The Fog In A Dream

Jason's car hummed steadily along the winding forest road as he made his way home after his appointment with Dr. Phillips, his psychologist. For weeks, Jason had been plagued by a series of vivid, unsettling dreams. They left him waking up in a cold sweat, with images of shadowy figures and creepy landscapes lingering in his mind. Dr. Phillips had suggested hypnotic therapy to help uncover the roots of these nightmares and hopefully bring Jason some peace.

Earlier that evening, Jason had reclined in Dr. Phillips's plush leather chair, his eyes fluttering shut as the therapist’s soothing voice guided him into a deep trance. They had explored his subconscious, seeking out the fears and anxieties buried there. Dr. Phillips had assured him that this process would gradually diminish the intensity of his dreams, helping him regain restful sleep.

Feeling a mixture of hope and residual unease, Jason had left the Doctor’s office just as twilight descended. He lived in a suburb, about seventy miles south of the Palmer city. The distance was not much, but it was more than one and a half hour drive, due to the hilly terrain and the narrow road. The Alaskan fog had already started setting in. He drove through the night, with the demonic silhouettes of forest trees pressing in on either side of the narrow road. The hypnotic session had left him feeling slightly disoriented, but he was determined to get home and rest. The moon was hidden behind thick clouds, casting the forest in an almost impenetrable darkness. The only light came from his car’s headlights, which carved out a small path through the gloom. Jason's thoughts drifted back to the session, replaying the snippets of forgotten memories that had surfaced during the hypnosis.

Suddenly, a blur of movement snapped him back to reality. A massive reindeer leaped onto the road, too close for Jason to avoid. He slammed on the brakes, but the car skidded on the damp tarmac and collided with the animal. The impact was jarring, throwing Jason forward against his seat belt.

Heart pounding, Jason pulled over to the side of the road, his hands shaking. He took a few deep breaths. Since the engine was running and one of the headlights was working, he decided against stepping out, to inspect the damage. He could hear the loud grunts and snorts of the reindeer, from the bushes. Jason felt a pang of guilt and sorrow but knew he couldn’t stay there. He had to keep moving. With the car still functional, though struggling, he continued driving, his mind racing with thoughts of the accident and his therapy session.

A few miles further, Jason spotted a figure on the side of the road. As he approached, he realized it was a young woman, waving frantically for help. He slowed down and pulled over beside her.

“Thank you for stopping,” she said, her voice tinged with desperation. “My car broke down, and there’s no cell service out here.”

Jason nodded, still shaken. “I've had some trouble too. My car hit a reindeer. I think it's not in the best shape, but I can give you a lift. Do you know if there's a garage or a mechanic anywhere nearby, where I can get the light fixed?”

The girl’s face lit up with relief. “Well, there’s a hotel not too far from here. You can stay there, as driving with a low visibility, and that too in a dense fog, will be quite risky. In the morning, they can call a mechanic, who can help you. You can drop me on the way. It will be very kind of you?”

“Sure, get in,” Jason said, unlocking the door. The girl climbed in, and they set off again.

The girl was silent for most of the drive, her eyes fixed on the passing trees. Jason tried to engage her in conversation, but her answers were brief and distracted. Something about her demeanor put him on edge, but he dismissed it as residual anxiety from the accident and his therapy session. After a while, the girl pointed to a dark, narrow path leading into the woods. “This is my stop,” she said.

Jason pulled over, and the girl reached for the door handle. As she opened the door, Jason’s blood ran cold. The hand gripping the handle wasn’t a hand at all—it was a hoof. He blinked, thinking he must be imagining things, but when he looked again, the girl was gone, the door swinging shut behind her. Shaken, Jason continued down the road until he saw the dim lights of a building. Thinking that it might be the hotel, the girl was talking about, he pulled into the parking lot and headed inside, desperate for some rest. The reception area was dimly lit, and a single man stood behind the desk.

“Good evening,” the man said with a smile. “How can I help you?”

