Something quite unusual

In college I took a creative writing class as one of my electives. In high school I absolutely hated to write I would rather draw if i had to have a pencil in hand.

One assignment I remember well was we had to write about a dream. We were to set our alarm clock for sometime in the middle of the night  to wake us up and write down anything we could remember that we may have been dreaming about at that point.

I felt great apprehension about the project because I often had terrible nightmares ad cared very little to write about the terrors that stalked in my mind while I slept. My dreams are in color and almost always very detailed with sounds, smells, and sometimes feeling. I even had a dream once that I was completely in love with a girl I barely knew in High school. Even upon wakening I still had those feelings for longer than I cared to admit. After all I knew it was only just a dream.

Years later I discovered I was something called a lucid dreamer. It is when you can actually manipulate your dreams and cause things to happen. This does not happen often, but when it does I feel like I want to stay asleep to create a good ending.

Most of my dreams are very odd and I feel like sometimes they are trying to tell me something. I have even felt like I have had dreams come to pass, almost like a deja-vu moment. Instead of feeling like you have done something exactly like that before. I feel like I dreamed that before.

Most who know me know that I am a different sort of fellow. I am open to new ideas and honest. Maybe someday I could write a weird dream blog.....

I am going to write this story as if it was the same assignment I had in college. I am to take the details i have and turn it into a story. I did not write any details down, but the dream has been on my mind for a couple days and sometimes new details are remembered.

So here goes......

I was driving in a large SUV by myself very early in the morning. The sky was as black as pitch, maybe even darker. There were no stars in the sky which meant there were clouds. I was driving on a patch of road that seemed familiar. There were many trees along both sides during my hilly and winding journey.

It was very cold outside because the digital display on my rear view said 29F in bright red. I had my window cracked to feel to coolness on my face as I drove. It often helps me if I am tired. There was horrible reception on the radio so I plugged in my iPhone. I hit the music button and went to my genius playlist and hit play. The song that came on was Master of Puppets by Metallica.The song has long been a favorite of mine and was perfect for early morning driving. I was smiling and driving to who knows where.

I could see heavy frost on the trees and I started to notice there were no signs or even other vehicles on the road. I realized there were no crossroads as well and I started to feel something was amiss. Songs kept playing on my iPhone as a small snowflakes started to fall and melt as the hit my wind shield.

My heart jumped as I noticed something standing in the middle of the road which was very straight at this point. It was a large black wolf and it was facing me., then I saw several others crossing the road. To me wolves are a sacred animal and I would be devastated if I killed one. I touched off on the brake pedal and I started to slide. The road must have gotten icy because I veered to the right and spun in a complete circle causing me to get that "oh shit" feeling like this is it. I ended up spinning only once, but was facing towards where I was coming from, now facing this pack of wolves. The large black wolf was facing me again and had never moved except to turn around towards me. The other wolves were safely on the other side of the road facing me as well. I could not get a good count, but there seemed to be six to seven adults with a few smaller wolves. Most of the wolves were as white as the snow with a few light grey ones.

The large black wolf walked slowly towards my vehicle. At first I felt scared until my eyes met his and I felt no malice within him. I noticed it was dead silent in my vehicle as my iPhone must have become unplugged during the spin. I could see the steam from the wolves breath and could almost hear him breathing as he walked closer. I cold feel cold snowflakes hitting the left side of my face through my partially open window. I never broke eye contact with the great wolf. He blinked his amber eyes one and gave a quick nod to his head as if thanking me. Then he turned and stroke towards his pack and as he did so, In my head I told him "be well, my brother". He turned his head back to me as if in response.

When the Alpha wolf returned to his pack he greeted each one before trotting off back into the forest, the others followed and they were all gone as quickly as they had appeared. I sat there for a few seconds as my heartbeat started to return to normal. I went over the events that had transpired in my mind before turning around and heading back down the road.

I didn't bother to look for my phone and turned the radio off completely. I was driving somewhat slower knowing the roads could be treacherous if care wasn't used. Within a few short minutes I could see a sign ahead on the right. When I got closer I could see that it said "Fisherman's Parking" with an arrow pointing right. There was only a snow covered two track which I turned onto. The trees were close to the road and I could hear branches scrape my vehicle as I drove down the bump road. The road ended in an oval parking lot and there was a dim light by a sign. It looked like a typical wooden MDNR sign except it only said "Pay to Play" painted white right in the middle. The sign seemed old and the paint was flaking.

I took off my hat and scratched my head. "Pay to Play", well what the heck is that supposed to mean? The sun was just beginning to rise and I could see the snow falling heavier now.

