The Last Day Of Autumn, London – 42

A Story I Wrote - number 2 of 4.

THE LAST DAY OF AUTUMN

This dream that I had in my sleep one night was special. It must have been magical. In it, I saw myself in my room. It was late afternoon on an autumn day. As I was standing in front of my window, it was getting dark outside, and a quiet evening was preparing to descend. It was raining slightly, and I could hear a quiet, monotonous sound of rain drops. And then ... suddenly, I saw a purple light outside for a second, which seemed to have come from nowhere and then disappeared. And ... the next thing I saw was golden - something like an object, a star or a comet - flying from the sky, very fast, very bright ; in a couple of moments it raced past my window and, again, disappeared without a trace, as if it just flew away, which could leave you wondering where it came from. Suddenly, I had this feeling that I was not alone in my room any more. And then ... there was this lady standing next to me - so young, aged about seventeen or eighteen and with long, gold coloured hair. I did not know what to think and, to be honest, I did not think anyway - I was just so surprised and ... so amazed. She did not say anything, but she took my hand with her own and held it for a while, looking at me, looking into my eyes. I cannot even say what her eyes were like - I only saw that they were amazing. Amazing, yes, and there is nothing else to say. And she was so pretty, so beautiful, but her face was serious, and she made no further movement, she was just standing there next to me, in the quiet of the autumn evening. And then ... she just disappeared - in the same unexplained way as the golden object outside my window and the purple light - disappeared as though she was never there, in my room. She was gone like a distant dream, but, as we know, I was dreaming indeed. And I was left standing where I stood, still feeling the soft touch of her hand with my own. So this was when I woke up, but my mind was still under the impression of that dream for a few days.

A couple of weeks had passed since my strange dream when I saw something unusual in the post while checking my mail on my way out for a walk. It was a strange looking envelope of a retro style colour that was something like pale yellow, and there was a drawing of a large tree on the envelope. It had an old fashioned, heavy seal on it, which seemed to be dark red. After a few moments of hesitation, I broke the seal and opened the envelope. There was an old looking sheet of paper inside, and, again, yellowish. Some unusual shapes were drawn on it, a number of them also looking like trees or maybe like some unknown animals. In the centre, a message was written with old style, sophisticated letters, and it said that I was invited to attend a dinner at the palace as a guest, on the last day of autumn. The letter also said that I could find the palace in the Old Garden. I knew the Old Garden, and I had been there before, a long time ago, but I knew nothing about a palace being there, and I had never seen it. That was the end of the message, as the mysterious letter did not contain any other details or an explanation of why I was actually invited.

It did not take long for the last day of that autumn to arrive, and I must admit that I was curious since receiving the letter, which was on my mind quite often. So, on the 30 th of November, I accepted the invitation by making my way to the Old Garden. At first, I was moving through the familiar landscape, but things were about to change. Suddenly, I saw a shape of a palace in the distance. As I was moving closer to it, more of its features revealed themselves to me, and soon I saw that it was beautiful and colourful, with an amazing architecture. The shapes of ancient statues made of marble or stone were on its front, with some other figures or shapes between the floors or window levels of the palace. The building was painted with a whole variety of colours - they were mainly creamy, and, so, in a way, it resembled a large cake. But the palace was not the only thing to surprise me. On my way, the bushes and other plants of the garden also changed. Now I was seeing tall, bright green bushes that were neatly and accurately cut into different shapes and patterns - sometimes into shapes of people and animals. The varieties of flowers also increased, and I saw large, exotic flowers that never seemed to exist in the Old Garden. How could I not have known that such things were there ? Like I said, I visited the garden in the past. But could all this be somehow hidden from me ?

