Prologue
He rose from a pile of ashes, his head pounding to a rhythm a war drummer makes. He opened his eyes and surveyed his surroundings. The sky was blood red and everything was on fire. 'Where am I?' he thought to himself. He looked at the ground and he saw bodies, hundreds of them. They were lined, almost as if to create a path, but he didn't want to follow this path. He started to walk forward and he heard whispers, demonic laughs, and screams of pain. He kept going forward and then he saw what looked like a mountain and he started to run. A shadow appeared behind him and started chasing him. "You cannot escape your fate" the shadow said with a demonic growl. He kept running until he reached the mountain, but this wasn't a mountain of rock, it was a mountain of bodies. Just then, the shadow was upon him and swallowed him whole.
Chapter 1
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" he yelled into the darkness. He looked around and realized he was in his room. He looked at his clock and read 4:30, "Great, I have to leave for work in 2 hours." He mumbled as he staggered out of bed. He made his way to the bathroom and switched on the light. He splashed cold water on his face and looked into the mirror. He had dark circles under his eyes and his dark brown hair was a mess. He was pale and he looked like he hadn't eaten in months. "Too bad Halloween can't be every day, because I would have best costume." He chuckled to himself. He went to the fridge and took out a beer and sat in front of his T.V. 'I need to stop having that dream, it's running me into the ground.' He thought to himself. He had been having that dream for 2 weeks straight now and everyday a new part of the dream was added. 'I actually made it to the mountain this time, although I don't know if I want to go any farther than that.' He thought. 'It has to mean something, no one has the same dream for 2 weeks, it's unnatural, but what could it mean? I mean who dreams about a path of bodies leading to a mountain of them?' He thought angrily. Just then he heard a knock on his door, "Who could possibly want to talk to me at this hour?" he grunted as he got up. He looked through the peep hole on his door and his breath caught in his throat. 'What the hell is Leslie doing here?' he thought. "Just give me one second!" he yelled as he ran to the bathroom to fix his hair. He ran water through his hair and tried to comb it. 'What are you doing you idiot? You look like shit either way.' He thought as he ran back to the door. He opened the door and there she was. Leslie was his neighbor and he had admired her from afar for a long time. She was shorter than him, maybe about 5'6, brown eyes, and sandy blond hair. She looked like she had just woken up and was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Is everything ok Aaron? I heard you scream again." She mumbled, still wiping the sleep from her eyes. "Yeah, I just had a bad dream that's all." He said with a smile. "That's the third time in a row Aaron, you sure everything is ok?" she said leaning against the wall. "Yeah, it's alright I just watched a horror movie before I went to bed." He said with a nervous laugh. "Well alright, if you need anything you know where I am." She said yawning and walking away. "Yeah, thanks, I'll talk to you later." He said as he shut the door. 'What am I going to do? If these dreams don't stop I'm going to keep waking her up, but why does she care?' he thought. 'I can't worry about it now; I better just get ready for work.' He said as he went to the bathroom and turned on the shower.
"This is why you're not going anywhere in life Aaron." He said harshly. Aaron raised his head from his desk and met his boss's gaze. "Oh, Mr. Kline, sorry, I was just uh…." He stammered. "You were just dazing off for the third time today, and we haven't made it to lunch time yet." He said. "Sorry, I had a rough night." Aaron said while massaging his temple. "What you do on your work nights is none of my business Aaron, but I expect you to come to work prepared, and if you can't do that, then I will find someone else, have I made myself clear?" Mr. Kline said condescendingly. "Crystal sir." Aaron said half-heartily. "Good, now I want these reports taken care of before you leave today." He said dropping a stack of papers on Aaron's desk and walking away. 'Wow, it must be my birthday.' Aaron thought to himself. "He's really riding you hard." A voice said with a chuckle. Aaron looked over the wall of his cubicle and saw Josh smiling at him. Josh was Aaron's only friend at the office; he was tall, short blond hair, and green eyed. "I don't play for that team Josh." Aaron said with a smile. "Oh, my mistake, I thought you did since I never see you do anything about Leslie." Josh shot back. "She came by this morning." Aaron said softly. "Was she hammered?" Josh said laughing. "No, I had a nightmare and I guess I screamed and she heard me." He said. "What was the nightmare about?" Josh said a little worried this time. "I….I don't want to talk about it here, the bar after work?" Aaron asked. "Yeah, sure man, what did you and Leslie talk about when she came by?" he asked. "Nothing, she just asked if I was ok, and I said I was, so she left." Aaron said. "Oh come on man, that's bad form, you had a perfect chance to have a conversation with her." Josh said exasperated. "It probably won't be the last time she'll come by because she heard me screaming." Aaron said softly. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's that supposed to mean?" Josh said getting up from his desk. "I'll tell you at the bar Josh, I have to get this paper work done." Aaron said getting back to work. "I'm holding you to that." Josh said sitting back down.
"Barkeep! A shot of your finest whiskey for me and my friend here!" Josh yelled towards the counter. "Starting the week off right huh boys?" said the bartender reaching under counter. "You know us to well Ronny." Aaron chuckled. "First one is on the house boys." Ronny said smiling as he poured the drinks. "Thanks Ronny," Josh said taking the drinks, "A toast, to Monday's." Josh said raising his glass. "To Monday's." Aaron said knocking his drink back. "So, tell me about this dream Aaron." Josh said sitting at the counter. "Damn, I was hoping you would forget about that." Aaron said staring at his glass. "You screamed out because of it and you said it probably won't be the last time, you can't say those things and expect me to forget about it." Josh said looking at him. "I don't even know where to start…. This wasn't the first night I've had this dream." He said. "Wait, you mean you've had this dream before?" Josh said setting his glass down. "Yeah, except with missing pieces, every time I have the dream, more gets added to it, like reading another chapter in a book." He said. "When did it start?" Josh asked. "I've been having the same dream for 2 weeks." Aaron whispered. "2 weeks?" Josh shouted. "Shh! We're not trying to make scene hear." Aaron said harshly. "2 weeks of having the same dream is pretty messed up Aaron." He said. "You don't think I know that? I'm losing sleep over this man." Aaron said tiredly. "That's why you've been so out of whack lately." Josh said knowingly. "Yeah, it's practically ruining my life." Aaron said rubbing his head. "You going to tell me what it's about?" Josh asked. "There's fire and smoke. The sky is blood red, and there's bodies everywhere, and then a shadow appears behind me and I start to run, it follows me and I keep running and then I reach this… this mountain of bodies and then the shadow swallows me and the I wake up." He said. Josh stared at him, completely stunned, mouth agape. "This is why I didn't want to tell anyone." Aaron said walking away. "Aaron wait!" Josh said grabbing his arm. "I didn't mean to do that, it's just…you don't hear stuff like that every day, is everything ok?" Josh said worried. "Is everything ok?" Aaron said hysterically, "No everything is not ok! I'm having dreams of dead bodies and shadows chasing me for God sake! It's ruining my life Josh, Mr. Kline is up my ass, I'm waking Leslie up in the middle of the night and my only friend is staring at me like I'm crazy, no Josh, everything is not ok!" Aaron said and he stormed out of the bar and went home to once again face the demons of his nightmare.