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<02/16/2011 - ??:?? | Saffrin Middle School (Gym), Austell, GA, USA>

Despite what I've been through, I couldn't relax today anymore. I just stood there at the gym bleachers, holding the top of my nose and shutting my eyes. I've had too much of a scare, another nightmare this morning about that psycho girl named Reba Sound. I don't know what her deal is, or why I keep having nightmares about her trying to kill me. This time, she blew up my whole house with a military airstrike! Though, I was only in visual range of the house when it happened.

Of course I know it's all just fiction! But this girl really does give me the creeps like nobody else can. I feel like her intentions to kill me are more real than ever. It's a drive that no fictional character should have. With a nervous sigh, I let out my frustration in bits as I usually would, caring not for who might be around me. I can't believe this! I'm getting all worked up over a nightmare.

"Reed! You're okay!" Her cheerful voice made me jump a little.

I feel even worse now that I was so jumpy in front of Laura. She must think I'm nuts if she hasn't already. Wait a second. "Of course I'm okay. Why would you think otherwise?" At first, I thought she was asking based on how I looked, but my mind managed to rewind enough to recall that her chant was one of relief, not of curiosity.

"I heard this morning that your house blew up! It was all over the news! That really scared me."

My breathing stopped cold while my eyes went wide with blaring horror behind them. Laura's words, they don't make any sense! My house didn't explode in the real world! It only happened in a dream! There's no way that she could possibly know about that... But she does, and that can only mean one thing.

The loud, slow clapping of someone's hands had us both turning around to the person getting our attention. It's as bad as I thought, and yet impossible for my own brain to contemplate. The girl grinning with those evil eyes kept clapping sarcastically as she slowly strut one foot in front of the other, forcing me to inch back in response. "I guess you're finally figuring it all out Reed. Welcome to the truth, that which shall be your own grave."

"Reba Sound!" I never felt so disgusted to say her name in the open like this, though I just as quickly felt more relieved. If Reba is here in the flesh, then the only explanation is that I am currently dreaming. I am dreaming! I am awake!

I opened my eyes once more, expecting find myself shaking in my own bed sitting up, but to my total surprise, I didn't change environments. I was still here, in the school gym. I'm still here inside my own dream! Wait, how could I know that I'm dreaming and still be here? It's not like the last time when I regained consciousness. I thought realizing where I was would force me out like before.

"Oh? I thought someone in your position would recognize a lucid dream when he sees one."

Reba... I have no idea why she's stalling this out right now, but I kept my distance from her anyway. I know she's going to try and kill me soon. That crazed look in her eyes says it all. Still, as scared as I was, I couldn't hide my curiosity. "So, I'm lucid dreaming right now?" I checked out my own body to try and confirm it, touching myself to see if the sensations matched up. For the most part, they did.

"That's right. The last time you realized you were awake, you got forced out of your own dream before I got the chance to kill you."

To my own recollection, I haven't had a lucid dream ever since the purge, and I barely remember at this point how it felt. How I wished I could enjoy such a brilliant moment. But I won't get that opportunity, not with this killer here. There is one particular rule I do remember about lucid dreams. I can't actually control what goes on in them. If I could, I would make Reba Sound disappear right now. Still, "This is totally awesome!"

"Huh?"

I can tell I've confused the girl, or woman, or whatever this person was. I had to address the situation as well as the small metal blade I saw her concealing in her rear hand earlier. "Since this is a lucid dream, even if it might hurt a little, it means that blade you are carrying can't actually kill me."

But at that, the girl started laughing hysterically, a sound that - for the first time in my life freaked me out entirely. "You've really deluded yourself into thinking that? You fool. I'm the one who brought you here. I'm the one who set things up today to make sure you would wake up inside your own dream without even realizing it."

"You what?!" I couldn't even take the time to understand her, because this reminded me of something totally crazy. When I woke up from the nightmare of my house exploding, I spent the entire early part of the day doing normal things. I mean, I would have realized something was wrong sooner if people didn't react as they should, or if I came to realize bits of today's memory were missing. But none of that happened! Is she saying that I spent the entire day up to this point in a lucid dream without ever realizing it? I think my brain just broke.

"You see, in our first encounter, my blade did strike you Reed. You woke up before you could die, and probably don't remember it, but I remember everything. I realized then what I exploited today. My tactics to kill you earlier were flawed. I can't hurt you if you're not the real you. But if I fix things in here, make sure that you and your conscious match up entirely, then I know this blade will have a real effect."

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"Reed, who is this person? Why is she saying she's going to kill you?"

"Just get out of here Laura!" My demands reached her compliance, though I was still a bit blown away how realistic that response was to the current situation. This really is my own lucid dream; make that a lucid nightmare. If there is even a hint of truth in her words, it means Reba might really be able to hurt me inside my own dream, specifically because I'm lucid enough for her to directly interact with me... I've never met a fictional character inside my own lucid dream who knew that she herself was a figment of my imagination. This is too strange. "Who are you?" She's more than just a character, isn't she?

