Illusion and Reality

Another day, same life. I looked at myself one last time in the mirror after putting a thick layer of concealer under my brown eyes. My pin-straight caramel hair reached just below the shoulder, on the white crop top.  "You can do this Samara, some nightmares can't stop you. You will get through this," I put on my best smile as I completed the pep talk which was a part of the morning routine ever since those nightmares started. "Sam,"  heard the voice of my best friend yelling from the kitchen. I stopped in my tracks after a sour smell entered my nostrils.  "What are you doing Lily?" I asked not sure if I wanted the answer after looking at her. She was staring at me with her blue eyes sparkling with excitement, curly dark blonde hair in a messy bun, and a smile playing on her nude lips. "I baked a cake." I walked past her to see the cake, it was a two-tier cake tilted towards the left which looked like it could fall down any minute. The original color was hard to see under the blanket of sprinkles.  "Here," she cut a piece and put it on the place. I hesitantly took a small bite, it was too dry and slightly sour. "It is edible." She rolled her eyes and took a huge bite, regret was instantly visible on her face. "It tastes like someone ate a lemon cake, threw up on the soil and this is that soil," she said while spitting out the piece. A small laugh escaped my lips, "You for sure know how to paint a picture with your words." "It is far away from edible." I shook my head looking at the kitchen full of sprinkles and flour, "It looks like a unicorn pooped here." She stuck her tongue out at my comment. "I am getting late for the class, I'll see you later," I replied as I left the kitchen. "You're lying you just don't want to clean this shit," Lily yelled from the kitchen. I yelled back at her "you're a mind reader, I love you too." I had an hour for my class, I walked slowly enjoying the bright blue sky and chirping of the birds.  I smiled looking at the colorful flowers outside the florist shop on my way. My feet stopped instantly in front of a burgundy dahlia. There was something different about the single dahlia lying between yellow roses and blue orchids. "Can I help you dear?" a middle-aged florist wearing a hat asked in a soft voice.  "It is a beautiful flower." Wrinkles formed around her eyes as she smiled gently, "a gentleman bought all the dahlias but looks like he left this one just for you," she said giving me the flower. I took my wallet out from one hand and held the flower in the other hand, “oh no dear, take it as a gift.” I gave her a smile, “thank you, have a nice day.” “You too.” I had 45 minutes left for the class so I went to the library. It was almost empty, the librarian glanced in my direction, I greeted her with a smile which she returned with a small smile of her own. I took a seat near the corner, taking out the notebook I started making notes.  Rubbing my head I stifled a yawn, I didn't remember the last time I slept without being haunted by those purple eyes. The girl sitting towards the front of the library stood up and left, I glanced at the old brown clock in the library, I had 15 minutes. I put everything in my bag and picked the flower from the table. As soon as I touched the flower I felt an electric current on the tips of my fingers, as a result, I threw away the flower back on the table. The flower started wilting, the red color disappeared and a brownish-red appeared in its place. Bright blue stars formed around the petals and the whole flower started burning in front of my eyes. I put my hand on my mouth to stop myself from making any sound as I looked at the ashes which were a beautiful flower about a minute ago. Looking around I noticed no one was there to confirm what I saw was real or my mind was playing some tricks with me. I took a tissue out from my bag and quickly cleaned the ashes from the table. I looked at the time, only 5 minutes were left so I ran to my class. The whole day passed with me thinking about the flower and by the end of the day, I was more than ready to go home. The front door was locked I opened it and went directly to my room. I jumped on my bed and every thought started to fade away slowly.  . . . Lazily I stretched my arms and looked at my phone. After a nap of 2 hours, I was feeling better, my stomach growled as I got out of my bed. I sighed in relief looking at the kitchen, it was spotless, literally. Lily had a talent when it comes to cleaning, she could clean a crime scene within few hours without leaving any dirty spot. I started preparing macaroni and cheese for dinner. It was almost done when I heard a sound from the living room. I ignored the sound thinking it was Lily and stayed in the kitchen. After a few minutes, the front door opened,“honey I'm home.” I ran towards the door and looked at her blankly. She raised an eyebrow, “Well hello to you too.” “You’re just coming back? I heard something a few minutes ago and thought it was you,”I whispered. “And you didn’t bother checking? There could be a serial killer hiding in our home right now,” she yelled in a quiet voice. My eyes went wide open after hearing her words, "what should we do? Should we call the police?” “Shh.” She went to the kitchen and came back with a knife in her hand. Giving a sign to stay quiet she went to her room first, then my room, and at last, the extra room we had.  With a sigh she dropped the knife back on the kitchen counter, “It’s okay it must be the neighbor’s cat, don’t worry about it.” I nodded, “let’s have dinner I’m hungry.” “Me too, I had a very long day-” I ignored what she was saying, all I could think about the incident, was I hallucinating? We had small talks during dinner, which meant Lily was talking while I was in my own world. After dinner, I slowly opened the bag and removed the tissue. There was no sign of any ash on the clean tissue in my hand. I threw away the tissue and went to my bed. Lying on the grass I was staring at the clouds floating aimlessly in the sky. There were no worries or thoughts in my head, just the bliss.  “Come with me,”an angelic voice whispered from the right. I slowly got up and looked around the open field, I was the only one there. “It is the time,”a figure stood under a willow tree, I couldn’t see the person but I could feel the eyes on me.  “They need you.” “Who are you?”I yelled. I ran towards the figure just as I was about to reach the tree, fog covered the whole field.  “Don’t leave me here please,”I continued running. My feet got stuck on the root of a tree and as a result, I was falling down, I tried to grab the hand of the figure but I couldn’t. Before falling the last thing I saw were those…..purple eyes. With a gasp, I opened my eyes. It was almost 4 am, I gave up the hope to fall asleep again.  I went to wash my face, dark bags were visible under my eyes the result of all the sleepless nights. The voice kept replaying in my head over and over again. The voice felt familiar yet strange at the same time. I started completing my assignments and it was already 7 am. I decided to wear a simple grey t-shirt with black skinny jeans and left my hair open. After applying makeup I made my way to the kitchen.  Lily was singing happily and dancing as she poured coffee into my mug, “isn’t it a beautiful; day.” “It’s 7:30 in the morning, give me a break,”I grumbled under my breath. I picked a granola bar and said bye to Lily, I was not going to take the usual path. I wanted to avoid the florist shop maybe I was overthinking but It’s better to be safe than sorry. I took another path to get to my university, it would take 30 minutes to get to my first lecture but it was okay. The part of town was on the quieter side, few rich old people lived there which was pretty obvious from the mansions on the way. I stopped in my tracks to look behind when I felt someone was following me but no one was there, just like in my dream.  I increased my speed then stopped walking instantly when I felt something behind me, holding my breath I slowly turned around ready to scream.