“Just what the fuck is this?!” I screamed as I felt a sudden urge to vomit. I couldn’t believe my eyes, just how is this possible…

An evaporating corpse if I could simply describe it. The body laying on the ground was emitting a lot of steam as it started to decay rapidly. Veins and bones could be clearly seen on the corpse as the skins and flesh evaporates. What surprises me the most was that the corpse had the same feature like me. Or it might even be me. The throat was not there as if it was being ripped off by something. No doubt about it, this corpse was definitely me. The me that was from the previous dream. I was so overwhelmed by the sight of the corpse, that it is actually my corpse.

Taking a few steps back, I tripped on a protruding root hidden in the long grass and fell on my buttocks. My mind was blank, and I could not think of anything as this was too preposterous. I sat there, and watched the corpse decayed while emitting steam. From the flesh to the bones, it decayed as if it was not the work of bacteria decomposing them but because of the endless steam emitted.

The only thing that wandered in my mind was the sight of the jaguar ripping off my neck leaving a huge hole in my throat as blood gushed out endlessly. The smirk on the jaguar enraged me but it also carved fear deep into my mind. I started to shiver and cold sweat poured out like a broken dam.

Everything revolved in my mind like a spinning wheel. In all those confusion, I didn’t realize that the sun had already set to the horizon, painting the sky with shades of orange. The forest was dark due to the shadow of a distant hills and mountains covered the entirety of it. Flower that initially were not anywhere in my view suddenly bloomed with its natural blue glow. Somehow, the fear that I had just a few seconds ago was fading. These glowing flowers gave out a sweet fragrant smell that I had never smelled before. Maybe those fragrance and the dim glow gave a calming effect on me.

Looking at where my evaporating corpse was, the only things left was a pile of ash that still emits a little steam. I stood myself up, wiping my buttock. I remembered what I had thought just before I went to sleep. This was a dream which I can control so I should try making a sword or something.

But no matter how hard I think of how a sword looked like. It just won’t pop out like how a normal dream should be.

“Sword summon!!” I shouted as I tried some stupid posing as if I was summoning a demonic sword or something. I tried a few more times but came out empty.

I guess I really don’t have any control over this dream. I was out of idea of how to handle this situation. But something still catches my attention. The glowing flower just now, when it bloomed the fear that I felt were fading slowly. Maybe this flower do have some kind of effect on it.

As I plucked the glowing flower, the fragrant smell was so strong as if it exploded its bomb of aroma when the stem was detached. My fear was gone immediately. I felt so calm that all my senses were so sharp that I could even hear the smallest sound of some insect hopping from one leaf to another. My hearing continued further as I closed my eyes. From a dripping droplet of water to the stomping march of an army of ants. Going further I heard a slow breathing and thumping sound as dried leaves crunched to the weight.

The sound of crickets suddenly stopped. I knew what it was and searched at where that sound came from and there it was. Two crimson red eyes staring at me between two bushes. It was quite far away, almost a hundred meter away, but somehow I could see it. It was in a stalking position ready to pounce while taking its steps silently moving through the cracks between the bushes, closing its distance to me. What surprise me most was that I wasn’t scared. My heartbeat was beating fast but somehow I feel calm and composed. I search around to look for anything I can use as a weapon, rubbing my hand against the soft grass and took a palm-size stone. I readied my stance while holding the stone like I’m holding a dagger.

As if the jaguar knew its presence was known, it starts running towards me. Even with my calmness and composure, I could not fight the natural instinct to run away from incoming dangers. So I ran again like how I did in the first dream, pushing away branches above my head and stumbling upon rocks and roots beneath the grass.

I was despise myself for being so helpless in this situation.

As I looked back, the jaguar had already closed much of the distance between us as it leaps from the tree barks to another just to avoid the rocks and roots that I had stumbled on just now. This definitely was its turf. It knew whatever it was in its way and avoided it to catch up on me.

To my desperation I shouted “Get away from me!” and threw the stone in my hand which the jaguar swiftly evaded. I knew there was no chance for me if I ran. I held my and stopped, turning to face the jaguar. As I turned around the jaguar was already leaping towards me with its paw raised high up. I held up my hands up in hope that my face wouldn’t get shred by those claws again.

“Sphhhttt!!” the crisp sound of flesh being torn apart. I fell to the ground by the momentum and put my hands on the ground reflexively to prevent from falling to hard but…

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“Arghhhh!” I shouted. It was not there, I could not feel the ground. No, I could not even feel my fingers. I held my left hand close to my face, but it was not there. From the wrist onward, it was gone. The blood gushed out like a fountain from what remains of my left arm.

“Haaaa!! Ahhh!! Arghhhh!!!” surprised by the fact that my left hand were gone, I wailed like a baby.

Looking upfront, I say the jaguar was shaking its head vigorously and staggered from left to right. To my surprise, it was raining with golden light. To be precise, a small glowing yellowish dust was floating around the jaguar. The dust slowly falls on the ground followed by pieces of blue glowing petal.

As my eye followed the petals fall, there I saw it, my left hand was beneath the jaguar, holding the stem of a glowing flower that was torn apart. Then that explains the falling petal and the glowing dust. The jaguar must have hit my left hand and the glowing flower too, causing the petals of the flower to fall apart and scatter its yellowish-glowing spores.

The jaguar still staggered and shock its head as if trying to shake off the spores. Somehow, the jaguar looked drowsy and it leaned on a tree as it stares at me with its blood-shot eyes, eager to end my very life.

I saw this was my only opportunity and stood up hastily.

I could not run fast. My body was starting to get cold and my head was dizzy. I ran and ran, holding my left hand tight trying whatever I can just to stop the bleeding.

