Awakening
Nancy Gaskin
Nancy Gaskin
Dagmar has been living with her grandparents for most of her twelve years. Going to bed one night she awakens and finds herself not in her bed but in a different realm. She embarks on a journey of learning and discovery.A dream which is not a dream. Dagmar learns of her true identity and begins a journey of discovery in another realm and filled with magic ..... A slight breeze made the heads of the flowers bob as if they were nodding in acknowledgement of the child’s passing feet and the leaves rustled like sand paper rubber together. Sunlight was diffused by the trees which were reaching to the sky and gave the ground a mottled look where the grass was sprinkled with sunshine. The girl wandered along admiring the pretty flowers and their wonderful colours and smells which such a welcoming spring fragrance. Stopping and squatting down to examine more closely a shrub with stunning flowers that were shaped like small dark pink frilly dresses with tiny yellow slippers that hung gracefully from green leaved branches the girl smelled a wonderfully gently perfume which she could not place, shrugging her shoulders she wandered further along. Looking left and right Dagmar saw flowers with large emerald green leaves and milky yellow flowers which had an overpowering smell it caused the girl to sneeze. Small crimson blossoms dotted bushes with lime green leaves and petite birds flitting about in continual movement with fleeting glimpses of a kaleidoscope of colours. Bushes with large emerald green foliage which created recesses carpeted with deep green moss dotted with tiny mauve flowers with a butter yellow centre. Looking around the girl saw ash trees with their silvery bark and small grey leaves and evergreens and their jade green needles, Oak trees with rough dappled brown bark towering over the rest. Fallen tree trunks covered in various types of moss with teeny tiny flowers with a diversity of colour giving it a look of a blanket covering a resting person. Underfoot small twigs and dry leaves snapped and crackled as the child wandered releasing the smell of decaying plant matter, which was giving the whole area a very rich earthy scent that the girl absolutely loved. Inhaling deeply with eyes closed Dagmar stood, face raised to the sky, arms outstretched as if in prayer. Feeling totally at ease and blissfully happy the girl began to skip through a small section of the woodland humming snatches of tunes. As she came to a small clearing, she could hear the sound of water and decided to follow the noise. It took her no time to locate the source of that sound; it was a small creek which was meandering gracefully through a clearing with new lush green grass on both sides of the banks. Many beautiful spring flowers were sprinkled around making dots of colour through the green of the grass. The girl dropped down to have a closer look at all the pretty flower buds, on hands and knees she crawled around sniffing scarlet, lilac, azure and snowy white blossoms, some had no scent yet others had a subtle hint as yet others had a very strong fragrance. Unable to resist the girl picked some of the flowers, to give to Titania later when she returned to the ancient tree, using long strong blades of grass to wrap the bouquet and hold it together. Following the creek Dagmar skipped over rocks and logs stopping to watch frogs jumping and dragonflies skimming the surface of the gently flowing water. The flash of movement in the water indicating that something lived there made the girl stop, carefully placing the bouquet on a rock, she gingerly stepped closer to the water’s edge screwing up her eyes to squint against the suns glare into the water looking for the flash of scales.
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