War Of Millennium

Chapter 8: Convoluted Complications

Whatever happened that night, I didn't sleep very well at all. I kept jerking awake with a bunch of nightmares. And then I'd fall back asleep, trying to forget about the previous nightmare, just to have another. They became more and more frequent as the night wore on. It felt unending.

I'd never really had severe nightmares before. I rarely ever had nightmares as it was. Maybe I was just having a bad night, or it was something to do with the aftermath of my circumstances.

But it wasn't just that I was having nightmares. All of them ended terribly. I always died in some violent and terrible fashion. Sometimes they involved me seeing the death of someone I cared about, particularly Ivy and Shane.

Seeing as my dreams usually predicted or described or warned me about something that might happen in the future, I was naturally terrified of what might've happened next.

Everything that happened in the dreams felt significant to me—whether or not I realized any connections. I couldn't quite put my finger on whether or not I was uncomfortable, or whether I was scared of something happening.

One dream stood out among the rest. Jay, for some reason, was the protagonist—but he wasn't a hero. He'd completely turned against me and our family. Completely. He tried to murder me lots of different times. And ivy tried to help him lots of different times.

That dream seemed to last forever.

It seemed like I'd been helpless; like there was no way I was going to survive both of them. And I didn't—both of them managed to overpower me. Everything just went black. I almost thought I could feel the pain from their knives.

After that, I jerked awake for the last time. I decided I didn't want or need any more sleep. The last dream had been enough to scare me out of my tired feeling. I was wide awake by then.

Light was just beginning to peek over the trees and shine onto the clearing in bits and pieces. But the light didn't make me feel any better. I couldn't stop shaking or worrying. It was rather hysterical.

I knew the majority of parents and children would probably be waking up soon. But, even with the thought of being with other people, I still forced the fire to flare back to life, and I questioned the relationships I had with people around me. I wondered what was going on with Ivy and Jay.

I sat up for a long time just thinking. It was a dreary morning for me, despite all the sunshine and chirping birds. I wasn't sure how to process what I'd see, especially not with all the extra noises and distractions.

I envied all the people that were peacefully sleeping around me. While they were, most likely, having a perfectly normal morning—probably dreaming of a time where war wasn't ravaging their lives—and there I was.

Then I started thinking about Ivy. I wondered what she could've been thinking or dreaming about. It sounded weird to me, too, but I couldn't help it. I was genuinely curious.

I understood that I'd only had a simple dreams, and that dreams were fake. But dreams can look awfully realistic. And they feel real. Once I'd woken up, I wondered whether or not my best friend and newfound brother had really almost killed me.

I couldn't really give any explanation for what happened after that. People started to stir and wake up. It was the usual.

But then I heard this weird voice in my head.

I know, that sounds weird. At first, I thought it was weird, too. And I was beyond confused. I didn't really have much time to dwell upon the fact that I was going insane, though.