The Commons

All her life, Mandi loved to sleep. She never had to be told to go to bed when she was a little girl. She would say, Goodnight, I love you" to her family and give them a kiss before walking herself to her bedroom. She loved to get up with sun after a good night's sleep. Her dreams were usually very pleasant, some of which were of her flying. Oh, she loved those! Her life was going to change though, in a very bad way. The stress she would endure would start to take a toll on her health.

It all started one quiet early morning around 3 AM when she was lying in bed, sound asleep. While in REM, her mind began to see a beautiful new apartment building called The Commons. She felt excited to go inside and see what it looked like. She entered the lobby and walked up the stairs to the second floor. She walked down the hall to the first apartment on the left. The door was unlocked. As she opened the door, she saw a very spacious, open floor plan with 9 foot ceilings, a large kitchen with lots of cabinets and counter space, a large bedroom and bathroom, and windows that let in the natural sunlight that she loved. It was just perfect for her and her cat. Or so she thought.

As her dream slowly progressed, dark things began to creep in. First, it was the cute little Chihuahua next door. It started barking and it wouldn't stop. Hard to believe but it barked for hours without pausing for a break to rest or drink water. Then doors would slam, shaking the apartment. She heard the cackling of a witch who had ominous visitors knocking on her door. Mandi was twitching in her bed as she slept, afraid that someone next door might try to enter her apartment. Then someone started stomping and jumping on the floor upstairs, shaking her light fixtures. Mandi jerked violently in her bed! Her REM continued and when the stomping and noise stopped, Mandi could rest peacefully. Her mind was finally calm and relaxed. Until...

She heard crying in the apartment below hers. It was a little boy. She thought he must've wet himself or had a bad dream and he would stop crying soon. But he didn't. His crying got louder and turned into screaming. Mandi wondered if something horrible was going on downstairs and began to be very concerned. She considered going down to the apartment and checking with the parent/s to make sure the little boy was ok. Suddenly, she heard a voice downstairs. It was the little boy's mother. Her voice was muffled, probably still sleepy from being awoken by her son. His crying stopped and Mandi sighed with relief but it wouldn't last very long. She began to hear dripping sounds. Was it raining outside, she wondered. She looked out the window but there wasn't any rain. She got out of bed and walked into the kitchen and saw water leaking from the oven exhaust fan and numerous holes on the ceiling with water dripping out of them. She would definitely need to call the maintenance man first thing in the morning. She put buckets and towels under the leaks and went back to bed.

The dream suddenly switched to a new location outside The Commons. Mandi was walking around the apartment complex and saw trash, cigarette butts and dog feces everywhere. She even saw a hypodermic needle. Whether it was used for insulin or illegal drugs, she did not know. Either way, it was dangerous and not a good sign of the tenants and guests that were there.

The light of day turned into the darkness of night. It was Mandi's birthday and she went out for dinner to celebrate with her family. When she returned, her cat did not greet her at the door like he always did. Out of nowhere, the smoke detector went off, startling her! She looked all over the apartment until she found her cat hiding behind the couch, scared with the pupils of his eyes wide. Then she realized her cat had been trying to get as far away from the smoke detector as he could because it was so loud. The water leak had gotten into the detector, making it malfunction.

Mandi awoke at 7 AM that morning and looked around, feeling very tired. She wasn't sure if she was still dreaming or not. Everything looked just like it did in her dream. The Commons was not the beautiful, perfect place she once thought it was. In fact, it wasn't a dream, it was a living nightmare.