In my dream, you weren’t a baby or even a child. You were all grown up, a beautiful young woman around my age, with dark hair like mine, but straighter and parted in the middle. I could see so much of myself in your face, in those dreaming brown eyes, in the milky pale skin, in the inquisitive little smile on your mouth when you looked at the world and tried to understand it. Those are all things I gave you, even if you don’t realize it. It made me sad, though, to see you without the years in between, because it meant I’d missed your growing up. I hadn’t been there.

That night, though, the dream brought us together. Rebecca and Shelby. Mother and daughter. We held hands. We didn’t talk, but we felt no need to talk. There was this instant, intimate familiarity between us, of knowing each other, of connectedness. Being with you made me happy. You filled me with a glow of contentment, because you were smart and fearless and beautiful.

We were in the forest. Whenever I sleep, I go to the forest. It wasn’t night, but the crowding of the trees created a gloomy grayness around us. Birds flitted through the shadows, but oddly, they didn’t sing. The world was as still as a painting, no wind, no warmth, no chill. We followed a well-walked path side by side, but the dirt at our feet was dry as dust, and we left no footprints. When I looked back, it seemed as if we hadn’t been there at all.

I had so many questions for you. About your life. About your past. Are you married? Do you have children? Do you have friends? Do you laugh?

But I asked none of those things. I simply walked with you through the magical forest, and the farther we went, the more the grayness turned to dark. The birds went away. Night began to fall like a great shadow. A feeling of foreboding crept over me, and I knew what was coming next. It happened this way in all my dreams. In my waking hours, I hunted for the beast, but in my dreams, the beast hunted me.

I heard the noise that had haunted my life, that had become my secret obsession. It was the sound of the monster, drawing near, coming back for me. The reunion that I’d sought since I was ten years old happened every night when I closed my eyes. But this dream was different, because this time, I realized that the beast wasn’t here for me. No, this was much worse.

The Ursulina was coming for you.