In Our Dreams

by Courtney Chambers
(Elgin, Oklahoma, USA)

The girls' heart raced as she ran through the halls of an old dilapidated warehouse. Someone was chasing her, she didn't know who- or what- had lured her here, and she couldn't remember anything before stepping inside its walls.
This wasn't the first time she'd been here, the girl thought to herself as she hunkered into an alcove to escape the Beast. She could vaguely recall seeing these same dusty shadows and creaky doors before. Only when she tried to remember where she had seen it, nothing came to mind.
She heard the monster stop. It was just outside her hiding spot. She prayed it wouldn't see here. She held her breath, not knowing how well its hearing would be. She herself could hear the pounding of her heart and was petrified by the idea that it could to.
As it came into sight, she realized it wasn't quite a monster, at least not the kind you see in horror films, or the ones described by books. It was a man. His eyes shown green in the darkness, as if he were part cat and they were reflecting some undetectable light. His skin seemed too matte to be real, ghastly even. His hair was falling out in clumps and his expression warranted madness.
She struggled to find an escape. the door behind her seemed to be her best bet. She crawled into the room, careful not to let her shoes squeak.
"I can smell you, girl. Come out, come out!" The voice was raspy as if the vocal chords hadn't been used in centuries, and the sing-song tune it carried made hair raise on the girls' neck.
The girl rose, rushing for a broken window within the room, only to find she was on a third story and would never make the jump.
A hand brushed her shoulder and she screamed. The thing laughed and she dove.
As she fell, she wondered how this had all happened. She'd gone to school today, hung out with friends, ate dinner with her mother, gone to bed...
With a jolt she sat up, sweat plastering her tank top to her chest. Her sheets were soaked and her breath coming out in haggard rasps. She knew what had happened now. And she new it would happen again. She'd never escape her subconscious.