The end of the world

I spent almost four days in a village even smaller than the one I come from. It is one long road with houses on both sides and fields stretching far behind, up to the horizon. I don't know how many people live there but I guess around two hundred at best. Most, if not all of them are farmers. My younger son was constantly asking on the way: "Are we there yet?" and "When will we finally get there?" making me feel we were really traveling to the end of the world...
My mom's childhood house. Old, but changed now. Remodelled. A huge attic I used to love shrunk to give bedrooms to my three cousins, children of my mom's youngest sister. She is only 10 years older than me but we are worlds apart, in so many ways. My cousins, 20, 18, and 14 years old, reign upstairs now. No more dark corners, no more rickety stairs, no more perfect hiding places and dusty treasures.
I slept in one of the upstairs bedrooms, with a skylight over my head. I looked right at the Little Dipper every night. Perfectly dark nights, perfectly starry sky. On the last night there I woke up feeling an awfully bellicose presence above me. I thought I could make out a face staring down and me, a face that was so disfigured and ashy that did not look human anymore. And did not feel human. I heard something in my head, something like "What is she doing in my house? I don't know her, I don't want her here." I knew that was the meaning but I did not really hear the words clearly, I would not be able to say in what language they were spoken. It was as if I could hear thoughts before they were given the form of words. I tried to get myself fully awake, start thinking straight, but I could not. I looked again and I saw it again, and a little more clearly. A part of my brain was telling me it was not real, it was just one of my half-awake-half-asleep nightmares that visit me sometimes but it was so powerful this time that I just could not make it go away. I could hear its thoughts, feel its presence, I could almost touch it. And I just stared back at it, hypnotized by sheer terror until it faded, first from my vision, next from my consciousness. The air in the room felt so dense that I could not sleep in peace for the rest of the night. Tossing and turning I watched the night get brighter and brighter. This time I welcomed the bright daylight... this time I did not feel comfortable in the darkness.

I forgot I was supposed to write about bees and flowers, in other words, about something light and pleasant. In my next post I'll just gossip about my family and whine how thay have changed for the worse. No more ghosts and crazy minds. On the second thought, though, I cannot promise anything... It's almost midnight here in Poland. Sweet dreams...