Reality as a dream

 

"Hey, Marta!" I heard Mariusz shout behind me. I turned around, and a smile immediately lit up my face. Mariusz sat down next to me on the bench and looked at the title of the book I was reading.

"A beautiful book," he said. "I read it once."

I snuggled against his arm, and Mariusz kissed my hair and stroked my hand. At that moment, the sun peeked out from behind the treetops and illuminated us, as if wishing to bid farewell to the couple in love with its gentle touches.

"Marta, I'd like to ask you something," Mariusz asked timidly.

"Excuse me?" I looked into his face.

"Will... will..." he stammered, "will... will you marry me?"

***

"Beep, beep, beep." The alarm clock sang its monotonous song, rousing Marta from dreamland. A growl of anger could be heard from under the covers, and a sluggish hand turned off the intrusive alarm. Marta would have loved to lie in a warm bed, but unfortunately, she had to go to work and prepare for an important presentation.

She got up and headed to the kitchen, where she turned on the coffee machine. Then she went to the bathroom for her morning shower. While drying her hair, she turned on some loud music and began dancing around the bathroom with the hairdryer in hand. Marta would have loved to keep this up, but she was already late. She quickly dressed, took a sip of hot, steaming coffee, and ran out of the house, slamming the door.

She returned home with a dancing gait. The presentation was a success, which might earn her a promotion. While she was preparing a light dinner, the phone rang.

"Yes, hello?

" "Hello, honey!" she heard her mother's cheerful voice.

"Mom..." Marta managed to choke out, surprised. "What's the matter with you calling?

" "You know, I'd like to invite you to my wedding." Her mother was so joyful that she seemed to float on wings as she spoke to her daughter. "Lucek finally proposed to me. The wedding is in two weeks. I hope you'll come?" asked Mom.

"Of course," Marta replied quietly.

"That's good. I'll send an invitation and you'll find out more details from it. Well, bye-bye, because Lucek is calling me. He loves me so much..." Mom said happily.

And hung up.

"Bye," Marta said to the empty receiver with great sadness.

"It's not fair. Mom is old and will soon have a second husband. And me? I'm almost 30, and how come my relationships with men have never lasted more than four months..." Marta thought.

Marta wiped away the first tears leaking from beneath her half-closed eyelids and walked decisively to the bar and grabbed a bottle of cognac and a glass. She changed into her pajamas and sat on the bed, holding the bottle in one hand and a glass in the other. She poured herself the first glass, then the second, the third... She drank almost the entire bottle; leaving only a little of the amber liquid at the bottom, she fell into a difficult sleep.

***

I was sitting on the terrace of a café, reading "Only Love" by Erich Segal, eating creamy ice cream. The sun was shining somewhere high above the trees, birds were singing their songs, and I was in distant Africa, in a medical camp, with Silvia and Matthew in their passionate affair.

"Hey," a handsome young man sat down at my table. "What's a pretty girl like you doing alone in a café?" he asked with a smile.

"I'm relaxing," I replied to this stranger, even though I'd never spoken to anyone I didn't know.

He looked at me and smiled. I dared to look into his eyes and saw a spark of joy in them. I smiled back, because something told me to smile at him.

We started talking. We talked about various trivial matters, but for us, these matters were incredibly important. I told this man so many things, I opened my soul to him like I'd never opened my heart to anyone before, and I didn't even know his name. I only knew his crazy plans for the future, his dreams. And I didn't know his name.

We talked until the café closed.

"Maybe we should go for a walk? It's such a beautiful night," my new friend suggested.

"I'd love to," I replied with a smile.

Our steps led us straight to the beach. We sat down on the warm sand and gazed up at the star-studded sky. I sighed loudly and snuggled into my companion's arm.

"Do you also admire the sight of a sky like this?" he asked.

"Yes," I replied. "The stars are so—"

"Mysterious, yet so close," he interrupted me and looked straight into my eyes.

I nodded and wished this moment would last forever. For us, this stranger and I, but so dear to me, to sit on this beach, huddled together, admiring the millions of stars twinkling at us.

"I guess we have to go back," the stranger said.

With great reluctance, I nodded and we stepped out onto the brightly lit street, losing sight of the stars. At the intersection, we had to part.

"Will we ever meet again?" I asked.

"Of course," he replied with a twinkle in his eye. And then he disappeared

.

For the next few days, Marta's life was monotonous. At work, people were impressed for a while by the well-executed presentation. She spent her evenings with a bottle of good alcohol, drowning her resentment towards her mother and her new love. And at night, in her sleep? For the past few days, Marta had been dreaming of her first meeting with Mariusz, everything exactly the same, with all the same details.

***

Suddenly, my vision was obscured by a huge bouquet of lilacs. Their scent enveloped me like a warm scarf, like a long coat, and I no longer wanted to lose it.

"Didn't I tell you we'd meet again?" said a well-known voice.

"I didn't doubt it for a second."

"We know so much about each other, and we don't know each other's names." He looked into my face. "My name is Mariusz."

"Marta. Nice to meet you." I smiled, and we shook hands as if it were our first meeting.

"Come," he held out his hand, "I'll show you something, very beautiful."

And we drove off in his car. The journey to this beautiful place took about three hours, and I managed to doze off during that time. When we arrived, I was speechless with delight.

"It... it's beautiful," I managed to say.

The view of the waterfall stretched out before us. The cascade of rushing water, the drops sparkling in the sun, the wet and gleaming rocks, and the majestic fish swimming in the crystal-clear water – it was all so beautiful, so wonderful, it was unreal.

And then Mariusz kissed me for the first time.

***

Marta jumped up from the hot sheets. She touched her lips. Lips that Mariusz had just kissed in her dream. He kissed them, and Marta regretted that it wasn't real. "Oh well, it was just a dream. A dream that will never come true... Time to get ready for Mom's wedding."

She got up and took a shower. She made coffee and dressed in her "wedding" outfit. While drinking the coffee, she read the newspapers. While applying her makeup in front of the large mirror in her bedroom, she recalled a dream. "I wonder what would happen next?" Marta thought. "Would we never see each other again, or perhaps be happy together for the rest of our lives?"

The wedding took place without complications. Marta's mother and Lucek exchanged their sacramental "I dos," and everyone was about to proceed to the garden where the reception was to take place. Marta, as her own mother's maid of honor, stood next to her, holding the flowers the "bride" had given her. Her mood wasn't the best. During the ceremony, she imagined herself standing in her mother's place, and Mariusz standing instead of the older man. During

the reception, no one paid any attention to Marta. As she was walking toward her mother to say goodbye, she saw a tall, handsome man among the crowd.

"Hello," said the man, whose appearance and voice resembled Mariusz, but who couldn't possibly be him. Mariusz was only a dream in her mind, so she couldn't simply walk up to her in her waking hours and say "hello." "I finally found you, Marta. Something told me to come here today and..."

He paused and looked at Marta, who saw love in his eyes. She smiled and extended her hand.

They walked out of the garden together, holding hands. The happiest people on earth, who had found each other through their own dreams.

They sat together on a bench, huddled together. They watched the sun peek out from behind the treetops and illuminated them with its rays.

"Marta, I'd like to ask you something," Marta asked Mariusz timidly.

"Excuse me?" She looked into his face.

"Will... will..." he stammered, "will... will you marry me?"

She didn't answer. Besides, he didn't need any verbal answer. All he needed for an answer was the sight of her face, her eyes, her lips, which said only one word: "yes".