I'm not a huge fan of the cold or the snow, but I was here so I was still hoping maybe I could catch something. I parked my vehicle and stepped out to stretch my legs. I had been driving for a long time. I felt very stiff. When I turned to see my vehicle at that point I knew it was a dream in my mind.

My Hummer was painted by none other than Derek DeYoung himself. It looked like a King Salmon pattern after they just enter the river, a copper and metallic olive green with large black spots. I had left the door open  and noticed the soft leather driver seat had something embroidered on the headrest, it said "King Fisher". I hit the button to open the back door and noticed the back window was covered with stickers like some "Kozmobile". True North Trout, Fontinalis Rising, Trout Unlimited, Michigan Steelheaders, Flygal. Patagonia, and Simms, were among the ones I noticed.
The back of the hummer was filled with the top notch gear I have never been able to afford.

I was standing there looking inside thinking to myself I must have won the lottery!

Behind me in a sweet feminine voice I heard someone say "Sorry Mike, I can't put you on any fish today. They are all gone!"

I turned towards the voice to notice a tall attractive woman with long black hair and icy blue eyes. She had a puffy winter coat on with jeans and black hiking boots. She was looking at me from just a few feet away. "Gone! what do you mean they are all gone?"

She said "Most have died many years ago and few if any are left. I did make you breakfast though. You still like fried eggs and bacon, right?"

I nodded yes to her and felt a sense of terrible loss. They are all gone. Is that even possible?

She gestured for me to follow her, so I did. We walked towards a small fire that was hidden by a black truck with a pick nick table. My breakfast was already there and steaming in the cold. I thanked her, say down and ate in silence.

The food was delicious and I kept staring at the woman like I should know who she was. I would swear I never met her before.

After I ate I stood up and said " I think I shall be going, thank you for the breakfast."

As I started to walk away she grabbed me by the shoulder and turned me towards her. She said "Wait!" then embraced me in a gentle hug which lasted a long while, but I am not one to complain. After she released me she kissed me softly on the cheek and told me "I am truly sorry that you didn't find what you came for". She was so close I could smell her breath which was like berries.

We stood there for several long minutes and she was looking at me as if to say something. She started to lean in close and I thought she was going to kiss me again, but instead she whispered into my ear "I know of a place, but it is a long, long walk and bring only what you need" I went to my truck and put my waders on, then my vest, rod and reel.

When I was ready I locked the truck and walked back to her. She seemed to nod in approval, at what I do not know.

She then said "cross the river here, it is very shallow, you will not catch any fish in it. There is a small pond and that's where you will find what you seek. You will get one cast, if it is not on mark you will fail"

So that's the deal spend a whole day for one cast to catch one fish, sounds good. Well, at least i had a great breakfast.

I set off in the direction she pointed out and crossed the river which seemed more like a small stream. After I crossed I realized I never had gotten her name. I walked for a good couple hours in the cold morning air seeing only trees and little else. Then I heard something, it sounded like a splash of water.

I walked towards the sound and came into a small clearing. There was a pond of crystal clear water with a very thin shelf of ice forming along the edge. I saw the ripples in the water just as they got to the ice. I could see clearly in the water even without glasses and saw long torpedo like shapes moving under the surface.

I started to get nervous because this had to be the place, how couldn't it!!!! I tied on a black streamer and started to strip out line. I never was a great fly fisherman or much of a good one. This had to be perfect.

I swung the rod in the classic 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock motion several times watching the loops and letting out enough line then let the fly land directly in the center or the small pond. I let the streamer sink and before I could even strip in line. I felt a tug on the line, then a mighty thrashing as the water boiled. The fish ran back and forth in the somewhat small area and i wasn't sure what I had hooked. It was big that was one thing I knew, fish don't fight as well in cold water, but this one didn't seem affected.

It jumped and it's flank was a bright silver with a touch of pink and a snow white belly. STEELHEAD!!! It ran and jumped all throughout the pond. I could see it spinning in the gin clear waters. The fight was the best and most exhilarating i had ever had and the fish, this beautiful fish was now done. it was moving slowly towards the bank almost to say "I have given up". I took a step into the shallow water breaking the thing ice and slowly slid my hand under its belly. it did not run off or thrash. It just rested in the water in my hand. I watched the gills open and close many times as my hand was going numb. I was using barb-less hooks and slid the fly from the fishes mouth. It slowly swam back into the depths of this small pond.

The fight had made me extremely tired especially after such a long walk. I decided to lay down and rest for a moment.

I woke to a small kitten chewing on my beard at 3AM