The hot water cascaded down my body as I just finished my shower. It was around one in the morning when I suddenly jolted out of my sleep just as sweaty as last time. These dreams were already ruining my sheets, I didn’t them ruining my sleep schedule either.
As I exited the shower and wiped the steam off my mirror I took a good look at myself. A tall young black man was reflected. I was gangly and didn’t exactly confidence but honestly, that didn’t matter since I was 6’2 and didn’t look half bad either. At least that’s what I try to tell myself all the time.
I reached for my neck, the phantom pain still lingering in the area. I swear I could still feel the dart lodged in, and I shuddered and what those things would do to me if I woke up in that. This was only the second crazy dream yet I can remember the scenery, the smell, and each sensation vividly.
What would happen on the third? The fourth?
Honestly, I didn’t even want to go back to sleep at this point. Once I finished up in the bathroom, I put on some clothes and turned my computer on. The bright light from my monitor momentarily blinded me forcing me to lower the brightness so I could look at my last reading session.
I was on chapter 12 of My Pet is an Eldritch Abomination?! In fact, I had five extra tabs open each featuring a different web novel which allowed me to switch between them all whenever I got bored of one of them. I wasn’t concerned about forgetting any of the content either, because I was confident in my memory too.
Right now though I was in no mood to read anything. I’ve died two times because of the stuff I read, so I closed all the tabs, put on my headphones, and started playing a popular fps for the rest of the night. Gaming served as the perfect distraction to take my mind off things because by the time I realized it my alarm clock started going off.
I set my alarm to 5:30 every school day and it served as a reminder that I could only sleep in for an extra half-hour before I had to get up. This time, however, I was wide awake and had no intentions of skipping school so I took off my headphones, and went into the hallway where I ran into my dad.
“There’s my favorite son, surprised to see you up so early!” My grizzly bear of a dad let loose a deep laugh.
“As far as mom and I know, I’m your only son dad.” My dad and I had a shtick where we tried our best to sass each other at every opportunity. That didn’t stop us from showing mutual love for each other, and mom thought our relationship was cute too.
While I was taller than my dad, although not by much, my dad more than made up for it with his pure muscle. He played college football when he was younger, and even now my dad makes sure to maintain his workout routine.
“Sorry I can’t invite you out today, the chief is breathing down our necks because of these abductions.”
“Trust me dad I’m not complaining one bit.”
“Always the jokester son. Seriously though, until we catch whoever is doing this your mom will be picking you up from school every day.”
“It’s not like I’m a little kid anymore, I can take care of myself dad. Besides can’t I just take the bus back home, you know it takes forever for her to drive from work to school.”
“Don’t argue, your mother and I would feel a lot safer knowing we’re the ones picking you up. We don’t know how these guys truly operate yet, and although you don’t seem like a target right now it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“Whatever you say, dad.” I dramatically sighed.
“Thanks, love you son!” He affectionately rubbed my head hard, so I slapped his hand away which garnered another chuckle. We both knew he did that on purpose.
“Love you too dad.”
He rushed downstairs to grab his breakfast and head to work. Despite working early every day as a nurse, my mom always made sure food would be ready by the time dad left for work.
“Hurry up and start getting ready before your food starts getting cold. Your father already told you I’m picking you up, and I’ll try my best to get there at a reasonable time. Love you and see you later.” To most people, they barely would’ve picked up half my mom’s message since she always talked fast while in a rush, but for me, this was just normal.
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“Thanks, mom, love you.” I bent down so my mom could kiss me on the cheek before running off to work too.
There wasn’t anything for me to do since the bus came in around an hour. I just ate my breakfast, went back and played another round of the game, before I headed to the bus and started my day.
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I practically fell into my seat, while the rest of the students piled into the classroom. At least during the beginning of the school day, I had some energy, but that all went away by noon. So imagine how exhausted I’d be trying to push through my last class of the day.
My only saving grace was the fact it was English, the only class I shared with Erik, and we always made sure to help each other out during class.
