Episode Two

Strange Dreams

I finally woke and rolled over to turn off the alarm. I could hear the shower running in the bathroom. I was used to strange dreams, but this one had felt so real, how could my imagination have gone to such a dark place? I'd never felt any malice toward Ruby, she was technically my sister too. The shower was running, and the smell of fresh cooked breakfast drifted in from the kitchen.

"Morning babe, any breakfast left for me?" I asked, leaning against the bathroom doorframe.

"Hey Bubba! Of course," Damian poked his head out from behind the shower curtain and I walked closer, giving him a peck before heading to the kitchen.

I was supposed to be applying for my first real job as a college graduate, but as I sat at the table fork in hand schools were the last thing on my mind. All I could see in my head was Ruby, impaled, smiling that horrid smile. How could I have dreamt something so horrible? I was debating whether or not to tell Damian about it when he snuck up behind me and planted a surprise kiss on my cheek. I gasped, and the look he gave me made my decision for me.

"Sorry Bubba I didn't mean to scare you," he said with a chuckle.

"No I'm sorry. I had a crazy vivid nightmare last night. I don't even know if I can describe what happened it was awful…" the vision flashed through my head again, making me shudder.

"Well you could tell me the gist of it if you wanna talk about it. I won't judge,"

"It's weird, I usually can only remember bits and pieces of my dreams. But this one… I can remember the whole thing every last detail. I could feel things; I saw everything from my own perspective. Anyways, Jasmine, Ruby and me were all going to some old ass house, I don't know why, it was supposed to be haunted or something. We were fucking around with a Ouija board and the ghost would only talk to me, it said it had plans. But that wasn't what got me. Ruby's eyes went all black. She…" I wasn't sure if I wanted to finish. The understanding in Damian's eyes made me go on, "She killed herself. But, she wasn't like 'I'm all depressed' it was like she was doing it to scare me. She was holding me and Jasmine in the air like Carrie style, like telekinesis, she wanted us to watch. She said, she wanted to prove a point, that she was going to kill everyone I loved. But she died you know so I don't get how that would work? I have no idea what it meant but… I don't know it's just putting me in a bummer mood. I think I'm just going to stay home today I can go job hunting another time. I'm just gonna get back to watching Supernatural. I'm super hooked!" A lazy day sounded like just what I needed. Get out of my own head.

"That sounds perfect. I think maybe I'll even take a break from my game," Damian was designing a video game with a new program I'd gotten him for his birthday, and it'd been going really well. Now that we were graduated he felt compelled to finish a game to present to any company who would give him the time of day. Though he made good money at the mortgage company he had been working at, it would never be his passion. We never wanted to climb any corporate ladders, we both hated it all with a passion and he had never seen his job as a permanent career.

We finished breakfast and I snuggled up under the covers in our bed putting Netflix on the TV while Damian situated himself in his gaming chair. Movies, TV shows, books, and video games got me by in life. Stories of impossible things always managed to give me hope, even when I was at my lowest, for as long as I could remember. I was never considered an exceptional child. I wasn't better at sports or school than anyone else. I wasn't prettier or more charming than the other girls; in fact I couldn't remember a time that I was ever liked in school. I was just an average looking nerd. I wasn't enough of a rebel for the burn outs and I was never pretty or cool enough for the popular crowd. I never had siblings my age (my half siblings were both my mom's age). I was an only child, too socially awkward to fit into anyone's circle. As an adult, I know now the only place I ever "fit in" back then was alone in my room with a book or glued to the television. A character in a story can never judge you or make you feel inferior, and those characters became my imaginary circle of friends.

The only person in the world who ever made me feel special was Damian. He helped me find myself, and be not only unashamed of who I was but proud. We were high school sweethearts since my freshman year, and it was love at first sight. He changed everything, and I never thought there could be any better proof that destiny exists until I befriended Jasmine. We met at the start of college. Jasmine and me had been coworkers for a year, but never really got close until Damian and I had moved into our first apartment and, by chance, we became neighbors. I never thought I'd see love at first sight again in my life until we all went out for my birthday and Jasmine met Damian's brother Luke for the first time. They became inseparable, and soon we created our own family. My family, the only true family I ever had. Before we knew it we were all bound together in marriage, and it felt like my own personal fairy tale had finally fallen into place. I was at peace.

Even though I was no longer the lonely child who clung to imaginary friends behind a screen, I still kept the characters close to my heart. I cried with their tragedies and felt warmth with their triumphs. I had found a home, walking a fine line between fantasy and reality. But little did I know as the familiar stories lit the screen that day that the line that I saw clear as day was about to be forever blurred.

