Indigo Lion

There has been this reoccuring dream that finally went somewhere last night.

I've been having haunting nightmares but nothing really happens in them. I just wake with a terrible sense of dread. It's not the usual dread... normally, I wake up and I need to run out of wherever I am. My brain is screaming RUN RUN RUN!! Not this time. This was an electric fear. I wake up and I'm paralyzed at first. All I can manage is to twitch my finger, the rest of my body is like lead. When I can move, I'm so stiff I just want to stretch but this electric feeling in my very bones... I don't know. I'm tense, I'm nervous, I'm out of my mind every time I wake up. This has been going on for many nights now, this would be the fourth night. The first part is always the same but last night... there was more.

All I can see ahead of me is darkness and this red ribbon. I can feel the tug of the ribbon around my throat - sometimes it chokes me, sometimes I go willingly. Although I see nothing but blackness, my body is battered by the elements and by my surroundings. Sometimes it feels like there is mud leeching to my feet and legs, sometimes it feels like I run on glass or hot coals, sometimes it feels like trees are clawing at me, sometimes it feels like hail is raining down on me, sometimes I feel like I'm being chased, like there are horrible evil things trying to torture me... all sorts of pain, all kinds of horror in the corner of my eye, but I always run on. That's usually the whole dream.

This time, as I ran, I could see. Out of the dark woods I ran and into a golden field. Buttercups and daisies and golden blades of long grass as soft as feathers waved in the soft breeze and the sun was passed noon but not quite setting bathing everything in gold. I ran on following that red ribbon. I ran passed a herd of horses of all colours and they ran by my side. The sound of their hoofbeats, like a tribal drum, urged me on. As I ran on and the horses tired and wished me luck, flocks of birds erupted into the sky and they followed me. They followed, singing their different songs, until the night came and then bid me farewell. I ran into the woods still on light feet and still intent on following the ribbon. The moon was full and so bright and the stars seem to wink at me. I wished upon the first and brightest star I saw and then continued to run. As I ran a pack of wolves, first in the shadows and then at my heels, ran with me. Their song followed me much longer than they did and for this I was glad. When I left the woods, I was on a beach. I ran on through the sands as the sun rose and warmed the world again. The sands grew almost unbearably hot but I reached the end of what must've been a peninsula. I stared out at the waters and the red ribbon dancing over the waves. I ran and found myself running on the water. I ran until a group of orcas joined me and sang me their song. One gave me a little push through the waters and then they left too.

Still I ran on.

I ran until I reached a desert and travelled up the first mighty dune. The sun was blazing and blinding and the sky was such a clear blue. The sands were various shades of yellow, orange and even red. I staggered on until finally I tripped and tumbled all the way down a sand dune. It felt like I fell forever but finally I hit solid ground. I lay there for a moment, crumpled in a heap, and when I moved it was the most agonizing pain. Every cell in my body seemed to be fighting the movements. I sat up anyway. I was surrounded by black sand and a strange little leopard gecko poked his head out of the sand and looked at me. He crawled out, winked and then dashed off. I started crawling after him, managed to stand and run after him. He led me to an old oak tree in the middle of the desert - imagine that! My eyes didn't wander to the tree but to the figure laying so peacefully there.

A lion. A gorgeous lion. His mane was dark and his eyes were sharp but what struck me was his indigo fur! He grinned at me. I smiled. He put one huge paw over the ribbon, giving me a good bit of slack and then simply stared at me. My smile broadened and I curled up beside him. His fur was so soft and I felt so safe beside him. I fell asleep and when I awoke... I was in my bed.

An indigo lion, how about that? Afterwards, again, I had that dream of Martin tattooing my spine and... well, as usual the details stay with me.