The first time she had that dream, she must have been around twelve or thirteen, fourteen at most. She was in a nice apartment, wearing a fancy dress, with a pet dragon and they were having fun. She had never been to that apartment in real life, not that she remembered at least. She had fun with her pet dragon, then she noticed the sky outside of the window was a dark purple. A monster creeped inside from somewhere, she didn’t know where. Her dragon was gone and as the monster started tearing her to shreds, she woke up.
That was one bad dream. It wouldn’t be a problem. Not if it really was just one bad dream. It wasn’t. It repeated a few weeks later, then again. At least once every month, the same story of a playdate with a dragon followed by being ripped to shreds by a strange monstrosity replayed in her mind when she slept.
When she was fifteen or seventeen, the dream somehow stopped for a while. A full seven months passed with her completely free from the horror. She thought that was the end of it.
The apartment was the same, but the dragon was replaced with a tan, blond haired boy about her age. She was ashamed to admit it, but her imaginary boyfriend did have a striking similarity to one of her classmates’ brother. They sat down together, sometimes on the couch, sometimes on the floor and either talk or play some boardgame that in usual dreamworld fashion defied most laws of logic. Then, she’d notice the dark purple skies. Her companion would disappear when she turned her head, and the monster would reappear. She could try to run, hide, or fight back but would always loose. The abomination would catch her and end her. Instead of dying, she’d wake up in her bed in the real world.
It was around the time of the return of those dreams that she started checking the time she woke up at in the night. Usually between 4am and 4:20am.
The dreams stopped for good when she turned eighteen. The end to her childhood coinciding with the end of her night terrors. When she was nineteen, she got an invitation from her much older cousin to a party at her place. She had a big apartment and was willing to let her stay over for a few nights. Invite accepted without a second thought.
She arrived thinking she was late, already dressed up so she could join the party she assumed would have already started without her. She was wrong. She was the only one to arrive. Her cousin explained the party was moved to another friend’s house since it was bigger. They drove there together and had a blast at the party. Towards the end, most of the looser acquaintances, as well as the faint of heart and those who had to go to work in the morning had all left home, leaving only a small group of whom she had known almost no one. As such, her cousin proposed her roommate take her guest to their apartment, while she herself would stay and help to clean up. Feeling tired and partied out, her guest agreed to the plan. The roommate in question was a blond-haired guy with a deep tan named Jordan. He was wearing a shirt with a shining impressive dragon on it. He led her to the car and drove back home. Before getting out of the car, she checked her phone. It was already 4 in the morning. No wonder most people had left. They staggered upstairs to the second floor and Jordan opened the door.
To her horror, she realized she’d seen this place before. It was the same apartment is in her dreams. She had never visited her cousin here before. Her cousin had only been living there for a few months. Jordan asked her if she wanted to play some board game before going to sleep. She sat on the couch, turned her head and he was gone. The sky outside the windows was a dark purple.
origamiaround
janainaart
jbbartram-illu
gummygunk
turnnoffyourmind
germansingergirl
jacobvanloon
2087
blakekathryn