I grabbed my phone off the nightstand as "The Phantom Traveler" played out on the screen. To my surprise, it read five missed calls and two texts, all from Jazz. When I opened up my texts my heart stopped,

Dude I'm bawling my eyes out I just got a call from my mom something happened to Ruby last night.. she didn't show up for work this morning and they found her body in her apartment she's dead Stella my sister is dead.. Just call me when you get this please…

Stella I really need someone to talk to my mom is hysterical fuck dude I'M hysterical I don't know how this happened.

I was speechless. Was my dream a premonition? Damian saw immediately something was wrong. I handed my phone to him without a word as a silent tear fell down my cheek.

"Oh my god… is Jazz gonna be ok?" he was just as stunned as I was. But I couldn't answer him. I watched the screen as a terrified man in an airport bathroom is consumed by the same black smoke I saw in my dreams the night before.

"I… I need to call her back…" I finally managed. I took my phone back and found her contact, barely able to keep my hands from shaking.

"Hello?" Jasmine was in tears.

"Jazz I'm so sorry I haven't been by the phone! Are you ok?"

"She's gone… there was nothing they could do… the doctors don't know what happened she was perfectly healthy it's like her lungs and heart just stopped for no fucking reason! I'm staying with my mom for the next few days. We have to talk about funeral arrangements. I just don't understand how she never had any problems Stella she barely even got colds and she just drops dead in her sleep? We have to wait for the autopsy… a fucking autopsy I can't FUCKING BELIEVE THIS SHIT," she was sobbing

"Jazz I don't even know what to say…" I was debating telling her about my dream, but it wasn't the right time so I just said, "I'm so sorry…"

"It's ok… I mean it's not ok but it'll have to be. I don't even know what to say to my own mom. We can't believe it it's like it's all a bad dream,"

"Yeah I know the feeling…" she had no idea how well.

"I gotta get back to my mom dude she's a mess, I can't blame her so am I,"

"Is there anything I can do? I can drive out there if you wanna talk or anything just say the word,"

"No it's ok. I think I should just be with my mom and dad for now. Thank you though you're a good friend. You're the only sister I have now…"

"God I'm so sorry.. give your parents my condolences for me will you?"

"I will thank you,"

"I'm here if you need anything don't hesistate to call I'll have my phone close by, I'll talk to you later ok?"

"Yeah I'll keep you posted. Thanks again Stella for everything,"

I hung up the phone and faced Damian's anxious, steely blue eyes. "They said it was like she just died in her sleep. No illness nothing she just stopped breathing the doctors are completely baffled. Do you think my dream was like trying to warn me?" somehow I didn't even believe my own theory.

"I don't know babe that's crazy… is Jazz alright?"

"No she's a mess dude her whole family is. Imagine if that was Luke," Luke was Damian's brother and Jazz's husband.

"Yeah I'd rather not even think about that," he let out an uncomfortable chuckle and I averted my eyes back to the screen just in time to see the man's eyes turn pitch black.

"Babe look!" I froze the scene just in time to get a close look at his eyes, "That was exactly what Ruby's eyes looked like in my dream like SPOT ON! Do you think it means anything?"

"Probably that you watch too much TV? I don't know I can't even remember most of my dreams maybe you saw that in a preview and forgot about it. You look really freaked out babe why don't you watch something else? I'll get on WOW with you!" he wanted to distract me and I could tell.

"You know what babe? I think I'll fire up my laptop and we can do just that!" I pressed the power button on the Wii with fierce determination. "Fuck that show I don't need any more crazy nightmares," that was what I said, but part of me wanted to keep watching. I had to know what the black eyes meant. The rest of the day went by pretty normally. I consoled Jazz as best I could through text, but the truth was I could handle just about anything but death. I hadn't had many deaths in my family, and I really had no clue what to say. After a day of gaming and nice dinner with Damian the two of us settled in for bed again.

"What should we put on tonight babe?" he asked me.

"Anything but Supernatural! What's the polar opposite of Supernatural?"

"Well I'd say the opposite of two Americans hunting and killing ghosts and spirits would be a British man saving people with cold hard science,"

"Sherlock it is!" I laughed.

And as we drifted off to sleep, me wrapped up safely in his arms, I felt comfort in knowing that it had all been just a dream. I would dream again tonight and wake up tomorrow in my same bed with the same man I'd woken up next to for years. There was no such thing as premonitions, or magic, or spirits. There was nothing else but what was happening right there, right then.