I woke up to an impatient knocking on the door. I yawned and walked to the door in a sleepy daze.
"Yeah?" No answer came. I once again yawned, wiped the sleep from my eyes, stepped out onto the porch, and looked around. No living creature could be seen for miles. I mumbled sourly, walked back into the house, and stopped dead when the knocking started again. I decided to ignore it, hoping whoever was pulling whatever prank would just give up, but the noise kept going on and on. I tried to drown it out, but it just kept getting louder the more I tried. It was starting to drive me crazy. Finally, I stomped over to the door, threw it open, and found... No one. But the knocking kept going on. I wandered to the back door, hoping to get to the bottom of this strange occurrence, but I had no such luck. The next thing I knew, I was laying in my bed, and it was dark outside. I stared in wonder at the window. It had been early morning when I woke up. A sharp pain was starting to manifest in my left arm, and I tried to fend off my tormentor, but to no avail. The pain kept getting worse, and when I looked down at what used to be my arm, I froze in shock. In its place was an oddly shiny limb, cold and numb. When I tried to move it, it felt so very heavy. I closed my eyes and fought back a scream as the pain started in my left leg this time. I didn't dare lift my head to look, fearing the worst. And then, I started to remember. The crash, the screams, the odd body part flung in random directions, the hospital, the morgue. I squeezed my eyes closed tighter and fought back another scream, this one being of pure terror. I didn't want to remember it all. I wanted to go back into my drug-induced dream world, where I felt safe and comfortable. I wanted the peacefulness back, but as hard as I tried, I couldn't make myself forget ever again.
I woke to Tamie shaking me this time. She looked horrified, as if someone else was dead. I blinked, wondering what it was, when she spoke. I once again blinked, and tried to clear the fog from my brain.
"Pardon?"
"You were.. You were screaming. It sounded like you were dying!" Well, that explained the horrified look.
"Sorry kid. Just a bad dream. Go back to sleep." Tamie shook her head. I sighed, sat up, and stretched. "What time is it any way?"
"About ten." I whirled around, searching for the source of the voice. This turned out to be my third mistake since getting the concussion. I had to lean against the couch for support and pray I didn't pass out as a result.
"Warn me before you just decide to drop by, will you?" Ashley grinned at me.
"Sorry. But it's your fault for not answering your phone."
"I've been kind of preoccupied today."
"I noticed." I sighed, for what seemed like the hundredth time that week.
"What were you so anxious to tell me that you had to pull a surprise visit on an injured person." Ashley walked over and handed me a book.
"I took the liberty of looking for information about your... predicament, and found this." I examined the item, flipped through a couple pages, and stopped dead when the lettering on the note attached to the page I had stopped at registered as words. I read over it twice, rubbed my eyes, and read over it again.
"Where did you find this?"
"In the library, buried under a bunch of old newspaper articles." I stared at the page a moment longer, before turning to the page number mentioned on the note, and scanned over the text. It was all the information I'd ever need to know about the dreams. Except how to make it stop. All the other people with the same problem were either dead, or had gone crazy and were locked up, for fear of injuring themselves or others. The deaths had been a mystery for years. Some were normal, some, not so much. Some cases were simply wrong place, wrong time, others suicide. Other deaths seemed to be the result of some mysterious disease. The last group was the one that worried me. A select few had simply died in their sleep. No injuries, no poisons, no sings of any kind of problems at all. Those cases were the ones that worried me the most. What could they have died from? Could they have had dreams about someone else dying, and they died too? I was starting to panic. I didn't want to be locked away in a psych ward, nor did I want to end up dead. But there was no information as to the cause of the dreams, or how to stop them.
"Did you find any more information in the library?" Ashley shook her head.
"Nope." I let out a disappointed and frustrated breath. I jumped when Tamie coughed. I'd forgotten about her. Looking at her, I realized she was completely lost, and was dying to know what was going on, but I didn't exactly know how to explain it. I looked up at Ashley, who simply shrugged, apparently also at a loss of any way to explain. I took a deep breath and looked back to Tamie. She stared back at me, expectantly. I squirmed under her curious gaze.
"Uhm... Hi?" Tamie gave me a half amused, half irritated look.
"What's going on?"
"Well... It's kind of a long story.." She crossed her arms and kept staring at me. I shifted nervously, and once again looked to Ashley for help. None was given. "Where should I start..?" I didn't get a response, so I took a deep breath and started from the beginning. It took a while, but when I finally got through with the explanation, Tamie stared, this time in disbelief. I shifted to a more comfortable position, and waited for all hell to break lose. Instead, all that came, was silence. Ashley cleared her throat.
"Any way, I'm gonna get going. I have to meet Anna." I waved and watched her leave, silently wishing she would've stayed so I had someone to hide behind when hell finally did break loose. I turned back to Tamie, and watched her process this newest bit of information. The silence continued for what seemed like hours. It finally broke when Sarah walked into the room, chattering on about her new shoes to some one on the other end of the phone line. She bent over the couch, grabbed my head, and gently prodded the bump. I winced as she did so. She mouthed a silent apology once she completed whatever task she had been sent to complete, and left the room. I blushed in embarrassment as my stomach grumbled loud enough for any one and every one within a five foot radius to hear.
"Want something to eat?" Tamie seemed to contemplate the idea for a couple minutes, then nodded and followed me into the kitchen. The rest of the night passed uneventfully, excluding the burnt sausages causing the fire alarm to blare arrogantly.
I stared at the bottle in my hands. Some where in the back of my mind, I wondered if it would matter, if any one would even notice. If I'd be able to see them again. But I knew I wouldn't. Couldn't. I'd dream about them, only to have the dream turn into a nightmare. It was like I relived that night every time I closed my eyes. I tried to block it out, to just get over it, as so many people had told me. But I couldn't. The worst one was the baby. His body mutilated, and bloody, but still breathing. Still able to cry out. To scream. I'd try to save him, but I couldn't get to him fast enough. Every time I got within reach, the baby would be killed, and I'd scream, but it wasn't over. He, they... It came after me next. The knife stabbing into my flesh, cutting again and again, but never killing. I wished it would all end, wished I could just die, and escape the pain, but it always stops before I can. My wounds get bandaged, and I heal enough to stay alive. But then it all starts over. Some times it starts out with my parents' death, some times it's the stranger's death. But it always ends in my pain. I always see the baby crying and wounded. Crying out for help that will never come. Will never get to him in time. I wanted to scream, but my voice was gone, used up from so many screams before. With shaking fingers, I twisted the cap off the bottle and poured the pills into my waiting palm. I stared at the crimson red pills as they rolled to a halt against my raised fingers. It was now or never. If I didn't take them now, I'd loose my nerve, then some one would find them before I could do it. I raised the pills to my mouth, and paused as I heard foot steps. They were getting closer and closer. I squeezed my eyes shut, poured the pills into my mouth and swallowed. I heard the door open, and voices. I felt my body convulse, and louder voices. But they seemed so far away. I was finally free from the pain. From the memories. From the dreams...