she is in pakistan

They were chasing her. They were everywhere. She had been in a market. She had passed out from the heat. In her dreams, she saw it as an older town, in a much older time. Colorful balconies, women hanging over them, calling out to the sellers of fruit and vegetables, who came rolling their carts down the streets. Exchanges would happen by rolling down a bucket. Filling it up with the goods. And then rolling down money to take their place. It was a different time. A quieter time. The world was on edge, ready to be in the turmoil that would soon follow. But most didn’t realize. They weren’t attuned. Civilization had robbed them of their senses. They had willingly walked into the steel cages of domestication, and had lost touch with the world. Soon, it would get worse. But they didn’t know. Or, at least- she paused in her dream. There was an odd energy nearby. She spun around her spot in the center of town. Looking. Searching. A power. A being. She stopped spinning. She ran in the direction she was facing. Up and up and up. Up flights of stairs. Pausing only to few the aura on that floor, and then up the next flight. She paused outside the door where the energy was strongest. Inside, she heard screaming.  Hand on the handle, she paused. Then barged in. No one noticed her. It was as if she were a ghost. A woman was on her back, screaming. There were two others. The first was panting. Moaning. Screaming. Pushing. The other two took it in turns to help get the baby out, and wipe her forehead with a damp cloth while muttering words of encouragement. Somehow, she understood them. Even though she didn’t speak their language. One had a red bindi on her forehead, the other’s face was draped with a shawl. She felt a darkening presence nearby. She spun around the room. In the corner. A cloaked figure. Also, it seemed, invisible to the three other women. It looked in her direction. Poof. It was gone. A final push. And then another. And then it was out. The baby curiously didn’t wail. Covered with placenta and blood, it was strangely calm. It looked all around, then looked at her. It could see her. She felt an upswelling in her chest. The mother passed out. The midwives looked in her direction, saw through her, and began to tend to the newborn. It looked at her one last time before it began to focus on them. Then she woke up. The darkness was stronger here. The feeling of being surrounded. She didn’t know why, but she began to dance. Tears streaming down her throat as she thought of the child, and the mother, where was the father? She still felt that emotion. That feeling in her chest. Constructing. Tightening. Yet, somehow, oddly freeing. The shadows seemed to pulsate away from her, and then a ripple passed through, and they began to rush towards her. She ran.