In a different world 3

The human mind can not imagine new faces it can only see those faces in the dream that it has seen before. 

 Another of her lucid dreams, Mira realizes as she wakes up in her bed. She tries to go back to sleep. It feels like she was falling and woke up right before hitting the ground.

Waking up she walks in to a little bazaar with small makeshift kiosks of white tarpaulines and canvas. It seems like she has entered a different world altogether. There is a little tram way car  moving along in what seems like a city of clouds, a weird misty hue all around that is not entirely eeri but not all calm in a good way either. Everyone is dressed in white. Various shades and fabrics, some have frilly ones, others have ribbons, babies with their cute bonnets held in the arms of mothers smiling calmly with their hair tied in white scarfs. It is peaceful but not cheerful. A marketplace is ideally a place full of people, that are a lot more different, it makes Maaya uneasy to walk past them. One particular kiosk catches her eye as Maaya moves through this world, it belongs to a mother and daughter. 

It keeps happening day after day after day. Everyday the day starts with Maaya putting on her white dress, all flowy and modest. An ankle length cotton plus chiffon mix layers that provide comfort and add flair to her unnaturally tall and slim physique. She does not get to see her glimpse in the misty mirror, but she does see the same little bazaar, it's numerous kiosks, and those mother and daughter duo staring at her intently as if they wish to say something to her. 

It has been a whole week, and every day seems to start with the same dressing up ritual followed by a stroll through the busy lane of all whites amongst the many white wearers, each day the same last kiosk, where the mother and daughter stare at Maaya intently as if she doesn't  belong there. She can say so because each day waking up, it is their stare alone that Maaya remembers, but today after more than a week, Maaya realizes something as she dresses, the lean figure that she dresses, it isn't her. Or at least what she remembers of herself to be. She was never so pale, or lean nor tall. Passing by the bazaar again, for what seems like the hundredth time, she does not need to look to guess where the lane ends and the last kiosk comes, where the bonnet wearing Mother and daughter clad in all white stare at her with blank eyes, before she boards the tram way car and again ends up in front of the French window sized mirror surrounded by mist and gets back to starting the day. Today she finally decides to speak to the mother and daughter. She stops intentionally to look at them, only to realize that they both have white hair and morphed features. Everyday there was the same pair of eyes looking at her, but the faces had changed. Maaya asked them  how does this unending cycle of living the same day end? 

"You jump off the tramway car once it enters the cloud, that is the only way you leave" said the daughter with the morphed face of an old woman. 

"Why don't you come with me on the train, if you know how to leave?" Maaya asked, as she saw herself already boarding the tram once again.

"There's still time for you, jump when you reach the clouds" is all the smaller of the two women said. 

Shutting her eyes close, Maaya realized, each day she had passed the lane, she had never been able to fully capture anyone's faces other than the two ladies at the very end. And now that she thought hard, they both had morphed into different faces each day, while only the eyes remained the same. What did it even mean when the other had said, it is too late for us, you still have time. 

"You still have time, jump when the tram train reaches the clouds" these words echoed in Maaya's head as she opened her eyes and saw clouds all around. This was her chance, and this was her risk. She had to know, before she was again pulled back into the same day. Jumping with all her might, Maaya felt the adrenaline rush, her veins pumping and heart thumping loud in her chest. It was all white around her, when suddenly everything grew dark and she woke up with a jerk. 

Maaya found herself covered in sweat, patting around in her bed she fished for her phone, it was 3:30 am in the night. Maaya looked at her phone, and then at the back of her hand, she was no longer a pale lean woman wearing white. She was herself again, and as per the clock on her phone, had only been sleeping for 5 hours now, with 3 hours left before her alarm went off for the day to start. She felt a wave of confusion was away with relief, another lucid dream phewh!

 Puttingbaway her phone, Maaya tried to sleep again, but the many morphed images of the mother daughter duo from the kiosk at the end of the lane flashed in her head before she closed her eyes. Their voices in a whisper echoed inside her head, “Jump when the tram reaches the clouds, you still have time”. What was that supposed to mean? Why did they not have time to leave? Or was their time to leave long gone? The thoughts ran wild in her head. 

Maaya had had a busy week at work. With a busy schedule full of work and very little sleep, she should ideally have been feeling groggy but it felt like she had had a long, slumber. The contradictory feeling was almost stupefying to her, as contrary to feeling sleep deprived and groggy owing to the early wale up call, it felt much like she had slept as much as she did in those 7-10 days that she saw in her dream, but how could that be?. 

Maaya could not help but wonder, was it another of her lucid dreams? Or had she actually experienced the different plane of sleep dimensions as she had heard of in science fiction movies? The ones where you experience a deeper sleep in lesser time. As she drifted out of her sleepiness and woke completely, the thoughts melted away and were soon forgotten. Only till next time before she snoozes though.