striped tiger. Maya would have screamed if she weren't paralyzed by her fears. The beast eyed his next meal, licking his lips, already savoring the prey he'd yet to kill. Maya took a step back only to realize she was now in what appeared to be a den of some sort surrounded by several large cats. Her pulse raised and she could hear the intense beating of her heart inside her ear drums.

"Why are you so afraid?" the woman asked, standing beside her. Yet the animals' attentions still seemed set on her.

"Have you looked around?" she cried, panic stricken. "These aren't exactly your average everyday alley cats."

"Nothing in this place can harm you unless you let it."

"Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Have you seen the teeth on these things?" Maya suddenly heard a cry to her right and couldn't quite make out where it was coming from.

She would have asked her traveling companion if she hadn't suddenly disappeared. 'Okay first things first,' she thought just as the tiger she'd first spotted charged toward her.

This time she did scream while covering her closed eyes with her arms. She stood there for a minute waiting for the killer to take his prize. But when nothing happened she opened them again and took a look around. She was no longer in a jungle, but a house she didn't recognize. The walls freshly painted and the living room furniture scattered around hidden beneath what appeared to be old bed sheets.

"You don't remember this place?"

"Would you cut the crap!" She bit back the urge to shake the woman. This was getting ridiculous. She was beginning to feel like a used yoyo some kid wouldn't put down long enough to take a break, and more importantly, give her a chance to think. "Let me guess, I created this place. Am I right?"

"No, this place is from your memory."

"But that's impossible. I would have remembered it." Maya looked around once more, still unable to recognize her surroundings. "Nothing, nada, zip…"

Before she could continue, a woman walked into the room and looked around her, sighing while she caressed her enlarged stomach. "It can't be…" Maya walked over to the woman and stood directly in front of her, uttering a single word: "Mom."

A single tear threatened to escape down her cheek and she had to take a step back to keep her emotions at bay. "She can't see me," she realized.

"No, she can't."

"Then why am I here?" Maya asked, heartbroken.

"Only you can answer that."

"Why are you being so goddamn cryptic? Answer a fuckin' question."

When she simply looked at her, Maya couldn't contain herself any longer and made a flying leap, only to land on something soft and wet. Looking below her, she realized she was on a beach. A wave crashing into her, forcing her to remain on her knees. When it subsided she stood and dusted herself off before heading away from the surf and toward what appeared to be a hotel of some sort.

She began walking toward the familiar building. Though why she recognized it, she couldn't fathom since she'd never laid eyes on it before. "Maya." Maya turned at the sound of her name and froze.

Her parents were standing in front of her, hugging, smiling and laughing, acting like newlyweds. Behind them, a little girl ran up to them, infected with giggles. "There you are, Maya," her mother smiled, kneeling down in front of the child.

Maya recognized the brown hair and the big brown eyes that belonged to the child she once was. That smiling face she once wore before reality tore her innocence apart, before the world became a dark, cold place that she had no choice but to be a part of. A life she was forced into, a dream that ended way too soon and without her consent. A reality so selfish it took her parents from her.

"Are we still going to see the dolphins?" she watched the young child ask her mother.

Maya didn't know where the tears came from, but suddenly they were running down her cheeks in droves.

"Please, you promised we could go today."

Maya searched her mind and really took in her surroundings. 'No, no, no, no, no, it can't be.' She turned to the woman who was sharing this journey with her. "Why now, why today?"

"I can't answer that."

"Then why are you here?" she shouted before the floor below her began to shake. "What's happening?"

"Your world is crumbling around you."

"Crumbling, but I can stop…"

"No you can't," she stated with sympathy. "This event has already taken place; therefore, it is what it is and can't be changed."

"Liar!" Maya cried. "Then it wouldn't make any sense for me to be here."

"You still don't understand," the woman solemnly said, shaking her head before quietly disappearing.

Maya found herself holding on to anything she could to stay on her feet. The woman was right, her world was crumbling around her, and try as she may, she couldn't do a damn thing to stop it. But why now? Why this?

This question kept popping up inside her when she once again found herself somewhere else. Maya looked up to see a wall of rock around them with a hole at the very top. If she didn't know any better she would guess they were in some kind of a crater.

"Where are we?" she asked, looking up, not having to question the fact that the other woman was standing near her.

"Inside a volcano," she very calmly replied. "Come, we need to hurry."

As Maya looked behind her, she realized the rock floor was shifting away, revealing what looked to be steaming hot lava. After the initial shock wore off, she took her cue and started running. Before she knew it she was hanging off the side of a ledge and looking down into the volcano's pit. To her horror, it looked like any moment the thing might burst.

"Help me!" she cried, looking up at her glancing over the edge and down at Maya.

"You can get yourself out," she answered with that holier-than-thou expression on her face. Maya wanted to rip it off but at the moment she couldn't because she was staring down at a pit of death.

"Help me," she pleaded, trying to keep her hands from sliding.

"Alright, give me your hand."

Maya did what was asked of her and reached out one of her hands for safety, but it was too late and she was now free falling down to her doom. Screaming at the top of her lungs and cursing like a sailor, she finally landed. She closed her eyes, expecting to be dead. Yet, she could move around, feeling the unmistakable warmth of a mattress. Opening her eyes, she sat up and realized she was home, and that one four-letter word sounded like music to her ears.

When her double walked into the room, she sat silent for a moment, trying to wrap her mind around what had happened. "I don't understand."

"Think about your experiences. What do they represent?"

Maya sat up abruptly, looking around, her dream finally a long-gone memory.

AN: I want to leave this open to interpretation. :)