My first series. Be gentle!
You ever have one of those dreams, where you wake up and think “Wow, that was effin’ amazing, someone should really make a movie about that! Or write a book! Or post a short story…” Let’s be real, it’s happened to all of us, and it’s inspired a lot of us. Hell, half the stories posted here were probably at least partially created by our subconscious while we slept, a live-action performance with only the moon & stars serving as the audience. I know mine was. That’s what initially bought me to Reddit today. Sure, I could’ve racked my brain to come up with the perfect hook, a tantalizing plot twist, an ending that would forever leave a mark… but hey, why pass on this treasure trove? Why fix what’s not broken?
But what if it was already broken when you found it? Worse, what if you had no way to fix it?
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
24 hours ago
“AHH!”
I didn’t bolt awake exactly, but I was immediately ‘up’. Eyes wide open, still a bit groggy but heart & mind racing. The nightmare was very fresh in my mind. Not that I’m a stranger to those or anything, they come and go. This particular one involved zombies.
So here’s the deal: I never really cared for zombies. Resident Evil did nothing for me. The remake of Dawn of the Dead was meh. Not gonna lie, I Am Legend was decent, but I credit that to the story & Will Smith’s acting, not the zombies. I tried to get into the Walking Dead, couldn’t make it past the first season. Evil Dead, Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead, Shawn of the Dead… seriously, they’re beating a DEAD horse.
Now, usually in a case like this, I’d try to distract myself mentally until sleepiness & sheer time overpowered the vivid imagery. To anyone who’s tried to keep a dream journal, you know the struggle: Once you wake up, the genie’s out of the bottle, & you’d better write that shit down fast before it’s gone forever.
Well, that happened. Sort of.
The exact plot, I forgot pretty quickly. Zombies were probably chasing me, because of course they were; what else are they gonna do, debate politics? But here’s the thing: the ‘action’ scenes didn’t scare me that much, not even in the dream. No, what got to me the most during the dream, & ESPECIALLY once I was awake, were the moments in between. When you’re looking at someone, & aren’t quite sure if they’re friend or foe. Again, memory is a bit fuzzy, but I remembered all the characters being slightly ‘off’, sporting a weird gleam in their eyes & ear-to-ear grins, with only their front teeth visible. In addition, when they talked, it was a weird blend of caveman talk & baby talk…almost like they were trying too hard to look and seem normal. Those moments before everything went down gave me an inescapable feeling of dread.
It was still dark, so of course you had the usual ‘lamp on dresser kinda looks like a terrifying monster’ vibes, but beyond that, even when my eyes were closed, I couldn’t shake the feeling that a nefarious presence was nearby. That feeling you get where you’re afraid to turn around, because you’re afraid of what you’ll find. No matter which side of the bed, no matter which sleeping position, I still felt it. Watching. Waiting. Even after braving a trip to the kitchen (and later the restroom) to face this nonsense head-on, the hairs on the back of my neck wouldn’t relax.
After who knows how long, I finally fell asleep. When I woke up, sunlight bathed my bedroom. I looked around; everything seemed normal enough. After a leisurely start to the day, I decided to get to work. I grabbed a cup of brew, booted up the old laptop & opened up a Word document. Not gonna lie, a part of me was still a bit on edge, but like I said, why let a good (albeit terrifying) memory go to waste? Who knows, maybe putting it all down ‘on paper’ will hel-
“Ahhh! I’m gonna get you!”
I bolted up in my chair, arms at my chest, hands curled into fists, more than a little startled. It took a few seconds to realize that the shouting had come from outside. A few more seconds to realize that my carpet was now painted in black coffee.
Chalk it up to leftover nerves I guess. Groaning, I walked over to the window. Turns out the kids outside were playing a neighborhood game of Tag. It was certainly a picturesque scene: a sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, children running around in nature, not having discovered the I-phone yet.
“Jumpy, are we” I mumbled to myself. I was about to step away when something caught my attention.
A man, maybe in his late 20’s, early 30’s, standing off under the shade of a nearby tree, watching the youngsters. Funny, I hadn’t noticed him before, and wouldn’t have given him a second thought, but for some reason, I lingered. Before I could look away, the fella swerved his gaze and locked eyes with me
There it was. The glint in the eyes. The unnaturally huge smile. Those pearly whites.
It only lasted half a second, but that was enough. Even from 20 yards, away, instant recognition.
Nearly falling over backwards, I could feel my pulse quickening, my face feeling flushed from the sudden shock. I tried taking deep breaths, and hobbled back to my seat. My senses were turned up to eleven: every squeak got my full attention and my skin felt hyper-sensitive.
After maybe 15 minutes, I did manage to calm myself down. Cautiously peaking out the window, I saw no trace of Mr. Smiles. Of course this was nothing, I told myself. Purposely trying to put yourself in the same head-space as a nightmare, while loading up on caffeine? Throw in the crappy night sleep, and anyone would get a bit antsy, their brain making a misguided connection between the real & imagined.
Fresh air. Fresh air and a change of scenery. That’s what I needed. Grabbing my jacket on the way out, I couldn’t help but chuckle: what exactly was I afraid of? Zombies? “They aren’t real, dummy” I mused as the door shut behind me. All I saw was a friendly neighbor, albeit one who for some reason wanted to tell the whole damn world about his dental plan.
On the way back from my walk, I decided to stop at a 7-11 to get one of their slushies. It was early evening, & walking up to the counter, the sun caught my eyes through the window behind the cashier. Temporarily blinded, I dropped my debit card on the floor.
“Sorry” I mumbled meekly. As I bent down to retrieve it, the room got a shade or so darker. Looks like my eyes adjusted.
“No worry. Sun too bright. I fix it for us.”