Chapter 38: Dullahan
Is this a dream?
The question floated through my consciousness as I found myself standing in what appeared to be an infinite expanse of dark water. The lake stretched endlessly in every direction, its obsidian surface broken only by strange, ethereal lights that danced beneath the waves like trapped stars.
I tried to move my arms, to feel the familiar weight of my own body, but there was nothing—just the vague sense of existing, of being present without truly being there. Yet when I willed myself to walk, my legs responded, carrying me forward across the liquid mirror with steps that made no sound.
Minutes passed—or perhaps hours; time seemed meaningless in this place—before something made me freeze mid-step. My heart, if I still had one in this dreamscape, lurched against my ribs.
There, perhaps fifty yards ahead, stood a solitary figure. The woman’s back was turned to me, her familiar silhouette clear even in this surreal landscape.
"M... Mom?" The word escaped me as barely more than a whisper, my voice cracking with disbelief and desperate hope.
At the sound of my voice, she began to move. Not turning around as I’d hoped, but walking away with slow steps that seemed to barely disturb the water’s surface.
"Wait!" I called out. "Mom, is that you?!"
I lunged forward, my legs pumping with desperate energy, but it was like trying to run through thick honey. Every movement felt sluggish, weighted down by the dream logic that governed this place. No matter how hard I pushed myself, she remained just out of reach, her figure growing smaller and more indistinct with each passing second.
"Please!" I shouted, my voice echoing strangely across the endless lake. "Don’t leave."
But she continued walking, her form beginning to blur at the edges like watercolors bleeding into wet paper. I stretched out my hand, fingers grasping at nothing but empty air as she faded completely from view, leaving me alone once more in the vast darkness.
I stood there for what felt like an eternity, my arm still extended toward the spot where she’d vanished. Slowly, I clenched my fist and let it fall to my side.