Chapter 19: Bad Dream
1954 Words
I kept walking through the darkness. One foot in front of the other, one foot in front of the other. It was all I could do. I had to get out of here. There had to be a way out, I had to see my Dad again. I would see him again. I will.
Pinching and slapping myself hurt, so this wasn't a dream. It couldn't be. I kept going for what felt like an eternity; I did not know how much time was passing, my legs screamed in pain, but I kept walking, fueled by my will to be free.
Though I didn't feel any hunger, I was alone and so cold I would call out, but no one would call back. There wasn't even an echo. My legs were shredded with pain, so I laid down and curled up, trying to get warm. Anyone I thought, please help me, I'm so lonely.
I saw a blinding light in front of me, and I crawled through it. I found myself in front of our apartment door, and overjoyed, I burst through the door. My Dad was waiting for me, and I wrapped my arms around him as tight as I could and felt the warmth of his chest on my cheek. "Where were you? I was so worried."
"Don't you remember you wanted to be with your mother a little longer, and I said I would wait for you at home?" He replied.
"I don't remember waiting in the grave-room," I felt my hair to be the way it was, and I forget my time in the darkness, "I must have been sleeping and lost track of time."
"You were with her for a really long time. She'll like that a lot."
"Yeah, she will," I replied; he stepped back from me.
"Right, I think it's time for some food. How does that sound to you?"
"Great," I replied.
"Good cus I've already made some." He lead me to a table stacked high with burgers in soft buns, pizzas, and fried chicken that all smelled incredible, but I didn't smell them when I came in. "Hope you're hungry" all of a sudden, my hunger roared through my body, begging to be fed."I sure am," and I devoured the food before me every bite, an explosion of flavour on my tongue. Once I was full and could eat no more, my father told me that it was best if I went to sleep early, my head felt heavy, so I did just that. As I was climbing the stairs, my father said sweet dreams to me, and I wished the same for him.
I climbed into bed and let the tides of sleep pull me under. When I opened my eyes, I found myself to be somewhere different. In my dream, I was on a vast cliffside overlooking a valley of green. All I knew was I had to reach the other side of the cliff, so I started walking, but there were stones of various sizes scattered throughout the cliff.
I took a step but fell as soon as my feet touched one of the rocks, my face slamming into the rocks. Well, that hurt, I thought to myself, but I have to do this walking. So I kept walking, feeling as if I had done this not so long ago. Step, fall, get up, step, fall, get up, step, fall, and get up again until I reach the other side of the cliff. Exhausted, battered, and bruised and I laid down once more shut my eyes.
When I opened them, I found myself somewhere different again. I was in a massive room with dark walls and countless others all around me. I was seated at a desk with a stack of pages in front of me. A sound echoed throughout the room.
"You may now begin with the examination. Please answer all questions in front of you." I flipped over the first sheet and with a pencil in hand and began to answer the questions. They covered a wide range of topics, from math to English, with problems such as. What is the square root of sixty-nine divided by point one times fifty thousand three hundred and forty-nine, added with eleven million minus six hundred? The question thrashed in my mind, but somehow, I knew how to do the question, but the process was painful and frustrating. All the math questions were like this. As for the English ones, they were just as bad as the math ones with them begin to write down every single word, even those of old English.
I looked around, wondering if this was what I was meant to do, but everyone else was hard at work, their faces pressed against the paper. I delved into my mind once more and slowly filled them in,"THIRTY MINUTES REMAINING!" the voice screamed. I gazed at the sheets I was yet to complete and saw I wasn't even halfway. I must hurry, I thought to myself, so I scribbled faster and faster until. "TIME IS UP," the voice boomed once more. "PLEASE STAND AND LEAVE!" I did as the voice demanded and left through the door, sure I failed even though I answered all the questions.
I sat up in my bed, sweat dripping down my face. It was just a dream, so why did it feel so real, and so frustrating. I felt something watching me from the shadows of my room until it left, and my father burst in bag in hand.
"Come on, champ, big day of school today."
"Uhhh, I completely forget," I sprang from the bed, inhaled my breakfast, hurtled through the door, and ran to school.
As I sat at my desk in school, a boy came up to me, "you do not belong here, you motherless freak."
