The First Dream
I was walking a dirt path, "an unknown road" (Bronte 324). I didn’t know where it went but I preceded to follow it despite the constant rain falling from the dark clouds above. I held a small child in my arms that cried out with every step I took. I was carrying an infant through a storm. I fought the wind, pushing my body forward against the force. The closer I walked, the farther away I became. My eyes watered- tears slipped out from the corners of my eyes. I cried out to you, but my words were carried away by my enemy.
I was overtaken by the wind, transported to the ruins of Thornfield Hall. There was a hoot from a nearby tree and the flapping of wings in the silence of the night. The wind was gone. Drops of water sparkled on the blades of grass as I walked beneath the moonlight. It was as if no one had stepped foot onto the land since the building collapsed. I made my way, "stumbl[ing] over a marble hearth," (Bronte 325) past scattered stones to the last wall that stood erect out of the ground. My arms wielded a fire that burned from the lack of oxygen flow. My muscles screamed for me to relinquish them from the agony they endured, but I ignored the cry. I will persist, I thought. Taking one of my hands that did not support "the unknown [sleeping] child," (Bronte 325) I ran it over the cracks in the crumbling stone. In places it was faded, dark as if scorched from a fire. Over the wall, I heard the echo of horse hooves in the distance. My heart jolted. “I was sure it was you; and you were departing for many years, and for a distant country” (Bronte 325). I needed to catch a glimpse of your image one last time. Balancing the child in my arms, I grabbed hold of the stone. I climbed the wall with haste, but I slipped. "The stones rolled under my feet" (Bronte 326). I tried to grasp the branches to help pull me further to the top. As I climbed, the infant clung to my neck, screaming out in fright. I will make it, I thought. When I could see over the wall, I saw a small figure in the distance. Struggling to stand, "I lost my balance" (Bronte 326), falling over the side with the child in my arms.
*Original passage and ideas from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, pages 324, 325, and 326