Mara stood on a cloud, high above the city. The Atlantic crashed against the shore and the winds carried a salty tang to her nose. She stood up straight as she noticed a bunch of clouds moving against the wind and coming her way. The clouds came near and she could make out the figures that rode them. Her spirit guide was on the first cloud and a dour faced elder rode each of the following. The clouds stopped just short of colliding with hers and arranged themselves in a semicircle surrounding her. Mara swallowed nervously as she looked at the elder spirits atop each of the surrounding clouds. Their faces bore grim expressions and their gazes were inscrutable.
"The Elder spirits of your people call upon you," the otter said, "and you must answer the call." Mara drew a deep, shuddering breath of apprehension. "You are to become one with the lands of our forefathers. You are to save the group to whom you owe your life and see to it that these villains that preyed upon our people are undone."
Mara nodded her understanding. She was quite a bit nervous at the thought of killing people. The elders had demanded she do this and she couldn't think up of a way to deny them their request. She had banked her hopes on getting disqualified due to being half irish and only a quarter native. Plan A failed. She needed to come up with a way to get out of the obligation to kill people. She needed to first understand what the Elders were saying. "How do I join with the Earth Mother," she asked of her spirit guide.
In answer, her guide waved his paws at her cloud and it stopped being a solid thing under her feet. Mara fell through it faster than she could gasp in shock and fright. Once out of the cloud, she saw the ground come up towards her and her heart raced as fear took over. The wind whistled deafeningly as it rushed up past her ears. She shut her eyes firmly in denial and pain. Her breath hitched and she hyperventilated in a blind panic as her heart beat so fast she thought it would give out.
The cold air kept whooshing past her as she plummeted to the ground. She thought of her mother and how heartbroken she would be when she heard of Mara's death. Tears slid out of the corners of her eyes as she dared squint at the ground again. She could make out the details of the small park that she was plummeting towards. Her chest constricted in agony as her heart stopped working and her lungs seized up. Her face and body clenched up, for a brief moment, before going slack. The last thing she saw was the snow-covered ground rushing up to end her story.
The impact jolted her upright and she flailed her suddenly working limbs about herself. Her lungs worked and she screamed as loudly as she could. She realized with delight that her heart raced. It was working again. Her eyes recognized that she was in her dorm room bed. Mara gulped air in a blind panic and looked around, uncomprehending. Didn't she just fall to her death in a small park on the north side of town?
Julie entered her bedroom, naked from the waist down, and rushed to kneel by the side of Mara's bed, concern etched on her fine features. "Mara," she called to the brunette, "what's wrong?! Mara!"
Mara shook her head to clear it. "I'm okay," she whispered, still surprised. "I'm ok!"
"If you say so," Julie said. "What happened? You were screaming like a stuck pig!"
Mara waved off Julie's concern and said, "It was just a nightmare. I'm fine now."
Knocks were heard on their suite door and a voice asking if they're all right. "It's the R.A.," Julie said. "I'll go get rid of her."
"Yeah, thanks," said Mara. She took a deep breath to relax and was assailed by a strong whiff of pussy juice. She was momentarily confused, but then saw Julie walking out, her butt and legs completely bare. "Um, you might want to put something on."
Julie seemed to suddenly realize she had ran into Mara's room naked from the waist down. She tried to pull her tight T-shirt down to preserve her modesty, but it was too short. She blushed and flashed Mara a tight, embarrassed grin as she scampered out of her room.
Mara sat in her bed, listening to Julie screaming at the R.A. through the door that they were fine and that she'll answer the damn door if she's given half a minute to do so. At last, the insistent knocks were replaced by muted conversation and then the R.A. barged into Mara's room to make sure Julie hadn't murdered her in her sleep. Mara flashed the woman a tight grin and apologized for causing a disturbance. The R.A. recommended a bunch of pills she could take if she felt anxious or depressed and even gave them the names of a few doctors who would be more than willing to prescribe them to her, or Julie.
Julie saw Mara's eyes roll and she put a stop to the R.A.'s impersonation of a pharmaceutical rep and ushered the still talking woman out the door. Mara groaned at the way her day started. First she had a nightmare in which her spirit guide betrayed and killed her and then she screamed so loud she alarmed half the dormitory and, apparently, interrupted Julie's early morning jilling. She huffed. On days like this, it was best to just stay in bed and lock the doors. However, she had projects due soon and she couldn't afford to slack off. Besides, she needed to come up with a way to help Jamie and she wasn't going to accomplish that by sitting still.
The morning routine in the dorm room was quiet and tense as both girls were too embarrassed to talk about the state Julie was in when she rushed to Mara's side. Mara was the first to leave the dorm room and she said, "Have a nice day!" as she left. She trudged down the stairs and hefted her book bag. She stepped out into the cold, morning air and found it to be refreshing. She looked up at the cloudy, gray sky and sighed. If it was blue, she might have thought her nightmare this morning had been an actual spirit journey. She took a deep breath and focused on her efforts to render assistance to Jamie and his girls. She had been told by her spirit guide that they would be killed soon, unless she intervened. She asked it how, when and where, but she had yet to receive an answer.
As soon as she stepped off the pavement to cross the quad, she was overwhelmed by sensations. She could feel the ants burrowing deep under the ground, the people walking across the campus, the pines and other evergreen plants swaying in the gentle breeze. "Holy fuck," she exclaimed. Her mind struggled to comprehend all that she was now feeling. She could feel every living thing in her vicinity that walked upon the earth. She had no nightmare this morning, it was a full blown spiritual journey. She was supposed to use this new perception of hers to aid Jamie and his girls. This was the how, she realized.
Mara turned her attention to the dormitory from which she came. She found that she could even feel the people inside it, if she concentrated, even though they were not in contact with the earth. She thought about Julie and suddenly felt her laying back in bed, her sweatpants pulled off again. A wet tongue was roughly licking her folds and she was squirming under its assault. Mara was momentarily confused, but then quickly felt the young man that was eating her roommate out.
"That naughty bitch," Mara whispered to herself. Julie must have snuck a boy in last night and was now having a second round with him. Mara smiled in genuine delight at the fact that Julie, a victim of rape and mind wiping, was resuming a healthy sex life. She felt the boy roughly grope her tit and winced in sympathy. As good as it was that Julie was getting back into the saddle, Mara found her choice of bedmate regrettable. He was a good guy, made evident by the fact that he had sex with Julie the night before, spent the night and was eager for a repeat performance, yet his terrible technique and inability to pick up on Julie's cues made him a poor lover.
