The Dreams

A drip of sweat runs down the side of my face as I focus on the task at hand. I need to get in and I'm not even sure why. After desperately trying to pick the lock, the door finally opens but from the inside. I walk through the doorway immediately only to find nothing but concrete walls, ceiling, and floor. The room is small, quiet, and exceedingly plain except for a closet door on the opposing wall to where I'm standing. I'm filled with so much curiosity that I don't even begin to question who let me in. There is no hesitation as I run to the the other side of the room and throw the closet doors open. The first image I see is me...I'm looking into a mirror although the mirror version of me looks different. She looks nicer, there's something in her eyes. My eyes explore her face intently when she suddenly disappears completely from the mirror. It takes me a moment to process what happened. I quickly move away turning my back to the mirror and I'm suddenly staring at myself again, but this time my eyes are still, glass orbs and I'm laying on the ground, a small stream of blood dripping from the corner of my mouth.

I stare ahead of me trying to focus my breathing to recover from the nightmare I just had. It was so strange. I hadn't had that dream since about two months ago, since the night before my sister-

"Karma, you okay?" Lyssa interrupted.

I quickly pull myself out of my thoughts and back into college, "Yeah I'm good. I just ...must've fallen asleep."

She gave me a questioning look but nodded her head anyways. "Okay," she responds after a little while. "Well, class is over and I don't wanna have to stay any longer than I have to."

She waits for me as I pack up my things and and we head off to our lunch, leaving Mr. Heron, our English professor, behind to bore his next class to sleep.

We walk in silence for a while and it's peaceful, but I see Lyssa glancing at me every now and then out of the corner of my eye and I know she's gonna break it.

"So...how are your mom and dad doing since the, well, the accident." She asks delicately as I feel her stare trained on me.

"They're trying...they're still trying real hard to go back to normal, but it's not something you just spring back from, you know?" I respond hoping that my answer was acceptable enough to end the conversation. But I know it's not. During the conversation I've kept my head down watching my feet move faster trying to get to the cafeteria before she asks more about it, when she suddenly stops. I slow my walking down a bit before stopping so there is some space between us. She says my name and I continue to stare down at my feet not wanting to turn around and look her in the eye. Unfortunately, Lyssa is the most persistent person I know. She walks up behind me grabs my shoulders, and spins me around, forcing me to face her though I continue to stare at the ground.

"Karma," she says, "how are you doing?" I glance up at her face, which is filled with concern.

Tears start to form in my eyes as I begin to speak, "I don't want to-"

"Karma," she says again, this time a little stronger, "you need to talk about-"

Now I look at her when I interrupt and yell, "I don't want to talk about it!" It comes out too harsh, and I immediately feel bad when I see her hurt look. This time she's the one who looks down at her feet. I feel the stares of other people in the courtyard. Not knowing what else to say or do, I pull my hood up and over my face as much as I can. I then turn around and finish the walk to the cafeteria by myself as I let the tears run down my cheeks. I wonder if I'll ever be able to talk about this, probably not. If I ever did I would be forced to think about what happened that night, and that I try my hardest not to. But it's too late, the memories painfully push their way back into my mind.