Falling

I am just 9 years old,

I walk through the kissing gate onto the damp grass.

The sweet smell of morning dew is all around me,

the sound of the river brings a sense of calm over me.

I walk 10 meters through the damp grass,

my jeans become damp to the knees from the morning dew.

I steadily walk down the steep hill beside the tunnel, 

the tunnel that I had walked through many times.

The sound of the water is loud as it rushes by,

it drowns out the sound of the traffic.

All you can hear is the sound of the river,

surrounded by the noise of the birds in the trees.

A yapping noise startles me,

I look to where the noise was coming from.

Across the river is 3 golden Labrador puppies,

standing over them is an old lady.

The old lady bent down to play with the puppies,

her focus never averted from them.

I slowly cross the river,

my trainers slowly flooded with the river water.

The old lady noticed I was there,

she stood & smiled, a friendly smile.

Her skin was pale, her cheeks was rosy,

her dark grey hair was pinned back.

She wore a multi-coloured cardigan with a black skirt,

she was wearing black knee length boots & clutching a purse.

Suddenly one of the puppies jumps up excitedly,

he pulls the purse out of the old ladies hand.

He runs off, the other pups follow,

the old lady throws her hands up to her mouth.

She calls for the puppies to come back,

they keep on running, 

running faster than the old lady ever could.

I start to run in the direction the puppies ran,

my damp jeans tight around my legs,

my trainers heavy from the river water.

I can hear the puppies just ahead,

I run past a huge bush and just catch sight of the puppies.

I run faster, my heart pounding,

just as I am a few feet away I lose my footing.

I suddenly start to fall down a huge sand hill,

falling around 40ft, I close my eyes.

I hit the river below me with a huge thud,

landing on my back, on the hard stones of the river bed

I can't move, I can hardly breathe.

The water from the water rushes over me,

Just as I take my last breath.

I wake up, sweating & my heart is racing!

It was all a dream, a scary dream, a dream that was so real.

It was a dream that kept recurring.

Not all of it was just a dream, as a child I did fall down the same  sand hill & into the river below. I lay winded, lucky for me the water was shallow & friends helped me up. Since this happened I kept having this dream, for about 10 years I would have this dream at least 4 times a year till I started dreaming a new dream.

I was being chased by bears!