I was getting closer and closer to the palace, and I was now, it seemed, in an alleyway of some sort, with more exotic bushes and ... mermaids. Beautiful, gold coloured fishtails. They seemed to smile, looking aside rather than directly at me. What was equally amazing was that I could not tell whether they were real mermaids or statues. Finally, I was there - by the large, purple coloured gates. I was excited ! I did not have to wait long, as the gates slowly began to open outward by themselves. And, so, I went inside. Then ... at once, I was in a large hall, which was lit with a bright light. It had a very high ceiling with big chandeliers hanging from the top. I immediately heard a big number of voices, they seemed to be talking continuously, all at once. At first sight, I thought I saw a lot of people sitting behind a big, wooden, square table. Only they were not people - they were all gnomes. Every one of them wore bright clothes of their own, different colour. Blue, red, green, yellow, orange, purple, light blue and dark blue, and so on. They also wore hats, the gnome style hats, and just like their clothes, no two hats seemed to be of the same colour. And they had these beards, some beards also being gray. Suddenly they all looked at me, and the lively conversation stopped at once. I came closer to this table they were sitting at, so that they could see me clearly, and I said that I was invited to a dinner here, at the palace. But they did not say anything to me, they just kept looking at me in silence. And then they resumed talking like before, eating and drinking, laughing and exclaiming at times, not paying any further attention to me. I did not know what else I could do, except join them at the table, which I did after finding a space for myself with one empty chair that was also made of wood. There were several small candles somewhere at the centre of the table, which were lit. They were made of wax of red and golden colours. I saw a lot of plates on the table, very beautiful ones, and they were decorated with unique, sophisticated patterns and drawings, mainly with the blue colour. The forks and the knives were all silver coloured, and I also saw a number of teapots, which were nicely decorated too. And there was so much food ! I soon started eating and really enjoyed the dinner ; I liked everything that I ate. There were these exotic vegetables, fruits and berries, some of which I never even tasted before. And many, many other dishes, including freshly made juicy salads and nicely cooked baked potatoes, which were still hot. I saw quite a number of varieties of bread too, white and brown, some with seeds or nuts in it, but each type of bread I ate seemed to melt in the mouth. Those delicious loafs looked like they were straight out of the oven too. There were also jars with cocktails - the gnomes drank them from elegantly crafted glasses that had these flower - like shapes. I tried the cocktails too, and they were fascinating - so refreshing ! One particular cocktail that I was drinking tasted like mint.

And I was sitting there at this table, dining and observing this large hall and the gnomes who seemed so occupied with talking to each other, thinking about this curious, mysterious palace I was at and about my walk there through the garden. It was like I even lost a sense of time for a while, having found myself in this unusual environment. Then suddenly I saw someone else at the dinner table - sitting opposite me - who was not among the gnomes and whom I definitely did not see earlier on. It was a lady - with long golden hair. I saw her raising her head, and she looked straight at me, her eyes having fixed on mine, and then ... for a moment, her eyes shined and flashed with this bright golden light - and then it faded at once, having sent a mysterious signal. The next thing I knew, she was not at the table any longer, having vanished as unexpectedly as she appeared. But some instinct told me she had not gone far ; I had an urgent feeling that I had to go after her - I could not afford to lose her this time. I jumped up from my seat and ran back where I came from, to the large entrance gates. As before, they opened slowly, and I rushed outside ... Now everything was quiet. I looked in all directions, looked everywhere, but there was no trace of the young lady. Maybe she was not real ? This was what I thought to myself. Maybe, just like the first time I saw her, I was just dreaming in my sleep ? Maybe all of this was a dream ? I was thinking of going back inside when suddenly I saw a mermaid by the gates - like one of those I observed in the alleyway. And ... before my eyes the mermaid changed into the young lady. For a moment or two, she just stood there, looking at me. Her eyes were not shining any more, they were real now, and she had these beautiful blue eyes - so beautiful and so charming. And she smiled at me - it was nice and amazing. She still looked at me and just smiled ... before turning into a white, marble-like statue, which disappeared seconds later.

And I have not seen her since. Not in my dreams, not when I was awake. But I will never forget her - nor will I ever forget that autumn and the dinner at the palace on its last day.

By / the author and writer of the title and of the text: me (Vladimir).

The editor: me (Vladimir).

The title: written and added on 7 September 2014 in London, the United Kingdom.

The text: written in April 2013 in London, the United Kingdom; edited on 7 September 2014 in London, the United Kingdom.

About the author (me): I am Vladimir, a white male of the Russian nationality, born in May 1983 in Moscow, Russia, the USSR (the Soviet Union). I had been living in London, the United Kingdom from November 1996 to February 2023. I have been based in England again, since October 2023, after spending 8 months away from the UK. I was engaged in writing at various stages of my life, mostly in the Russian and English languages, and I did creative writing as a child, an adolescent and an adult. I also produced my own handwritten home newspapers and magazines in my childhood and in my teenage years.

It's all a dream
(It's all a dream)
I'm asleep i think
In this bed dreaming
please don't wake me
cause this dream's too good

This verse is from the lyrics of the song: "This Dream Is Too Good". The song may have been performed by Justin Bieber. The source: a site on the Internet (MetroLyrics).

The featured photo: the Algarve, Portugal.

The photo taken by: me (Vladimir) in October 2011.