"Yes, I do," I replied.
"You are wrong, we all have mothers, but you have none," I shot up from my desk."I did have one, but she's gone now. It's not like she never existed."
"How much did you even know about her," the boy said back, ignoring what I just said.
"Enough to know that she loved me."
"She clearly did not love you enough not to die and leave you, but no traces were left of her, so she most likely wanted to get away from you and your father forever."
"SHUT UP!" I screamed, and I threw my desk right into his face.
"Enough, boys!" the teacher yelled. "Caliran, go home for the day and think about what you have done. I stormed through the door.
"I was leaving anyway," I yelled back. I ran back home with tears in my eyes and through the door of our home.
"Dad," I said, "I want to talk to you."
"I am in the kitchen son," I went to the kitchen and saw him just standing there, not moving."Did she really love me?" I asked him.
"I do not know, do you even know what she was? Was she even Human?"
"What are you saying? She was my mother, she was your wife. Why does everyone hate her?"
"She left me just like the rest of them. She never cared."
"Not you two. What is the world coming to?" he turned to face me. His eyes were pebbles of sheer darkness, and his teeth were long and just as black as his eyes.
"This is my world now."
"Nooooo!" and I ran to my room, locking the door behind me, I hid under the covers and hugged a soft toy. "This isn't real, it's all just a dream, this isn't real, it's all just a dream," I said to myself over and over again.
"You are hurting my feelings," my bear's head turned to face me with the same face of darkness as my father. "To me, this is real," I sprung out of bed and ran to the door as the bear became consumed by a goo as black as shadow, "time for the real fun to begin."
The bear turned into a large shadowy version of itself and wobbled towards me; its maw full of black teeth wide open and drolling black goo that slid towards me. I slammed the door behind me and found myself on a long wide road, the sky was black, and the only light came from faintly shining streetlights.
I looked behind and saw the nightmare bear lumbering towards me, I started to run, but no matter how fast I went, my feet went nowhere. The bear let out a mind-shattering roar; it was coming closer and closer until I felt it crash on top of me, crushing my bones. It screamed in my face before clamping its jaws around my head. I was in school again.
"Answer me, Caliran?" the boy from before asked. My head felt clouded, and I was breathing heavily, "how many sons and daughters has your Mother had?"
"she is an abomination," another child said.
"How many of them has she left."
"She is not even Human anymore."
"She should not even exist."
"Your kind should never have existed."
"You should not even exist."
"STOP!" I screamed and clenching my head. The face of everyone became dark and twisted; they even came from the walls.
"This once great world would be better off without your mother or the rest of your revolting kind," they said in unison in a voice that wasn't Human.
"THIS ISN'T REAL. NONE OF THIS IS. I WANT TO WAKE UP."
"Granted," the monstrous voice said, and large black tounges came from each mouth. I sat up in bed once again, but it was not my own. I was in a hospital room, with various wires were connected to me. My body and the bed were laden with sweat, and my breathing was shakey.I felt my hair, and it was below my shoulders just as it was when I walked through that realm of shadow. How long had I been here? The only sound was the low beep from a medical machine, I laid down on the sweaty bed, I felt safe, and my breathing steadied.
But my security was shattered in an instant as I felt something coil around my legs, I moved my body to see what it was, and I saw that it was the same substance as before. I tried to raise my arms to get it off and start running, but the tendrills were around my arms, I pulled and pulled, but I could not break them no matter how hard I tried. What was this stuff made from? "HELP!" I screamed, but the black tendrills were holding my arms and legs down to the bed, the goo formed beneath me, and my body began to sink. The tendrills covered every part of me, even my mouth, so I couldn't make a sound. It was even hard to breathe. Not long after, I was pulled under completely, and my world became consumed by shadow once more.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caliran's father burst through the door, followed by several nurses.
"Where did my son go," he sobbed as he looked at the empty bed; one of the nurses put her hand on his back, "I swore I heard his voice."
"We'll find him; he's probably just in the room somewhere," one of the nurses with green hair and eyes said with hope in her voice. "He is the twenty-first recorded case, and all the other cases vanished mysteriously. We need to study what happened to him."
"So you can wake him up? I can't lose him. Please, its been years," he said, his eyes filling with tears..
- Writer