The throbbing pain was just too much. It hurts even more the further I go.

“Ughhh!” I grunted as I gripped my left hand tighter. I could taste blood in my mouth from gritting my teeth too hard just to hold of the pain. It wasn’t long before started running and I fell to the ground. Something had hit my legs.

With my hands to my chest, I fell and hit my head on a rock. I could feel the blood dripping down to my nose. I was helpless. I was cold. I could only muster enough energy just to face my body upwards. Its too painful.

My eye is getting blurry and I could only smell the iron in my dripping blood. The jaguar slowly walks on top of me with its eye staring long into my eye. The breath of the jaguar hit my face. I could sense anger and a tinge of confusion in those pairs of bloodthirsty eyes.

While it was staring long at me, I searched whatever there was near to me moving my right hand along the ground. I grab hold of a small stone and hit its head repeatedly.

The jaguar immediately caught my right hand with its mouth. I tried preventing the jaguar from biting it off as I smeared its eye with the blood spraying out of my left arm.

“Arghhhh!!!” I shouted as the pain from hitting the wounds directly to the jaguars eye was too much but the instinct of survival made me continue on attacking it’s right eye just for me to slip away. The jaguar jumped back and shock its head. I crawled away using both my elbows as my right hands was already shredded that it was barely attached.

My desperation didn’t last long as I felt dozens of sharp teeth buried itself in the back of my neck. I could not breath, my neck was being crushed by the pressure of the jaw. At some point I heard a snap at the back of my neck. In that instant, all the pain were gone and continued with the feeling of being suspended in the air.

‘I died by the jaw of that jaguar again..’

*****

I opened my eyes and all I saw was the wall of my room. Beads of sweat falls into my eyes as it dripped down across my face causing me to shut my eyes again. I sit myself on the bed. My shirt clung to my skin as it was wet with sweat. My stomach started churning but I didn’t feel like vomiting. Maybe because there’s nothing in my stomach anymore to vomit out.

I lay my head on the palm of my hands. The feeling of losing my hand was crystal clear in my mind. The pain, the agony, everything was fresh as try to remember what happened in that dream. Just why am I dreaming this kind of thing. And what’s worse, those dreams were definitely intertwined with each other. Especially when I saw my own corpse, it looked like my next dream was a continuation of my previous dream.

‘Just what in the world happened?’ I thought to myself. Feeling down and anxious. I took my phone to search for any medical explanation for this. Probably when I hit my head, something happened to my brain that alters my dream or if it was some kind of psychological disease.

Pressing the power button, the bright screen light caused my eye to twitch and took a few second to readjust its pupil. The time indicates it was half pass ten which means I was only asleep for about one and half hour.

I’m pretty sure that I was in that dream for half a day, from when the sun was up until I got chased by the jaguar at night. ‘Just what the heck is happening’

I continued my search for any medical explanation but nothing comes close. There were still so many mysteries about dreams that my problem here can’t be explained at all. Some sites specifies that the probability of waking up when REM(rapid eye movement) is at max that I experienced a more vivid storyline in the dream but it does not specify that my senses was too realistic. Especially the pain. I would never want to feel that ever again.

Giving up my research, I charged my phone and went to the kitchen. I brewed a green tea to help calm myself down. I don’t want to go back to sleep. The only reason why is that; I’m just too afraid that dream will come again.

Trying to keep myself awake, I went back to my room with a cup and a jug of green tea. I remembered that there were lots of school homework for today. This will be enough to keep me up all night. I took everything out of my bag pack and started finishing my homework.

****

Looking at the time, it was already quarter past 1 in the morning. It really took a while to finish my homework but it wasn’t enough to past the time till morning. Sleep was the last thing that I want. I tried finding something else to do. I took out my laptop and switched it on. Maybe watching videos can make time fly fast.

I watched as many videos in youtube, many of which were related to animes and random videos. After watching about dozens of videos, three hours had passed. My eye lids were getting heavier and heavier. I drank more of the tea but it just won’t work. I was at the edge of falling to sleep when I saw a video on the recommended section. It was a video about creating a primitive weapons.

With just that, an idea popped out of my head. If those dream was a continuous dream then that jaguar will just keep on hunting and killing me. I must do whatever I could to defend myself from this beast. I must create my own weapon and fight that thing even if it was certain that I would lose. One thing I know was that I really hate that feeling of helplessness, being chased by that jaguar and killed by it. At least if I die, I died fighting, not being helplessly killed.

As I thought of this, I was struck with fear just thinking of being stared by that beast and the pain that would be inflicted on me. However, when I was in that second dream, I did fight back a little and I was surprisingly calm.

‘What was it? Come onnn!! Remember it you stupid brain!!’ I thought to myself, trying to remember that small detail that I had forgotten, of how I overcome my fear and think straight. Then I looked out of the window, the street light was bright enough that I don’t have to switch on the light in my room to navigate around. My mini cactus pot was aligned in the middle of the rack just before the window. A small red flower was blooming right on top of the cactus. With the light from the street lamp, the ray passed through the thin flower petal, as if the flower had its own glow.

“That’s it!!” I shouted as I stood up. The chair flipped to the back as the force at the back of my knee pushed the chair.

“Thank you my little cactus, here have a drink..” I said with gratitude as I sprayed the mini cactus with a small spray bottle. I pulled my chair up and sat with a squeak. Opening both the video site and the search engine, searching for ways to make primitive weapons, with one goal in mind; survive and defend myself from that jaguar.

“Just you wait furball, I’m going to kill you for all those misery…” I mumbled. Feeling somewhat optimistic as my goal slightly shifted.