ITS THE EYES FOR ME

“Help!heeelp!” I shouted as I whizzed my way across the glade pacing towards the thicket ahead to escape the beast that was chasing me in close proximity. The glimpse of the beast that I had just caught awhile earlier made me so terrified with hair standing on end. It felt like I had been frozen in time not able to move a muscle when the towering four legged beast-like creature that was as black as the shadows of a starless night with two broad wings covered with long slotted feathers which sprung from both its sides, glared at me with its menacing eyes a few meters from me. The beast had a bizarre structure that resembles that of a tiger, but with a beak in the stead of a mouth. The beast let out a deafening cry one so frightening and unmatched with other creatures that I had known before the very moment. As the beast prepared to charge towards me, I could feel my heart beat faster and this powerful rush towards my head and all my body muscles. “Run” I heard a whisper in my head, and as though I had fallen under a spell, I immediately turned around and took to heels. As I reached the thicket, it became even harder to see ahead as it was already night time, and the shadows of the bushes and trees blocked most of the moonlight from touching the ground. My instincts prompted me to scale up a tree that was right ahead of me only stopping when I felt I had gone high up enough to be covered from sight by the branches and leaves of the tree and nearby trees. I perched on one of the branches to catch my breath as I glanced down and surrounding areas trying to spot the location of the beast to no avail. I then heard its loud and fearsome wail emanating from a short distance from the glade direction, which caused me to quickly clamber backwards in fear. In the process my left hand touched something warm and dry that was in motion. Then I heard a growling moan that sounded almost like a dog’s growl right behind me on top of the thumping beat of my heart. I froze, my attention now clearly on the immediate imminent danger. I very slowly turned my head around to look behind only to be met with a snake with a threatening hood in a prideful stance ready to pounce with its protruding fangs. I slipped backwards and dropped a few inches almost falling off my perch. Just when I thought I was safe the branch I was sitting on dipped and bent downwards. I was holding on to it for dear life when it suddenly snapped and I fell downwards with it to what felt like an endless loop while holding out a scream. I suddenly woke up screaming in my tiny wooden bed at the corner of my room, drenched in sweat and panting. I noticed it was still night time as the room was pitch black. I felt around my bed for my phone and upon checking it I realized it was 3.08am, the exact time I have been woken up for the past few nights. Hi! My name is Akuji, the only daughter of my farmer father, Aldrick. It has always just been the two of us as long as I can remember. For the past week or so, I have been woken up at exactly 3.08am every night by the same dream; the only difference is that I got a step further in the dream. You can say it’s like the development of ‘new episodes in a drama’. It all started with spotting the menacing eyes of the beast, then its broad feathers, soon I could see the whole creature. Today, I woke up from falling from the tree. This has never happened before. I wonder what will unfold tomorrow. I will be lying is I say I have not questioned my sanity for the past few days. It is just that the recurring dream always feels too genuine, like am living it. A reality! What does this dream mean?