Dreamers

Water dripped from her face as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. "Aisling, you're gonna be late for school" her mother yelled from downstairs, shaking out of her daze and taking a deep breath, she began to do her hair. Her raven hair was sectioned into two and then french braided, she brushed her teeth and put on a bit of mascara causing her dark gray eyes to stand out. Aisling opened the mirror and grabbed the orange pill bottle labelled Prazosin. She closed the mirror and jumped at her reflection seeing the thing from her nightmares floating behind her. It had beady red eyes and a soulless face. She turned around the see nothing there and then looked back at the mirror to see nothing but herself. With a sigh she took her medication and then went downstairs to join her mother for breakfast.

"How'd you sleep honey" her mother asked placing a plate of pancakes in front of her, "same as usual" her daughter breathed. Aisling began to cut into her food when the creature appeared again. "Um I should really get going, you were right I'm gonna be late" she said hurriedly grabbing her bag from off the chair and rushing out of the house before her mother could say anything. On the walk to school her head pounded and her vision blurred as fear overtook her body. Images of her running through the forest flashed through her mind and screams echoed through her head. They didn't stop.

Throughout the whole school day the intense feeling of fear. The feeling that she was being watched and followed. Then she was in her last class of the day taking notes and counting the minutes until the bell rang. She dropped her pen needing a break from writing, she rubbed her temples closing her eyes for second until she heard a low growl. Aisling looked around the classroom to see everyone unbothered. Some were taking notes, others were on the phone and there was a group of kids talking to each other on the far end of the room. That was were she saw the creature. It levitated in the corner and she was the only one who seemed to notice. Her heart began to race as it started to make its way over to her. Its eyes glowed under its hooded cape that covered its entire body. She looked at the clock only one minute left. She packed her things quickly her breaths becoming shallow. It was almost to her when the bell rang. "Have a good day class" she teacher announced but she was already out the door. It was close behind her as she rushed through the sea of students. She ran out the back of the school not knowing where to go. She spotted the entrance to the forest no one dared to go into, but in the moment it was her only escape. She was hesitant at first but the low growls urged her forward.

Those growls turned into piercing scream. She ran as fast as she could having no time to catch her breath or even look back to see if she was still being haunted by her nightmare. Her foot caught on a branch causing her fall, Aisling shrieked as she felt a burning sensation in her leg. Looking back the ghoulish creature was greyish-blue with black claws that were seeping into her skin. It was then she realized her the images from earlier were of her. 'This is it' she thought to herself, she looked at the monster and realized she was looking death in its blood red eyes. The thing screamed again causing the birds to fly from the trees. She heard something being shot from above, it hit the creature and turned it to dust. Her vision was blurring as she looked around. Three figures jumped from the tree tops and surrounded her but then it all became dark.

She woke up with an agonizing pain shoot up her leg. She looked around confused as to where she was, but one thing she knew for sure was that it definitely wasn't a hospital. She winced in pain as she did her best to sit up. The room was small, she tried to take in the details but was distracted by a guy in the corner of the room sharpening a quiver of arrows. "I was beginning to think you'd never wake up." He was tall with floppy brown hair and bright blue eyes. He walked over to her and glanced down at her leg "its healing" he said curiously as he sat on the edge of the bed. "Where am I" her voice was shaky as she watched his every move "relax, we saved your life." Her brows furrowed then thought back to the incident remembering the three figures right before she blacked out. "What's your name" he asked shaking her out of the daze she was in. She stared at the boy blankly "I'm not telling you anything till you tell me where I am" she demanded, he put his hands up in defense and sighed. "It's difficult to explain right now, all I can tell you is that you're safe from whatever attacked you. Do you have any idea what that was by the way?" Aisling shrugged "it was from a dream, well a nightmare, I didn't know it was real." The boy smirked "to the outside world and to normal people, dreams are just dreams and nightmares are just nightmares" he explained confusing her more than she already was. "So you're saying I'm not normal" she asked and he shook his head, "if I'm not normal, then what am I?" The boy smiled "you're special" he told her, she watched him for a moment "it's Aisling by the way, but you can call me Ash." She held out her hand and he took it "I'm Evan."

3She dropped his hand and took a deep breath "so when can I go home" she asked expectantly "um about that" Evan sighed. He stood up from the bed running his fingers through his hair "well first off we need to make sure you're fully healed and that no poison was left in your system and then we'll need to run a few test." AIsling's eyebrows shot up "tests? I'm not some lab rat" she threw the covers off and tried to stand up. She had stumbled a little but managed to hold herself up "where are you going" he asked crossing his arms over his chest "home, don't try to stop me." She grabbed her bag and left as fast as she could "good luck" Evan yelled after her. Another boy and girl appeared at Evan's side "where is she going" the girl asked "she'll be back."

By Kat.Tell