Speaking of which, a short white guy with blonde hair and blue eyes looked around the room until he spotted me and sauntered over.
“I wonder when the school will hire a more permanent teacher for our cl-” Erik tried to start a conversation but interrupted himself when he saw the state I was in.
“Connor you look like someone kicked your ass AND took a shit on you.”
“I couldn’t sleep last night. You mind waking me up if the substitute calls on me?” I yawned.
“I don’t know man this guy seems pretty strict…”
“Bro I can’t stay awake any longer. Just poke me or something.” I wasn’t sure if naps would force me into the dream world, but I was too tired to care at this point. I slowly closed my eyes...
I’m not sure how much time passed but I felt a nudge that woke me up to the sound of laughter surrounded me.
“Connor Bishop. There’s no sleeping during class.” A voice who I could only assume was the new substitute English teacher.
“My bad Mr….”
“Belmont.”
Mr. Belmont was an older Caucasian man who looked like he didn’t play favorites with his students.
“Right. Mr. Belmont, I couldn’t get any sleep last night. I’m sorry and it won’t happen again.”
“You keep good on your promise young man. Carry on.”
Mr. Belmont went back to talking about whatever the class assignment for tomorrow would be, while I went back to sleep.
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I got the homework assignment and saw Erik off as he entered the bus. We were both saving up for our own cars because our buses always arrived last at the end of the day. Although I’m not taking the bus anymore, I’d still be arriving back home around five since it takes an hour for my mom to pick me up. Traffic is a bitch.
I slept in a random classroom until my mom arrived, and even slept on the car ride back. By the time I entered my room, I didn’t feel as exhausted as I was during the day. While I was completing my homework, thoughts about how to deal with the dream kept occupying my mind.
I grabbed a blank notebook and started writing everything I knew about my dreams.
Weird Dream Sequences
1. I have to explore a weird forest, do quests, and fight monsters in the dream. (AVOID BEING HIT)
2. The dream is lifelike. (STOP DYING)
3. I have a system but it is practically useless.
4. Whenever I reenter, I wake up at a random spot in the forest.
5. All of the dream creatures I’ve seen used poison. (AVOID BEING HIT IN BOLD)
6. Naps don’t activate the dream.
I only managed to fill up a few lines on the page but I was content with what I wrote. My computer was already on so I started googling stuff like “What do my dreams mean?” “Aggressive and stressful dreams” but none of the results were noteworthy.
I probably spent about 20 minutes searching random internet forums, looking for anything that would’ve provided me an answer. Instead, I found myself frustrated that no one was dealing with the same issue as me.
Ughhhhh.
This just turned out to be a waste of time. I needed a solution, anything to help end these horrid dreams. I’d rather dream about all the homework I have to do than these survival scenarios.
At the beginning of the semester, Oakland High always had an assembly preaching about mental health and how the teachers and our school counselor would always be there to listen.
I mean I’ve never really talked about my actual problems with anyone, let alone these absurd dreams that’d probably make even the counselor look at me funny.
Worst case scenario I’ll just ask Erik about it since he’s more experienced with these web-novels. In fact, Erik probably went through this “phase” like me. I grabbed my phone and tried to call him but I ended up leaving a voicemail. Hopefully, he’ll either call me later or I’ll just talk to him during school tomorrow.
I felt a slight weight come off my shoulder because I finally had an idea of how to tackle these dreams. I ended up finishing the rest of my homework and checked the time again. It was only eight and still no message from Erik. He was probably busy with his girlfriend…that sly bastard.
I started grumbling to myself about my tragic love life and spent an hour or so gaming to distract myself. Once I yawned, I knew I couldn’t put off sleeping again any longer. The main problem with these dreams was the pain I kept feeling, it just felt real. The only solution I could think of was to stop getting hit.
I just have to stay alive and healthy long enough until my body woke itself up. I got myself ready for bed and laid down.
You can do this Connor. Just don’t get hit. Think of it as a video game. If you get hit you lose.
After pepping myself up enough, I closed my eyes and eventually drifted to sleep.