Maya

It's always the same dream over and over again.

I'm somewhere warm and someone runs their hands through my hair. My thoughts are always hazy, like hot molasses covering my brain.

"You've fought so hard, my child," someone says to me. I can't trace their voice but it feels like a breeze on a hot summer day. "It's time to rest. Let me take over. Let me help you."

I open my eyes and I see nothing but the only inky expanse of the night sky. Stars shine down upon me, each one of them growing dim one moment and then exploding into light the next. The infinite cosmos awaits me, I can feel it in my bones.

It's beautiful here. I don't trust the wool that has been drawn over my eyes. Illusions are nothing more than pretty decorations meant to lure you in like spiders trapping a helpless fly.

I stand and push them away, wrapping my arms around myself as the cold seeps back into my soul.

"Aren't you tired of being alone?" They whisper into my ear.

I don't feel safe anymore.

Someone slithers into my thoughts once more, an ice-cold hand gripping my shoulders. I can feel their breath on my cheek as they wait for my answer.

That answer never comes.

Each time I feel myself slipping away, I fight back. I wrench myself away, scrambling towards the horizon where the sky beckons me closer.

"See how far you run, my child." They call out, kind and menacing all at once. "I will always wait for you, Maya."

The stars grow brighter and brighter till it feels like the sun is touching my skin. I scream but it's lost in the noise around me. Every emotion that I've shoved down comes boiling up, seeping through my skin and eyes until I feel everything. I cry out for my mother, for Loki, for anyone...but no answer is to be found.

And then I wake up.