Last night, I drifted off to sleep in a blissful daze as Jack read to me, and I kept getting little flashes of our life together 10, 20, 50 years down the road. They were peaceful thoughts, and sleep found me quickly...
I dreamed in fragments of gold and blue for a while. There were only streaks of color, and I felt lost in the never ending sea of hues and tones. I could not find my bearings but knew the overwhelming color was only a transition into the dream world, and slowly I began to make out the silhouettes of trees and tall grasses. I could hear frogs groaning and birds singing, a brook was babbling behind me. I was sitting among wild flowers of which no name was known, at least I had never seen flowers like these with petals so heavy the stems bent and a scent so strong it could make you feel dizzy. The tall flowers were more beautiful than the colorful streaks that impeded my vision upon entering this place.
I could not see the tops of any of the trees that provided so much shade over the ground in which their roots were buried so deep. I could hear all the different sounds of the critters those canopies housed. I noticed silver and gold streaks running through the tree trunks and into the branches and leaves. The flowers had glowing streams of blue and green - some kind of liquid - running through their stems and petals. Even the frogs appeared illuminated from the soft glow of pink and purple coming off the lily pads. The forest was magical and sang its own song that echoed off the trees, reverberated through the ground and into my bones. I wanted so badly to explore, to meet new life form, to study my surroundings until they felt like home, but I found myself walking in a direction that must have been predetermined for me by some force in this dark, glowing forest as my feet moved without me telling them to.
I tripped over roots and got caught in parts of the path that were blocked by branches and spider webs. My feet, acting like magnets, kept moving with distinct direction and purpose. The comforting humidity that met me in this place had turned to an overwhelming burden as I quickened my pace. My breaths became shortened and strained, and sweat was rolling down my forehead. All of my senses were heightened as the forest consumed me and I could feel my muscles getting tense. A low humming vibrated through me and quickly invaded my ears as a pair of eyes appeared in the shadows. I jumped back, startled and confused. I did not expect to find other humans in this wonderful, majestic place. Humans never let anything blossom with such freedom the way this place had, and the resources in would be completely diminished if humans discovered their value. There was a rustle among the plants and the sun broke through an opening in one of the canopies revealing ten monks who all stood in front of me gently smiling. Their bodies, or what part I could see of them, were painted with streaks of blue and gold, green and purple, and the dark velvet of their hooded robes made them blend with the forest. Only the whites of their eyes set them apart from the trunks of the ancient trees and the luminescent foliage.
I remained stagnant and attempted to take in my surroundings but the sun had disappeared again and the cloak of humid darkness became too much to bear. The humming, I now realized, was coming from the monks and it grew louder as they made their way over to me. I opened my mouth to speak but instead was filled with the thick humid air that suffocated me and caused my movements to slow considerably. The monks did not seem to notice my struggles or attempts to communicate with them, or if they did notice they definitely didn't care. I felt fingertips on my shoulders and jumped out of my skin, but was immediately comforted by one voice that had made its way closer to me than the others. I could feel lips on my ear lobes vibrating, but then there was a break in the low humming as the rest of the monks, still somewhat distant from me, kept up with the song. A deep breath followed the pause and I waited in complete silence as my mind raced over all the possibilities of what my time with these monks would bring. A deep sigh escaped the monk and his breath lingered around me, mixing with the thick, humid air and settling on my skin. I smelled ginger, tea leaves, incense and...Did I smell pussy on his breath? Surely it was just a similar scent coming off of the plants or was lingering from some animal that was in mating season. The smell intensified as the monk breathed in even deeper, keeping his lips right up against my ear lobe, and as he let out that second breath he whispered, "What are you doing here, girl?"
Chills ran down my spine. The monk did not have the voice I expected him to. Instead of a warm robust voice that would have matched the comforting essence of the forest, the monk let out a deep, raspy growl and his fingertips traced my shoulder blades as he waited for my response. I shut my eyes even though I could hardly make out anything among the darkness and the once enchanting songs of the birds and creaking of the trees unsettled me now. I felt the fingertips fall from my shoulders and two hands swiftly picked me up. I heard footsteps behind us as the other monks followed and continued their low humming, blending with the trees and darkness. My head rested on the monk's warm, muscular chest and his velvet robe draped over me, as if he was trying to hide me from something or someone. I let my body curl into his until we came to a clearing in the forest and as I turned my head to see where they'd taken me I was met by a blindfold. I did not have the time to process what was happening or to make an attempt to protest; I was passed to someone else without the parties exchanging a single word - only humming. My body and mind were slowly becoming accustomed to the silence of this world, but now in my forced isolation from sight, the silence seemed much louder.
I let the low humming from the monks and muffled sounds of the foreign life around me take over my body as I was carried for what felt like ages. Whoever or whatever carried me smelled like the other monks did - tea leaves, ginger, incense...pussy - I could not mistake that smell for anything else. The combination of scents intensified as the figure carried me down stairs and through winding hallways. After taking what seemed like hundreds of turns and going down numerous flights of stairs, I heard a door creak open and the aroma overwhelmed me. The blindfold kept me in darkness as I felt my body meet a flat wooden surface. I stayed completely still waiting for the blindfold to be taken off, but my chauffeur was busy tending to what sounded like pots and pans. The air was even thicker in this place than in the forest and I figured I had to be underground in some kind of structure. It was musty and smelled the way an old book does; I wondered if I was in an ancient library of some sort or perhaps a temple that housed thousands of original manuscripts about rituals and beliefs of this life form. My thoughts were interrupted as the figure made its way toward me and I suddenly felt two hands playing with my hair.
"Where am I?" My voice sounded so loud in the otherwise completely silent room and I heard a small scoff from the figure.
The hands playing with my hair moved down my neck, traced my shoulder blades, arms, hands, fingers, then moved to my stomach and ripped some of the earth tone fabric that draped over my body. I let out a small gasp and instinctively moved my hands to cover my exposed breasts in protest, but the figure immediately took each one and placed them in what felt like thick metal cuffs that must have been attached to the wooden table somehow. I could hear chain links colliding with one another and even though I could still move my arms, the chains felt heavy and inescapable.
