The Decipherment

  * * *

  Isabelle soon got what she thought for: a dream within a dream.

  She stopped dead in her tracks. She could hear a distant sound of something . . . swirling, in the air. She looked closely in front of her but nothing seemed out of place. But when she looked back, her heart suddenly stopped beating.

  The ropes from the end of the bridge had opened and half of it had lost contact with the edge of the cliff it was tied to. Isabelle wandered if it was because she put too much pressure on the bridge. She didn’t stir for a long time. Slowly, the bridge stopped moving and the ropes stayed tied from the far end where she stood. Just when she thought the danger had dissipated and she started walking again, suddenly all the loose ties opened and she felt the wood planks behind her fall one by one.

  Just as she turned, the last of the ropes holding the bridge in place became loose and the bridge started shaking violently. She tried to remain her ground, but it was too late. The whole bridge tumbled from one side and gave way all at once. Isabelle hoped she was still dreaming all this, like she used to often at nights, and that she would wake up before she hit the cold waters beneath. But the bridge was collapsing right before her eyes – and she could do nothing. Finally, the wood planks under her feet became loose as the ropes binding them uncoiled and she was swept off her feet, deep into the abyss below.

  As she was falling downwards, Isabelle tried hard to think of something concrete to emerge into reality by the power of her thought so she might hold onto it, but nothing happened.

  Guess I don’t have control over my dreams, she thought.

  She felt so light-weighed, like a falling feather. The sky above her seemed further and further apart, like a distant world fading away quickly. Suddenly, she didn’t care if she drowned. It would at least end this . . . game that had started. She just let go, letting gravity do the rest. The cold wind hit her face, and the sounds of the hungry waves ready to gulp her seemed closer.

  Just when she was close to hitting the water, she realized something she hadn’t before. She had faced her worst fear – and it didn’t feel all that bad. At least she could die with the comfort of knowing that she had fought the demons of her fear. Just as the sea neared her, she closed her eyes. The smell of seawater grew strong. She wasn’t ready to see the end of her dream, no matter how much it puzzled her or the fact that she didn’t wake up before it all ended. One touch of the waves beneath, and soon it would all end.

  But it didn’t.