Am I the Dream, or Is This World?

[Hetty]

The snow fell in whispers, each flake a tiny, silent confession against the muted canvas of the village. She stood at the edge of perception, a figure woven from frost and forgotten melodies. Her hat, a summer relic adorned with paper blossoms, was a defiant bloom in the heart of winter's decree. It held the ghost of sunshine, a memory of bees drowsy with pollen, against the chilling air.

Her dress, the color of twilight just after the last robin has sung, whispered of old tales and slumbering forests. The fabric, embroidered with phantom flora, seemed to breathe with a life that defied the frozen world around her. It was as if she had stepped out of a storybook, leaving the warmth of the page for this crystalline reality.

Behind her, blurred figures drifted like dreams. Were they villagers, or echoes of moments past, solidified by the snow's enchantment? The houses, hunched under their white mantles, held secrets in their darkened windows, stories etched in the grain of the wood, now hushed by the falling snow.

Her gaze, a still pond reflecting a sky of uncertain light, held a question that had no words. It was a question whispered to the wind, a silent plea to the falling flakes: "Am I a dream walking, or is this world the dream, and I the only one awake?"

The snow continued its gentle descent, shrouding the village in a veil of white amnesia. She remained, a solitary point of color in the monochrome, a fragile paradox - summer blooming in the dead of winter, a question mark etched in the language of snow. And in the silence, one could almost hear the rustle of paper petals against the soft fall, a whisper of a world that might have been, or perhaps, still was, just beyond the edge of sight.

snowfall-confessions.jpg (68.31 KiB) Viewed 2797 times

[Hank]

Almost, you've got the color of her dress wrong... Her dress, the color of twilight just after the last robin has sung, whispered of old tales and slumbering forests.

dress-color-of-twilight.jpg (63.04 KiB) Viewed 2718 times

[SpaceTime]

Where the Snow Forgets

The wind, a restless spirit, tugged at the edges of her paper blossoms, whispering tales of forgotten paths and slumbering giants. She tilted her head, listening, the question in her gaze deepening. The snow, relentless in its descent, had begun to obscure the blurred figures behind her, turning them into ghostly smudges against the white expanse.

Then—movement.

A single crimson mitten lay abandoned in the snow, a vivid bloom against the pale hush of winter. It was small, shaped for a child’s hand. A pang of something—longing, loss, recognition—stirred in her chest, a feeling both foreign and familiar.

She hesitated, then stepped forward, her embroidered slippers pressing softly into the powdery drift. The mitten seemed to beckon her, a silent invitation, a thread pulling her deeper into the village’s quiet mystery.

And then she saw them: tiny footprints, half-swallowed by the snowfall, leading away from the mitten, vanishing into the labyrinth of shadowed alleys between the snow-laden houses.

A spark of curiosity flickered in the stillness of her being.

She followed.

The houses, their windows dark and watchful, loomed over her, their eaves bowing under the weight of the storm. The wind curled through the alleyways, carrying with it the scent of old wood and something fainter—something like memory.

The footprints led her to a small wooden door, nearly lost beneath a drift of snow. A faint glow seeped from the cracks, a warm beacon against the cold hush.

She hesitated, then raised her hand and knocked. The sound was barely more than a whisper, muffled by winter’s thick embrace.

For a moment, there was only silence.

Then—the door creaked open.

Warmth spilled out, golden and flickering, pushing back the cold. Inside, a fire crackled in the hearth, throwing restless shadows against the walls. A woman sat by the flames, her face obscured by the flickering light.

She looked up. Her eyes, dark and searching, widened slightly.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice a hushed whisper.

The girl in the summer dress hesitated, the question reverberating through the hollow places inside her.

"I... I don't know," she admitted at last, her voice barely louder than the fire’s crackle. "But I think I’m looking for something."

A pause.

Then, the woman by the fire smiled—a small, knowing thing, tinged with sorrow.

"Perhaps we both are," she murmured. She gestured to the empty chair beside her. "Come in, child. The snow is no place for dreams to wander alone."

Outside, the snow continued to fall, erasing footprints, softening the edges of the world, making it easier to forget what was real and what was only a dream.