"I am Reba Sound! My only purpose in life, is to make sure that you die a painful death in cold blood!"

"Enough of this! I'm through with you messing around with me. There is no reason for all of this. So, I'm going to wake myself up now." While I meant it, I didn't have the first idea how to go about waking myself up in this situation. Still, I gave it full effort, shutting my eyes and concentrating for a good few seconds. I wondered if Reba would attack me now as I was vulnerable.

She didn't, though I wasn't waking up the way I thought I would. Reba began talking more creepy slow steps in my direction, her eyes fixated on mine. "You still don't realize the danger you are really in. This is not your dream anymore. I'm the one who brought you to your state of consciousness. This dream, its world, its environment, its rules and laws, they're all mine now! I've made sure to check ahead of this moment. If you die here in this state, the real world version of you will die too!"

"You're lying! That's not how it works!" I tried to sound as confident as I could, but her words had me shaking in place. I've never thought about it this way, and I didn't even want to acknowledge the possibility of such a cruel system being true. If I die here, I die in real life, all because it's a lucid dream that she tampered with? I kept telling myself it wasn't true, but my heart started its own solo concert behind my back while I slowly stumbled in reverse for each step she took forwards.

"Have you ever been killed in a lucid dream before Reed? Do you know anybody that you could ask, to determine whether it's worth taking that kind of risk? I'm more motivated than ever, because the difference is now. You've been backed into a corner, and you will not escape me now. Anything you say might as well be forfeit."

I couldn't deny it any longer. As crazy as she sounded, I can't ignore the real possibility that it might be true. How many times have I had the chance to die in a lucid dream? Were there ever really any? So how could I know if she's lying or not? By now, I noticed every other student circling us in the room at a great distance. "What are all of you doing?!" I screamed out. "Everyone get out of here! Run!"

To my own projected fear, most of the nervous students took my advice, and ran out of the gym screaming once they realized this was no playacting, but Reba just laughed some more at my actions. "Awwh! You actually care about these pets that your mind created? This world and those people are all nothing but simulations. But you and I, we're the real deal."

Even though I'm scared out of my mind, I don't know what else to do here. Can I really defend myself against her? Maybe I can run away at the right moment. "What the hell are you then? You're not a human like me, not like the rest of the people of the real world."

"I am the shadow that will destroy you. All of your uncertainty has been your undoing... Enough of this talk. I have my blades, and you have nothing. Now Reed? Do you want to tell me, in this situation, what exactly you are going to do? Are you going to try and outrun me? Do you think your real world reflexes work the same way in the false dream version of you would?"

Shit! She's right! Those reflexes I had in the first dream and in this morning's earlier bombing, when I dodged her knife attack, that wasn't the real me. I was only able to act like a hero because I wasn't really awake to be this terrified. If I die here, it may actually affect me in the real world. Every real world skill that I have is directly linked to this version of me now, and since I can't control anything else around me, there is no way for me to defend myself. Even if I tried to fight, I can do nothing against somebody who is armed!

Reba opened her eyes, releasing the focus and concentration she was putting to her personal preparations. "I think that's enough time now. Get ready to die." Without saying anything else, Reba flushed her way over to me on foot, running faster than any human girl I've ever seen before.

Just before she could hold that blade out at me, I jumped out of the way, successfully dodging her attack, but in the same process, I managed to trip myself, falling flat to the floor. It was then that I realized how screwed I was, turning on my side to see Reba standing right over me with a sadistic smile curving on her face and a glinting knife in her grasp. As soon as she shoved her whole body weight down into it, I instinctively covered my face and cringed loudly from the imminent pain this would cause.

Of all things, she was aiming for my face too. I could see the blade of death zooming down like a meteor towards my eyes left uncovered by my arms. I'm sure I would have peed myself if I had not gone to the bathroom earlier, but it was irrelevant now. Reba is a micro-second away from killing me.

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<02/16/2011 - 04:40 | 1010 Link Street, Marietta, GA, USA>

At least, that's what I thought would happen. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in the exact same oriental position, with my arms covering my open eyes, which now stung a little from the change in environment. I wasn't dreaming anymore. I knew that I was in my room as quickly as that. Once I got the nerve to check the time, I realized I was awake for sure this time.

I rested my head back down onto my bed though, unwilling to get up until I have the chance to process what the hell just happened. I've never had a dream so complex and insidious before. Come to think of it, how did I survive that knife strike? Was Reba wrong about her threats all along?

I thought back to that moment, even though it freaked me out just to try recalling the details... No, Reba didn't actually kill me. I would have remembered feeling intense pain at least. I don't think her knife even made contact with my body... Of course; she must have scared me so bad that the shock of the near death experience forced me awake. It's good to finally understand how to force myself out of a lucid dream, but that can't be good for my heart.

Was any of that stuff even real? I had to ask myself and ponder this carefully. The realistic simulations of that dream can be explained away by my own growing intelligence making them more lifelike subconsciously. But what of the psycho? Are her words real? Can a person really die in real life if that version of them dies in a lucid dream? I sure don't want to find out.