Empire

The Dream

Image - The forest from Skylar’s dream.

"Don't tell me this is happening again?!" Skylar kept running with a burnt sleeve, trying not to get herself hit by a tree trunk on her way. She had no idea who was carrying out the attack, but she was scared. This dream came to her a week ago, and ever since, Skylar always had the same dream every time. Even though she knew that nothing could harm her in her sleep, the very idea of being able to see the various possibilities of dying frightened her. And, also the fact that she couldn't avoid the usual sad ending of her dream, even though she knew it was coming. The only interesting part might have been that every time she dreamt, a new part of the story revealed itself, like pieces of a puzzle trying to come together. Last time she dreamt, she saw herself getting crushed by a boulder thrown at her. Yep, death-dreams don't come any cooler than this.

Skylar usually found herself waking up in a forest. It looked all pretty and magical at first, so she decided to get up and roam around for a while. Mystical as it may look, this forest was no safe place, especially to intruders, such as Skylar. And so, the attack was carried out on Skylar for trespassing on forbidden boundaries. Yep, seemed like a lame reason to Skylar. Who kills trespassers before bothering to know why they turned up in the first place? Skylar guessed these people wouldn't be exactly 'friendly'. The first phase of the attack was a rain of flaming arrows, and by chance, one of them seared Skylar's sleeve. Although it didn't really burn her, she ran as fast as she could so that she could escape the attack. She found herself beginning to stumble as she avoided flaming arrows, boulders, and trees in her path all at once. But it was too late. She took one wrong turn, and came to a dead end, and before you know it, she gets crushed by the boulder. But this time, before she got hit, she remembered seeing something. A face.

Skylar woke up with a jolt, gasping for her breath. After all, anticipating an inevitable death by a flying rock isn't something you come across everyday (Actually, make an exception for Skylar's case). "Who in the world?" She groaned, as she got off the bed. The face she saw was blurry in her mind, but it kept lingering there. For once, she wanted to see that dream again just so that she could see that face once more. Maybe it meant an explanation to the dreams, and why they kept coming. "Okay, try to focus on what you saw." Skylar told herself as she got ready for school. It was definitely the face of a boy, she thought. She tried to remember some facial features, but every time she got close to visualizing something, it slipped away. But, she knew that somewhere in the back of her mind, that face was crystal clear. There was this fraction of a second, where Skylar came really close to remembering something, and the face seemed almost a bit too familiar for some reason.

It can't be.

While having her breakfast, Skylar was having a debate session in her mind. First topic that came to her mind : was this a dream or a nightmare? Definitely a dream. She'd seen nightmares way worse than this. Second topic : should she talk to someone about these dreams? Nope, nope, big fat nope. They'd think she was having delusions. Skylar knew better than making people think she was going crazy. And... that was pretty much all she had to bother about, for now. It was rather odd actually. Skylar expected herself to think long, and carefully about her choices, but she just made up her mind in a split second. "Strange, eh?" She muttered.

She had a pretty deep connection with her instincts sometimes. Doubtful one moment, decisive the other. She always trusted the decisions she made.

'The first thing that comes to your mind comes from your instincts, and it's always the right choice. Life doesn't give you much time for second guessing yourself. If something doesn't go according to plan, improvise.' This was Skylar's life motto.