Born of starlight and shadows

~Part one (c): Dreams~

I set down my pencil, thinking that if I'd been tired before, now I was utterly exhausted. All I wanted was to crawl in bed and dream peaceful, happy dreams. Okay, the latter probably wasn't going to happen, but sleep filled with nightmares was technically still sleep.

Though I really didn't feel like it, I carefully put all of my homework assignments into their separate binders, which were organized by subject. My pencil, eraser, and ruler all went into my pencil case, and my Spanish flashcards were placed back into their plastic bag. Then everything went back into my backpack, which I placed by my bed. There. Even if I slept through my alarm again, I would be somewhat ready for school tomorrow.

I dug through my dresser drawers, looking for some pajamas. I located a pair, and was just about to change into them when I heard Maria cry out from her room across the hall. She'd gone to bed about-I glanced at my watch. Hmm, it wasn't even ten yet. I was even more worn-out than I'd thought.

Maria had gone to bed less than an hour ago ,then, which was more than enough time for her to fall asleep. She was probably having a bad dream. Still, in my experience, there was no such thing as 'just' a bad dream, so I went to go check on her.

The nightlight that was plugged into her wall illuminated her sleeping form, tossing and turning in the bed.

"No!" she cried. "No, please don't do it! Don't hurt her!"

Okay, definitely a bad dream.

I should wake her up, I thought.

I hesitated. Would she thank me for waking her? It was pretty late, by her standards, and maybe if I let her continue sleeping, she'd have a better night's sleep than if I woke her up.

"Please," Maria whispered, her voice filled with fear.

All right, this is no longer up for debate, I told myself.

I shook her gently. "Maria. Wake up."

Her eyes opened and darted around the room before the room before they came to rest on me.

"Stella? Is that you? Why're you in my room?" she asked, sounding half-asleep still.

"You were dreaming," I said. "I thought you might be having a nightmare, so I woke you up."

"I was having a nightmare," Maria shivered slightly. "It was pretty terrible."

"Do you want to talk about it, or anything?" I asked. "If you do, I promise I'll listen, but if you don't want to, I understand."

"Okay," she said through a yawn. "I'll tell you about it."

She took a deep breath. "It started with me walking down the hall of my school like I do every day. Around me, my classmates were walking, too. Until they were running. Running and screaming. I turned around to see what they were running from. There was a-"

She shook her head. "I'm not even sure how to describe it, exactly. From what I could tell, it was, I don't know, a ghost made of shadows, or something. Once I saw it, I wanted to run, too. But I couldn't. That's when you came running down the hallway. You didn't say anything, just charged at the ghost, or whatever it was. I could hear it laughing at you. 'Silly girl,' it said. And then, I couldn't see you anymore. I could hear you screaming, though.

"'Don't hurt her!' I wanted to scream, but no sound came out. Then the ghost turned its eyes on me. 'Don't worry, little one. You'll join her soon,'" Maria continued. "And then you shaking me awake. Thanks for that, by the way. I really didn't want to see what happened next."

"I-you're welcome," I said.

Maria yawned and laid her head down on her pillow. "It felt so real."

"I know what you mean," I said. "Believe me, I do. Sometimes you've just got to remind yourself that it wasn't real, though. That it was all just a dream."

Maria nodded. "Right. Just a dream."

She closed her eyes.

"I still wish I knew what it meant," she mumbled.

"Is that one of the reasons why you'd be the 'goddess of dreams' or whatever?" I asked. "So you'd know what your dreams meant?"

"Yeah," Maria said.

Sorry, kid, I thought, but you're not always going to know what your dreams mean. I wish I did, but I don't. That's just the way things are.

I didn't say any of that out loud, though. All I said was, "Good night, Maria," as I left her room.

"'Night," she replied, closing her eyes.

She was asleep within moments. Not me, though. After I carefully made my way across the hall into my own room, turned off the light, and climbed into bed, the sounds of my parents arguing downstairs kept me awake for what felt like at least a couple of hours. I wondered what they were saying, but I was too tired to go downstairs and find out. So I tried my best to block out their voices and go to sleep.

But it didn't come until after the downstairs was silent and my parents had gone to bed.