Drawn to the inexplicable source of an indeterminable light, she walked forward, allowing her bare feet to splash in the swift stream. Behind her stood a lengthy waterfall’s beginnings. Ahead lay the air through which rushing water descended over smoothed rocks to a cool pool below.      Nothing but forest and rock surrounded her. Echoes of water flowing between her ankles, falling down the cliff, and lapping on the stone beach, filled her ears. A hint of chill swirled through her auburn hair. Shivering, she treaded through the cold stream, aimlessly seeking some grand void she might fill.      Tree branches leaned overtop her, sheltering her from the sunlight. With the wind, however, leaves flutter and move, allowing the sun’s glow passage to land upon her tear-smudged face. She had set her attention on another aura of light. Unquestioningly, she moved towards it. This amber hue shone so brightly that, from the base of the falls, she glimpsed it and proceeded to ascend the rough terrain overgrown with foliage to the zenith of the stream.      Questions swamped her dazed mind: Who was she? How did she end up in these mountains? …Yet, through her uncertainty, one thought persisted: She must reach that light. Approaching the stream’s sudden drop-off, she stilled. Shouting voices poured from the light as a whisper. Like the distant luminescence, they beckoned her to join them. As peculiar and unfamiliar the situation appeared, the voices, accompanying the light, warmed her frigid nerves.      Motionless in her apparent paradise, she stared at the now-blinding light. It brightened, and the voices grew in intensity, as she neared. With her feet firmly planted within a crevice near the edge of the fall, she stood and simply gawked. Her fervent reluctance to leave pulled at her heart, but her unexplained attraction to the light tugged at her soul. She must go to that glowing aura.      Of every memory she could recollect, only one surfaced as she sprinted to the edge. She had been happy once here, before the light shone; however, since it’s summoning began, the only emotion to embrace her had been angst and despair. Leaping off the waterfall, she flew, as if being pulled by an unseen force, into the light. And darkness fell before her.      Awaking with a startled jump, she found herself tightly swathed in hospital linen on top of a bed directly under a flaming florescent bulb. Upon further inspection, she realized tubes and cords connected her body to machines. Seconds later, doctors raced through the flapping doors, turning on bright lamps and various apparatuses as they went. Their direction: her.      A rather rounded man with a graying beard sat nestled in a chair alongside the large mechanized bed in which she lay. As he rustled beneath a sheet, his face emerged, old and wrinkly, yet his presence created a certain jovial and youthful ambiance about the room. He soothed her.       As the doctors and nurses clambered around the room checking on her, she spoke.      “Father,” she mumbled. “I want to go back.”      “Where, hun? You’ve been no where but this hospital bed for almost a year.” His reply came in soft waves, lapping at her ears such as the stream on the bank. After reaching out for a ferocious hug and kiss, he continued, “Do you remember the accident? You fell…been in a coma ever since.”      “N-no…I don’t recall falling…But…but my dream! It was so real, vivid. I need to go back there.”      “That’s nonsense, hun! You’re back in the land of the living—stay a while.”      “Yes…A while.”      Having uttered those few words, she drifted back into some lucid existence where nothing changes and the mood is always peaceful and relaxed. Her mind once more was filled with echoes of rushing water. Now standing at the base of the waterfall, she felt the cool spray mist her face.      Before, no one accompanied her in her little paradise; however, now, she had the distinct feeling someone stood watching over her. Eerily, warm wind rustled through her long strands of hair, and she sauntered to the edge of the pool of water the waterfall created. All around the circular area were flowers abloom with a medley of colors. Interspersed among trees and flora, little creatures wandered. The water’s blue color seemed to deepen with every step she took.      The sun’s rays beat down on her neck, pumping sweat from her pores. Unable to resist such a refreshing opportunity as alluring as the cool pool, she quickly stripped of her flimsy hospital gown. As though with some unseen force, she dove naked into the naked water, knocking her head upon the rock bottom. From the surface, several bubbles popped out of the water, as though with a scream. Precious blood spilled into the blue water as her body flailed up and down with the water’s rush.      Slowly, slowly, she felt herself slip into bland oblivion. Her body stiffened, yet her eyes remained open, staring up through the edge of the water, up to the waterfall, where she saw the same glowing amber light. Instead of fighting to reach the surface, she stared at the light as water filled her nostrils and lungs. Gasping for breath, she kept her eyes to the bright aura above her while she slowly faded into the deep blue.

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