Are you there, Dolores?

Tonight: I'm back in that burnt down forest, standing alone in the midst of gasoline fumes and smoldering charcoal. I'm freezing even though the ground is still warm from the fire, a cloud of black ravens circulates silently over my head. I'm wearing an ivory white Victorian style wedding gown, a sheer lace veil covers my hair that's been carefully arranged to look like a butterfly. Amazingly, the dress doesn't seem to have a single stain on it, and the pink roses in my hands look newly cut, covered with little pear shaped raindrops.

Instead of music I hear the sound of sparks from the recent fire, instead of wedding guests a thousand stars are watching me from high above in the dark blue spring skies. I immediately know that I've been here before, but I don't recall when or why. I think I had someone with me then, I can still feel his presence like electricity in the air, even though I know we last met years and years ago.

As the severed branches around me start burning again I'm violently awakened. Mom's standing over my bed, looking at me as if she had seen a ghost. "What's wrong dear" she says, once again faking her concern. I don't know where to start so I just tell her it was a nightmare.

I guess it was, but that feeling of standing alone in the dark still lingers as well as the smell of gasoline. It's morning but I want to go back to sleep, back to that forest. Something else has yet to happen there, and I want to know what it means.