(I know the constant perspective switch is a bit confusing but that’s just how the dream went idk)
9/17/2013-Today is the day. After 18 months without him, we’ve saved enough money to take a trip. Lily has managed to convince me to take our pets. We would’ve had enough money ages ago if I didn’t have to pay the plane fee to board our psycho cat and large dog. Owen has been easy to plan for, but the kid has never been more than a mile away from our home and I know he’s gonna be a handful. He’s already been transferred to a different first grade classroom and school just started last month. I chose to book our plane tickets for the 19th. We’re flying from Connecticut to Florida. We’re spending our first night at a really nice resort with a splash pad for the kids. The next morning we are going to take a boat to a small beach-y island about 8 miles off the coast. It will be just us in a small wooden hut for two weeks. I think it will be good for us to be alone and absolutely positive he can’t show up. ‘He’, referring to my abusive ex husband, is not great at respecting our restraining order. I never told him where I took the kids after I won custody, but he used public records to find our motel. I’m just glad to get away for a bit.
I close my diary. Pilot, our golden retriever, runs into my bedroom demanding his dinner. I swear he’s a friendly guy, just very food motivated. I get up and make my way around the kids’ toys and bedding. Our motel is very small and we all share a room. I don’t know why I still keep a third water mattress on the floor. Every night, Owen ‘accidentally’, or at least he says it’s an accident, makes his way into mine. Pilot leads me into the kitchen, tail wagging, and nudges his food bowl over to me. I fill it and walk into the living room to check on the kids. Lily is right where I left her, reading a book. Owen is nowhere to be seen.
“Lily, where is your brother?” I ask while peeking underneath the couch. Lily just shrugs, not even bothering to look up. I walk over and see that she’s reading The End of Reform by Alan Brinkley. For a nine year old, she is extremely intelligent and a fantastic reader. Then I hear it. A low growl and the sound of the little one closing a cupboard in the bathroom. I roll my eyes and walk down the hall. That’s when I see Owen using all of his strength to block the cabinet from opening.
“What’s going on in here?” I ask, leaning against the doorframe.
“Nothing!” Owen shouts. Obviously I don’t believe it. I open the cabinet and out runs the cat, Fiasco. His bright orange fur covered by one of Owen’s t-shirts. I free him and lecture Owen on leaving the cat alone. I know it won’t change anything. Owen just can’t seem to let the poor cat be for five minutes. I walk back to the kitchen and see it’s already 7:30. I have Lily get in the shower before taking Owen to the bedroom to get him ready for bed. I pick out some generic superhero PJs and help him get changed. Then I brush his beautiful brown hair and get him tucked into bed. I go and meet Lily in the living room. I put her hair into a loose braid.
“Did you brush your teeth?” I ask.
Of course I did! I always do!” Lily shouts back. Through her smile I can tell she’s lying. I send her into the bathroom and go to put my pajamas on. Getting to the bedroom, I see Owen peacefully sleeping. In my bed. Whatever. After I’m changed, me and Lily get to bed and sleep.
9/18/2013-This morning I dropped the kids off for their last day at school before our trip. Afterwards I went out and bought enough pet food for the whole two weeks. I also got the kids some new clothes since it will be much hotter down in Florida. When I got home I dug through the closet for Fiasco’s crate. He is gonna hate this flight. In the evening, I took the kids out for some food at Wendy’s. Then I got them snug into bed.
I walk over to the living room and open our suitcases. I put my diary into the front pocket so I can write in it during the trip. Then I tetris all of our clothes and food into the luggage and set the pets’ leashes and the crate by the front door. I set my alarm for 4 am and squeeze myself into bed next to Owen.
The alarm goes off. I get up and wake the kids. Lily puts up a fight as she is NOT a morning person. Owen is basically running in circles. I hook Pilot to his leash and shove Fiasco into his crate. Then I decide that the pets are Lily’s problem as she chose to bring them along. I give her the crate and the leash and start putting our bags into the car. It’s dark and cold. Then I grab Owen and buckle him into his car seat. Lily gets herself and the pets situated. On the drive to the airport me and the kids play some ‘I spy.’ Once we arrive I unload everyone and grab a cart for our luggage and the cat crate.
9/19/2013-Getting two kids and two pets through security and onto the plane in time for departure was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Thankfully Lily read the whole flight because Owen needed my undivided attention to behave himself. He was doing everything from kicking seats to trying to find and wear the emergency life vest. Once we landed he kept trying to get up before it was our turn. Then we got our stuff and took an airport taxi to our resort. I was exhausted from the trip there but the kids insisted on going downstairs to the splash pad. When we got down there I discovered that they also had pools and slides! I dropped Owen off in the supervised kids’ section and took Lily on some water slides. We had a blast. Everyone slept well after our busy day. Then we got up and had some free buffet breakfast. Owen ate so many pancakes I couldn’t believe it. Then we caught the boat to our private island retreat. The kids loved seeing the ocean for the first time. So did Pilot.
Once we got there we explored the hut. It had two rooms. One was a bedroom and the other was a bathroom. There wasn’t running water or electricity. Outside there was a picnic table and a fire pit. The picnic table was right next to the front door and had a U shaped fence around it. Behind our hut there was a very small forest area with palm trees and bushes. It was visible enough to see the other side of the island through the trees if you stood at the beach in front of the hut. The island was at a bit of a slope. It started off with a typical small beach then got higher as it went along. On the back end of the island, there was a very rocky drop into the water. It would not be safe to get off the island anywhere but the front. The hut was about fifteen feet from the shore and had about 50 feet of island behind it. All together it was pretty small. Perfect for us.
