"If I should die before I wake..."

This post is a result of a writer's group event. We were given three prompts and then 20 minutes to write 500 words on the one we chose. I chose "If I should die before I wake" This is the result. Please excuse any typos. I haven't edited it other than within the 20 minutes.


“If I should die before I wake,” she said as she knelt before her bed. Before she could finish the nightly ritual, a force she had never felt before swept her up. Wrapping itself round around her a like whirling wind, it lifted her off the floor and carried her to a place she had never been before. Nothing was the familiar to her; everything around her was foreign and new. It felt like she was experiencing everything rather than seeing anything. Bright colors, exotic sounds all filled her senses at once. The scent of blue wafted into her nostrils, the sights of sounds filled her eyes.

Her mind could not even begin to comprehend where she was or how she had gotten there. It was too busy trying to process all the new information it had never encountered. Had it just gone haywire? Was she still kneeling before her bed and never even left her room? These were simply unanswerable questions. Her mind, like eyes adjusting to the dark, had yet to “see” what was all around.

Her body felt weightless. The force unknown had taken control and was carrying her body all through this maze of perception. It was an unwelcome, yet not unpleasant, tour that took her mind to places it had never been before. The colors, the sounds, the sights, the smells all mixed into an impossible combination. She did not know what she was seeing. She did not know what she was feeling. She did not know anything. But her mind felt no fear; her brain didn’t tell her panic. She floated along as if down a peaceful river of twisted perceptions.

Then, just as sudden as she had been lifted, she was set back down to where she had been kneeling in front of her bed. She did not feel scared. The experience left her feeling a calm she had never felt before. Like her body had been washed of all anxieties and fears. Like she was a brand new person whose painful memories no longer haunted them. They had left; gone away like a shadow as the sun slowly sunk behind the horizon.

She had yet to open her eyes. They were squeezed shut like they always where when she prayed. Each lid opened, slowly revealing the same bedroom she had always known, but had never felt before. She was back to reality, back to where she had always been. Although her journey had been pleasant, she was still relieved to be back in her familiar world. The one she understood.

She finished her prayer and crawled into her bed, pulling the covers over herself. The softness and warmth of the blankets made her feel at home after her journey that seemed much longer than it had to have been. Just before she leaned toward her bedside lamp to turn it off, she was going to perform her other nightly ritual. She reached for the frame, but it was not there. The picture of her beloved grandmother who had passed years before was no longer there. This was the first time she felt panic. She was confused and scared that something she cherished so much was gone. She yelled for her parents.

But, before the sound even echoed down the hall, a wave of peace suddenly washed over her again. She heard a familiar sound, a voice long unheard…”Dear, are you ok?” A figure appeared in her room…”Grandma?”