In his dreams he saw Carl. Not surprising. He'd been thinking about him when he fell asleep, but now things were different. This wasn't the Carl he'd known as an eight year old boy, or later through nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen and for as much of fifteen as possible. No. This Carl was different, younger, looking more alive than he had when he had been alive. It broke Russel's heart to see him like this. This was Carl after death, and he really had died happy. Russel could tell by the look on Carl's face he was imagining being reunited with his dearest love Ellie. Russel wanted to wake up from this dream, but he couldn't, so he continued to stare at his dead friend. Carl was walking, going down a steep path that would have ruined him and his walker had he been in the form Russel knew so well, but he wasn't. This was definitely the Carl Russel had only seen in photographs. Carl was smiling and humming to himself as if he didn't see the steep path ahead of him or the darkness or the creatures that lurked about waiting to pounce. Carl seemed oblivious to all of it, as if he knew that the light at the end of the tunnel would be eternally worth it. He kept going, cheerfully humming a happy tune that he'd hummed a lot before he'd gotten sick. Russel stared in horror as a ugly beast with hideous, long, sharp claws reached for him. Carl began to glow a little, illuminating the dark path for a moment, and the beast couldn't get to him. Carl calmly turned his head and looked at the beast, pausing in his song and opening his mouth to speak.

"No." He told the beast with a smile.

"No, you can't get to me. Not today. I'm going to see Ellie, and nothing will stop me." The beast cowered, suddenly afraid of Carl. Russel was impressed, but also a little frightened. He didn't understand what was going on, just that the dream made him uneasy.

Carl kept walking, his happy hum turning into a whistle and then a song, the words were made up as he went. The more he walked the more a glow radiated off of him, and the more the creatures crept closer, cautiously awaiting a chance to pounce. Russel wanted to call out, warn Carl that beasts lurked ready to devour him. But he found no voice, so he continued to watch, terrified. Carl didn't seem to mind the creatures crowding around. He glanced at them and laughed, loudly.

"You can't hurt me. I'm going to see my Ellie, and nothing will hurt me." He told them, grinning bigger than Russel thought he'd ever seen him grin. Russel couldn't shake the uneasy feeling, but Carl seemed to be doing just fine. Russel attempted to swallow his growing panic, but it just made him feel sick inside.

Carl continued his journey. For a bit he stopped glowing and things were pitch black. Russel heard Carl stumble and then laugh and pick himself up. By now Russel was petrified, worried for his friend. He wanted it to be light, to be day to be nice and sunshiney so he could sweep away his worries and be reassured that Carl was fine. When Carl started glowing again he was being cornered by the hideous demon creatures, but Carl just laughed once more.

"I told you but you don't listen. I'm going to see my Ellie. Now please get out of my way." Needless to say the demons did not get out of his way. So Carl just walked through them, glowing brightly. Russel would have bitten his nails had he been awake.

For a bit the dream got a bit fuzzy, Carl appeared to be walking through cobwebs and Russel was both confused and pretty scared. The cobwebs were huge, and with cobwebs came spiders, something Russel was secretly terrified of. Sure enough ginormous spiders arrived, but Carl just waved and kept walking, and the spiders seemed to pay him no mind.

Carl came to a stop, even spirits apparently got tired, he sat on a rock and took a deep, content breath. The creatures gathered near to him and he smiled at them and began telling them the story of how he'd met Ellie.


I awoke with a start from the strange dream. I'd fallen out of bed a few hours ago but the dream had been too intense I hadn't even woken up. It was too early to get up so I just sat on my floor and cried.


Please review it would mean a lot! What do you guys think about the dream?