When we got there, we noticed a bunny. It came right up to us and we couldn’t find any others or anyplace the bunny could’ve lived. When night came, It was just outside by the shore staring at us. We decided to let it stay with us.
This morning I woke up to Fiasco cuddling on my chest. When the rabbit came in Fiasco started hissing and backed himself into a corner. It was very unlike him. Now I’m sitting in the sand watching Owen play in the water and Lily collect seashells and play with them like dolls. Pilot keeps chasing the waves. I’m so glad we decided to take this trip. I’ve never felt more peaceful. Then it got dark. After some food we all went inside because it began raining. Lily was sitting next to the window and reading while I put Owen to bed.
“Mom, what’s that?” Lily shouted. She sounded panicked. I looked out the window and there was a person’s silhouette standing by the shore. Exactly where the rabbit had been standing last night. I rushed everybody into the bathroom and locked the door. We sat and waited for hours. Eventually I left the bathroom and went out to check.
It was bright at this point and there was nothing there. Fiasco and Pilot followed me outside and we searched the whole island. Nobody was there so I decided that it was just the dark playing tricks on my mind. Me and the pets were almost at the door when it became very windy. We got pushed violently into the U shaped fence by the picnic table. Then the shore came all the way up and was pushing against us. I held onto the pets collars, too afraid to let go. All I could hear was wind and I couldn’t see anything. When it finally ended, I saw that the hut was almost completely ruined. After checking that the kids were okay I hung up sheets to mimic the walls we once had. I didn’t let the kids outside. I had no way to leave the island or to contact anybody. At night once again we saw the man. I don’t know how but I knew he wasn’t normal. There was a reason he showed up. He just stood in the same spot every night. I kept the kids away from the walls and towards the center of the house. The next day I went out and collected some seashells for Lily to play with like she would on the beach.
“Why don’t you play with Owen and show him how you use your shells as dolls?” I asked Lily.
“Ew, why would I spend this time playing with my younger brother? I don’t even want to be here.” She said back. I knew this trip was going to be tough and it was already affecting Lily. We were all scared. Then we had a few more days indoors and everynight the silhouette was back. Then I realized. The bunny was the cause.
In the morning I took it to the bathroom and cracked its neck. The bunny was dead. I had a good feeling about the upcoming night. I left the rabbit limp on the sand outside so that the kids wouldn’t see. Then I went back in and waited for night. To my dismay the man was still there, just tonight he was limp too. I knew what this meant. I had to fully destroy the rabbit. The next day I went outside and I tore its skin off. I roasted and ate its insides then I plucked out all of its fur and sucked all of the blood off of it. Then I lit it all on fire. That night, the man was back, only this time, he was smiling like a mad man. I knew then that the rabbit wasn’t the cause. Next, I killed Fiasco. He was delicious. I enjoyed tearing off each limb and doing different things to every part of it. The man was still there. So I got to Pilot. He was rather large and I couldn’t finish him all in one serving. I spent the whole day outside working on him. When I went in for the night, the kids were cowering from me. Why? I wasn’t sure.
I looked out the window. The man was back. My body filled with glee as I knew what was going to happen next. The man made me feel a certain way. He made me feel terrified and I had to do whatever I could to get rid of him. I killed Lily. Skinned her and put her body in a pile right where the man appeared. That night, the man ate her. His jaw looked absolutely unhinged. It must have been detached with how wide he was opening it. The next day was Owen’s turn. Good. For him I played a little game. I told him I would let him go if he could get away. I chased him through the forest until he tripped on a rock. Then I snapped each bone. One at a time. Then I threw him onto the rocks right off the edge of the island. Finally the man was gone.
The next day, the whole hut fell apart. I decided I’d camp out on the picnic table. Everything was going smoothly. Then, a few days after, I saw another picnic table in the forest. There was a woman sitting at it and waving at me. I came over and we talked. She said that she had been there hiding from the man when she saw me. We hung out and stayed together. Oh we made so many memories! We played hide and seek, had cookouts, made obstacle courses, oh and once we went swimming and saw a hammerhead shark! But my favorite memory of all was breaking her jaw and seeing the terror in her eyes as I reached down her throat and gutted her! You see, the man had come back and I knew what had to be done. Loretta was done with.
A few days later, the boat that had taken us to the island had come back. It had been the two weeks of our trip already! I made up a sob story about how my kids, pets, and the hut had been swept away into the ocean. The men in the boat took me back to the dock and I flew back home and went on with my life. After a while, I started getting an urge to go back. I didn’t know why. One day I went to bed at 3 pm. I woke up on the island. Right on the shore. Staring into the hut. I saw my daughter point and scream. Then I saw myself look through the window before taking my kids and the pets into the bathroom. I know what’s going to happen next.
(I know this doesn’t sound that scary but when I was dreaming it I could see everything happen in full detail and I could kind of look into the main character’s mind and slowly see how it deteriorated and how her thoughts became more psychotic and demented. It was truly horrifying to experience but it was so well put together in my dream like the best horror movie ever. More happened in the dream that I would add but I have no idea what words to use to express it.)