I was getting paranoid; my dreams were making me lose it. Since I awoke in fright, I had not been able to sleep; my skin still tingled with pain, and my throat was sore. How was this even possible? Why were my dreams clashing with reality? Is my brain somehow deceiving my body to feel what I felt in the dream, or is something completely strange going on
The past weeks of my life seem to have taken a complete turn, strangeness becoming my norm, dreams, wings, beasts, abilities, things were becoming bizarre, and I was scared of what other, otherworldly events would occur in my life
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It had been two weeks since the dream I had and whoever said time healed lied cause my mind was still in shambles, two fucking weeks and the strange dreams kept replaying in my mind, two weeks of me trying to piece whatever invisible strings tied them together and two weeks of everyone around me asking what was wrong.
I had tried to play it cool for the most part but my mind would wonder and whoever was unfortunate to be talking to me when that happened would have to repeat their statement a couple of times before giving up, even worse was that Brea would be leaving in a few days and I had been too lost to spend time with her I didn't even wanna think about the fight we had
I rang her doorbell again, awaiting someone to answer, focusing on my purpose here. She opened the door, and her smiling face dropped when she saw me. My heart clenched. That was never something I thought she'd do at the sight of me
"Hey," I started regret filling me
"Hi," she simply responded
"Sorry, I know I've been distant the past weeks and I've been an ass I … I'm sorry"
She surveyed me before asking, "What's going on with you, Lyl? You've been acting odd; you always seem distant whenever we meet, not to mention how riled up you were the last time we met. I've never seen you so angry with me."
"I know, and I'm sorry, I wasn't angry with you, I was just… "
"What's going on, tell me, and please don't say it's nothing."
I kept silent. How could I tell her that I was so worked up because of some stupid dreams, dreams that felt too real to be ignored, not to mention wondering about the extent of my so-called ability to see Anson's world.
I had wondered several times if perhaps those dreams were rather visions, if I was getting a glimpse to that unknown world or if perhaps Anson trying to erase my memories had cut a wire lose in my brain making me paranoid and crazy coming up with all sorts of theories based on things that could simply be normal
Brea waited patiently for an answer, but I couldn't tell her everything, so I only chose to share the dreams and how I felt after.
She listened keenly, just as she always does whenever I confess my troubles, and I mentally smiled. She was a great friend
It was now my time to wait as I watched her internally go over what I had told her. The silence made me want to share more, to tell her everything so she'd understand more, but I held my tongue
"That is strange, I remember when you told me about the first dream, I didn't think it was that serious, but how is it that you feel exactly what you experienced in the dream in real life?" she wondered
"I don't understand it myself, I don't know if it's just my mind messing with me, or perhaps I'm being haunted by some evil spirit," I tried to joke, adding the last remark
"Don't even joke about that," she said sternly, " come in, let's talk in my room."
After finding no sensible solutions about my dreams and why I felt the way I did after. Brea and I decided to spend the rest of the day hanging out, a much-needed distraction. We watched some movies, rummaged through her closet, trying on clothes while taking a ton of photos, and binged some more, which led to me spending the night, much to her mother's and her little brother's joy
I remember dozing off at around eleven, a big smile on my face, but then
I was back in the familiar white room, and as if the woman had been expecting me, she emerged clad in a green dress, her light blue eyes set on me, no shock in them as they were the last time. She walked towards me, standing only a few feet away, before sizing me up
"You're back, I've been waiting" she said simply, "you seem human but also like one of us, you look ordinary just like a human but your blood denies that, so what exactly are you?"
"I..I'm…I don't know what you're talking about."
"Hmmm, so even you don't know what you are. What is your name?"
Her eyebrow rose, pushing for an answer, "Speak, girl, what is your name?"
"Lyla"
"Night beauty"
"How… very few people know the meaning"
"Well, I'm not an ordinary person or being for that matter"
She walked around me, surveying every bit of me while speaking to herself, a hint of boredom in her eyes
"Could it be possible that you are it, but how so? You're a mere human, and nothing seems that special about you. You seem so… ordinary and plain."
"Look, I don't know who you are or what you are but I don't appreciate you invading my dreams and going on to insult me."
She laughed at my retort, a mocking laugh that sounded so condescending
"You think this is a dream, night beauty? How simple. Well, let me tell you, this isn't a dream and I'm not invading it, even if I were, you came to me and I'm not insulting you, just merely stating what I see"
"Well, crazy lady, I don't care if you're invading my dream or not, just stop it, stop with all this. I'm going to lose my fucking mind if I keep having all these weird dreams"
"Dreams? You speak as though you had more, but this is the second time we meet."
"Well, lady, if you must know, you aren't the only strange thing I'm meeting."
She moved closer so fast I had to blink to make sure she had indeed moved. "Tell me about the others."
"What"
"The other dreams tell me, how many were there?"
"Just two"
"Tell me and don't miss out on a thing."
And for whatever reason, I relayed them
"Darkness and light are a representation of our realm. In both dreams, the two sides seem to be very interested in you, and somehow, you can appear here. Perhaps I was wrong, night beauty, you're not plain after all."
"I don't understand."
"You don't need to, at least not for now, has any other strange thing happen"
"No," I replied rather too quickly, and from the tug of her lips, she knew I was lying
"Come now, tell me," she moved closer, her presence suffocating, "tell me or else I'll have to make you"
What did that even mean? Was she planning to torture it out of me?
"Wha… what do you mean?" I took a step back, but she only smirked and continued waiting. This woman was definitely crazy
"If you do not tell me in the count of three, I'll be forced to do things my way, 1…2…3"
An invisible force hit me from the inside, stilling me; it wrapped around my throat and curled itself on my mind. I looked at the woman still standing in front of me, a perfect picture of calm and authority
"Now tell me, little one, what other strange things have you experienced?"
The words rolled out of me like an open faucet, the waters rushed out too fast for me to rile them and I told her about the two brothers, about what I saw and our fight with the Wendigo I even confessed that Anson had tried erasing my mind and failed after I was done the force released me and I fell to the floor gasping while soothing my throat
"So you have met beings from our world. I heard about that thing escaping despicable creatures; those things are. I'll have to speak with those two. As for you, you can go back," she shooed me as if I were a mere pest before walking away
"Heey wait, lady, wait." Darkness swept in as I tried to call to her, but I was dragged back to reality. Brea still asleep beside me