Phoenix Maplewood I couldn’t sleep a wink

She couldn't sleep. Or rather, she'd woken to a terrible nightmare. For some reason or another, she'd dreamt of all the forest animals harmoniously calling to one another to pass some sort of greater message along from one howl to the next screech. It'd all been fine and dandy at first until it was the snake's turn to pass the news along. Unfortunately, that animal was far too quiet to send the memo any distance and so it compensated as the dream shifted and she woke up in a silent scream with that same dream snake biting at her neck.

The snake hadn't been real, but the unconscious spasms of her neck had been. She'd jolted to sudden awareness as she startled and shifted to sit. Her breath came heavily as she told herself over and over the dream was not real. She was alive. She was safe. There was no snake trying to strangle her. Eventually, she came to terms with the nightmare, but she couldn't change the fact that she was awake.

The moon was high. The sun was no where near to rising. She roused herself and took to walking beneath the twilight as she shook off the remnants of her dream and surrendered fully to waking. These woods were different at night. They were masked in hues of muddled blue and cloaked in far more shadows. Spooky.

She moved, following the direction in which she knew, or thought, to lead to a simple stream within these woods. A little water would help. She wished to splash it on her face and wash the remnants of her dream away.