Illusion and Reality

Invisible flowers

Looking at the stars shining brightly in the night as dark as the coal, I was left with an uneasy feeling. The surroundings were vague but the light breeze of air made the presence of flowers clear around me.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” a voice asked from the distance.

I squinted my eyes in the hope of catching a glimpse of the stranger, “Who are you?”

There was no answer from his side, I was supposed to be on my guard but something about his presence was comforting. The voice was not new but it wasn’t the voice that’d been visiting me. 

“Don’t go.”

I stood in my place confused, I knew he couldn’t see me but I could feel his eyes on me, “Go where?”

“Don’t go,” he repeated, this time more urgently.

Just then my eyes opened….. another dream. The dream was not the same as others, the stranger had visited me twice now, it was not the voice who saved me from the birds in my nightmare. He was different, his voice held sadness.

The chirping of the birds indicated that it was useless to stay in bed now. With a yawn, I got out of bed and started doing my morning routine. 

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I only had two lectures, instead of going to the library later, I went home. I needed something to keep my mind busy from thinking useless things.

“What are you doing home right now?” I asked, looking at Lily, it was Thursday which meant she shouldn’t be back till 5 pm. 

Giving a disapproved look she got up from the couch, “I am here to remind you about something which starts with s and ends with g.”

My eyes widened in realization, “Do I really have to go? I don’t even know anywhere there.”

"WE are going to the party together I am not going to leave your lazy ass here alone, you will just watch the whole season and then spoil it later for me. Hurry up now we are going shopping" she announced without leaving any space for argument.

With a sigh, I nodded which brought a smile to her face. 

The next minute I was getting dragged by a very excited Lily. 

This is going to be a very long day.

And my thought turned out to be right, I was standing in front of Lily, wearing a peach-colored sheath dress reaching just below my knees. 

Giving one final look she said the thing which she had been saying for the last 2 hours, “It looks good but something feels missing.”

I was ready to pull my hair out when she passed me another dress. 

Rolling my eyes I went to try the blue color off-shoulder dress reaching slightly below my thighs.

“This is the dress! We found the dress!” her scream earned us some annoyed looks from the people to which she was oblivious or she didn’t really care.

A chuckle escaped my lips, ”Did you find something?”

With a large grin my her face she showed a black glittery bodycon dress in her hands.

“It will look awesome in you.”

We walked to the counter to pay the bills, “Let’s go and eat something, I am about to pass out from the hunger,” Lily whined as we collected our bags.

“Even though you are exaggerating, let’s go.”

Walking towards the nearby food corner, I was positive someone was following us. Without making it obvious, I opened my phone’s camera and pretended to fix my hair, while doing that I made sure to look if someone was following us. I was wrong, no one was behind us.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” shaking my head, I continued walking with her. Maybe I was just overthinking.

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“Are you okay Sam?” Lily asked taking a small bite of her pizza.

Putting my slice back I looked at her, she was trying to play cool with a smile on her lips but her eyes held worry in them, “I am fine, why did you ask that?”

“You are getting nightmares again aren’t you?

Biting my lips, I stayed quiet. It was not easy for me to share my feelings with anyone. Lily was like a sister to me but it was not something I could tell her, it was my burden to bear.

“I get it you don’t want to talk to me about your nightmares but you can…”

“No,” I knew she was talking about therapy, I didn’t want that. 

“Look Sam, nothing is important than your health. You have to talk about this, if you get another nightmare I will drag you there myself if I have to.”

Her voice made it clear that she would do it. 

We ate the rest of our food quietly. I was almost done when my eyes fell on something behind Lily. What your dreams are trying to say? The bold red words on the whiteboard might not have caught the attention of many people but I was definitely not one of them.

“Samara?” Called Lily who was looking at me which furrowed eyebrows, “What are you looking at? I called your name like three times.”

“Umm… nothing... I was just...thinking about some work I have to complete.”

Giving a hesitant smile she added, “Our cab is here.”

We picked our bags and started leaving, I caught Lily looking in the same direction but she didn’t look at the board. 

She stopped in her tracks suddenly, “Oh crap. I forgot to pick my other bag, you go ahead I'll be back in a jiffy.” 

By the time I said okay, Lily was already halfway to the food corner and she said she hated running.

Making my way towards the exit, my eyes fell on something that made my foot stop on their own….a bouquet of flowers was on a bench. Not just any flowers, it was the red dahlia. 

Looking around I tried to see if they belong to someone but no one was there. Instead of going to the cab, I started walking to the flowers.

I was having an inner battle about throwing it away or leaving it there.

“What are you doing here?”

The sudden voice of Lily startled me, I somehow managed to keep a neutral reaction, “I was just going to the cab but then I saw…..” I turned around to show her the flowers but there were no flowers.

The words died in my mouth, “I saw a cat and got distracted.”

Her eyes looked around to scan the area, “That's what most of the animals do, they run away from humans and you should not run behind animals like this otherwise people would think you are crazy. Let's go now the cab is waiting for us.”

The ride home was quiet, Lily was probably thinking about her dress and the party while I had a completely different thing in my mind.

“What took you so long anyway?” I asked putting my bags on the table.

“I was coming back, but fell in love.”

I raised my eyebrow slightly at her words, which made her smile even wider.

Opening a shopping bag she removed a small velvet purple box.

Inside the box was one of the best pendants I’ve ever seen, I looked at the blue sapphire with a silver outline in awe, “It’s gorgeous.”

“I know,” she put the pendant on and stared at herself in the mirror.

“What’s so special about tomorrow anyway?”

She was the person who enjoyed going to the parties but it was not usual, she was more excited than normal.

With a small smile, she put the pendant back in the box, “Do you remember Nathan?”

“You mean the guy you were hopelessly in love with and dreamed how you’ll get married one day, yes I remember him. Lemme guess he will be there.”

“I WAS NOT HOPELESSLY IN LOVE WITH HIM it was just a crush and this is his party, he came back last week. I'll see him tomorrow and we will fall in love instantly,” she said smiling like a cheshire cat.

“If I am not wrong you chose your wedding dress, place and even the month of wedding….what was it...June right?” I said with a laugh, “I am going to sleep now, you should too. Goodnight and have lovely dreams about your prince charming.”

I ran to my room with the bags and closed the door instantly, “SAMARA” a laugh escaped my lips when I heard Lily’s voice.

“Should I go to the party, what if the man was trying to warn me about it?” I closed my eyes with the thought running in my head.