53 - A LONG NIGHT...

 53 - A LONG NIGHT...

Grace was agitated. His sleep was not a peaceful sleep... in fact, he was having a sleep full of nightmare images... all the monsters from the stories his grandfather told him when he was a child decided to manifest themselves in his daydream tonight... but why on this very night, when all she needed most was a good night's rest, absolute rest? Well, this is one of life's great mysteries... at the moment when you most need peace, to recompose yourself, your inner torments tend to attack you...

As soon as she laid down, she fell asleep. At first a light, peaceful sleep... but then, over time... a minute... an hour... a century? How do you count time in the dream world? Nobody knows. They wanted to hurt her... Graça ran as fast as she could, until she reached the edge of the river that ran close to her house. Without thinking about anything, the little girl threw herself into the water... and the little monsters became her beloved dolls again.... of course the girl didn't go back, she tried to swim to the other shore... suddenly, he found himself in the middle of his mother's flower garden, where roses of all colors emanated their delicious perfume in the air... dahlias, of all colors and shapes, carnations, carnations, calla lilies, lilies, sunflowers ... such a profusion of colors and perfumes that the girl felt like she was in Paradise... as far as the eye could see, only flowers dominated the world.... and it was a profusion of colors and perfumes, even adorned with butterflies that fluttered through the garden, disputing space with bees, crickets and cicadas...

Yes, the world was wonderful... the sun, warm, bathed the earth with its comforting rays, giving the girl a feeling of peace and tenderness that she only felt in her mother's lap... but, suddenly... .

Without knowing exactly what was happening, suddenly a feeling of fear, terror took over the child's soul... she couldn't say exactly why, but the fear was so great that she wanted to hide in the bosom of the earth. ... the sky, that limpid blue that it was, little by little became dark, although there were no clouds and it was not getting dark... it was a strange thing, difficult to understand and explain... but the world was changing.. .and it wasn't just the sky... the garden itself began to wither and the flowers so beautiful from moments ago began to take on a frightening aspect... suddenly she felt as if she were trapped inside a cemetery... without tombstones... and he felt that he needed to escape from that place as fast as he could, or it would simply cease to exist... and he began to run through what until moments ago was Heaven on earth... and which now resembled entrance hall of Hades... strange apparitions appeared in the sky and began to chase her. The girl ran as if a thousand demons were chasing her, and the worst part was that there really were demons chasing her...

Rosa and Maria watched their friend contracting, desperate, on her bed... sweat was running down her forehead, and even with her eyes closed, it was possible to notice in her face the terror that dominated her soul... Rosa shook her friend until she she woke up... and when she opened her eyes, the expression on her face was one of relief, because she managed to escape the gates of Hell...

- Would you like some tea to calm down?

- No, Rosa... thank you... It was just a bad dream...

- Did you pray before going to sleep?

- Of course, Maria... you know I don't go to bed without saying my prayers...

- But...

- But I had a horrible nightmare... um, no... several...

- Not even half an hour ago you went to bed...

- But the feeling I had is that I was lost in that limbo for months...

- And now?...

- Now? What a question, Rosa... let's go to sleep... tomorrow promises to be difficult...

And the three joined in a new prayer, asking for divine protection to guard their sleep and returned to their beds.... soon the three fell into a peaceful and deep sleep... but...

Graça found herself again walking through the fields of her adolescence, when she was fourteen, fifteen years old... not that long ago, since in a few months she would complete her twenty springs... this time she was in the company of Rina, her little pet dog that had long gone running in the great fields of heaven... the two ran happily, the girl sometimes stopped to look at a flower, and the little dog returned to her, waiting for a caress of affection. During her walk, at one point, Rina stopped. It stood in front of its owner, in a defensive position... and began to bark incessantly... Graça couldn't understand what was happening.... then, a dark cloud stopped in front of her defender... and, slowly , turned into a beautiful woman...

Graça felt her whole body shiver... it was the dreaded Woman in White who presented herself to her... the creature didn't dare approach the girl, because her little dog wouldn't allow it... and, suddenly, a pack of of dogs came to Rina's aid, to help her in the defense of her owner and friend.... the Woman in White smiled... a sweet and sad smile... by her posture, there was no intention attacking Graça... it was more like she was giving a warning... but terror gripped the girl and she just wouldn't stop shaking...

- Grace... wake up!

It was Maria, shaking her friend to wake her up...

- Grace, how are you?

Rosa, on the other side of the bed, helping Maria wake up her friend... they were both really worried...

- What happened?

It was Graça, waking up, and asking her friends about what was happening...

- Grace. you were moaning... it was like you were dying...

- Girl, I've never been so scared of someone as I was scared of you, now... the nightmares are back?

Grace nodded... she was drenched in sweat... and she was terrified of the dream she'd had... but she wasn't going to tell her friends what she'd dreamed about... she didn't want to scare them even more... .and so the three girls spent the rest of the night... trying to sleep, without being able to, because at all times the two girls had to help their friend, tormented by a thousand nightmares, and that went on until dawn, with the first song of dawn. rooster... yes, a new day was beginning... but it didn't promise anything good for the three girls...