Jason explained his situation, filling out the register and taking the key, the man handed him. As he turned to head to his room, he glanced back at the receptionist. His heart skipped a beat—the man’s face bore an uncanny resemblance to the girl he had picked up.

Confused and exhausted, Jason hurried to his room. He locked the door behind him and threw himself onto the bed. He kept recalling that if the girl’s car had broken down, then where was it. How could he miss it. Probably, he was too exhausted and sleep overcame his thoughts. His dreams were filled with strange, unsettling images—hooves instead of hands, faces shifting and changing.

The next morning, Jason awoke to the sound of birds chirping outside his window. The events of the previous night felt like a distant, hazy nightmare. He got dressed and headed downstairs, to find the mechanic. As he stepped into the lobby, he found it completely deserted. He rang the bell on the desk, but there was no response. He called out, his voice echoing in the empty space, but no one answered.

Feeling a sense of unease creeping in due to the strange silence of the place and the foggy winter weather, Jason decided to leave. He got into his car and drove off. About two miles down the road, he spotted a small garage by the side of the road. Relieved, he pulled in and saw an old man in overalls working on a car.

“Good morning,” Jason called out as he stepped out of his car. “I need you to check my car. I had a rough night.”

The old man looked up and nodded. “Morning. What seems to be the problem?”

Jason recounted his story, describing how he hit a reindeer, gave lift to a strange girl, and spent the night at a hotel. The old man listened intently, his expression unreadable.

“That’s quite a tale,” the old man said as he started examining the car. “ Never seen any animal in the area and there’s no hotel around here, like the one you’re describing.”

Jason’s heart raced. “But I stayed there. There was a receptionist, and he looked just like the girl I picked up.”

The old man shook his head. “Son, I’ve been living here for over fifty years. That place has been abandoned for as long as I can remember.”

Feeling a chill run down his spine, Jason watched as the old man continued his inspection. After a while, the old man straightened up and wiped his hands on a rag.

“Your car needs some paint job,” he said. “I have fixed the headlight that was broken. Everything else seems fine. You are good to go.”

Jason paid the old man and got back into his car, his mind racing with confusion and fear. As he started the engine and prepared to turn back onto the road, he glanced into the rear-view mirror of the car. His heart thumped. Standing in the reflection was the reindeer he had hit the previous night, its eyes watching him intently. Beyond the animal, there was no sign of the garage — just an empty stretch of road leading into the forest.

With a shiver, Jason sped away, the haunting memories of the night before echoing in his mind. He drove for an hour, not daring to look back, hoping that whatever he had encountered was left far behind in the fog.

As Jason finally neared the outskirts of his hometown, his mind drifted back to his session with Dr. Phillips. The hypnotic therapy had been intended to uncover the roots of his recurring nightmares. During the session, he had seen images of dark forests, shadowy figures, and a pervasive sense of being followed. The girl with the hoofed hand, the deserted hotel, and the reindeer seemed reminiscent of the fears unearthed during his therapy. The reindeer in his dreams had always symbolized an impending threat, a shadowy presence that stalked him through the night. The girl, with her unsettlingly familiar face and animalistic features, seemed to represent the blending of reality and nightmare, a threshold where the two worlds collided. Dr. Phillips had mentioned that dreams often act as a bridge to our subconscious, bringing hidden fears and unresolved conflicts to the surface. Jason now wondered if the events of the previous night were a manifestation of these deep-seated fears, brought to life by his mind’s struggle to process them. As Jason pulled into his driveway, he couldn’t shake the feeling that the line between his dreams and reality had blurred. The hypnotic therapy had opened a door to his subconscious, and something had slipped through—a presence that now seemed to linger at the edges of his waking life.

That night, as he lay in bed, Jason felt a strange sense of anticipation. The room was silent, the only sound, the ticking of the clock on his nightstand. He closed his eyes, but sleep didn’t come easily. Instead, he lay awake, listening for the faint sound of hooves in the darkness, and wondering if his dreams would ever truly be just dreams again.