Short Stories

Dreamcatcher

Dreamcatcher
By: Mary Morrison
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I don't know how I'm going to live with myself
if I don't stay true to what I believe.
-Desmond T. Doss, Hacksaw Ridge-
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Willow tugs on her hair with stress building as she thinks of the upcoming due date of her next short story. What is she going to do? She has no ideas of what to do for the next story, and with the deadline creeping up on her, she was fit to be tied. Willow releases a breath of air before grabbing a book and sitting on her couch to read. Maybe I can get ideas from this, she thinks as she opens the book to the first page.
Hours pass, and Willow is still reading. With no ideas for this story, she flips the page of her book and continues to read her favorite book, Redemption at Hacksaw Ridge. It amazes her how one man could continue to fight for what he believed even when everyone was against him.
With the stress of the deadline creeping back up on her, Willow sets the book down and stands up. She walks over to her computer and types the title of her upcoming story. She stares at the computer screen, her fingers resting on the keys ready to type. Nothing comes to her mind leaving Willow to bang her head against the table. "One story! One storyline is all I need!" Willow exclaims in frustration. She tugs on her mouse-brown hair once again before resting her head against the table and closing her eyes.
The sound of knocking echoes throughout the room. Willow gets up from her computer desk and jogs to the door. She opens the door to reveal chaos. She looks around to see people running and screaming in fear and panic. She looks around for whatever is causing the chaos to see nothing in particular that would cause such a mess. Willow runs out into the street amongst the panicking crowd. She grabs a person who was running by and asks what is going on.
"Can't you see it? That car is on fire! It's going to blow up any minute!" the woman cried in terror. Willow looks down the street from where the woman had been running from and sees a car overturned with the engine engulfed in flames. Willow can hear the cries of help from whoever is stuck inside.
"Why is nobody helping them?" Willow asks the woman. "Those people need help. Why are you running?"
"No life is more precious than mine," the woman spits before running off with the rest of the crowd. Willow looks in disbelief and disgust at the cowards that run away from doing what is right.
"I have to help," Willow whispers to herself. She runs toward the burning car. Her feet pound against the pavement as her breath starts to come in puffs. Along the way, she picks up a leather jacket that someone dropped and covers her mouth and nose as she gets closer to the burning vehicle.
"Help!" a voice cries out. Willow looks around for whoever it is that is trapped.
"Hello?" Willow yells over the crackle of the fire. "Can you hear me?" Movement in the back of the car catches her attention.
"Back here!" the voice calls out. Willow sees a woman in the backseat. "My ankle is pinned in between the seat and the roof!" Willow climbs into the overturned car and crawls toward the injured woman.
"Was there anyone else in the car with you?" Willow asks as she tries to free the woman's ankle.
"My baby. She was in the back! Oh God!"
"It'll be okay. We'll find your baby. How old is she?" Willow asks, trying to calm the woman down.
"She's two. Oh God! What if she's hurt?" the woman panics.
"She'll be okay," Willow says in a calming tone. She finally gets the woman's foot free from where it was pinned. "Let's get out of here." Willow hands the woman the leather jacket to cover her face before helping her get out of the car. Once they got out of the car, Willow helps the woman to safety.
"My baby! Please find my baby!" the woman sobs. Willow nods and runs back to the car. She skids to a stop when she sees a car seat in the middle of the street. She runs to the car seat to see a toddler in the seat with tears streaking her face. Willow picks up the toddler and carries her back to the woman. The woman sobs when she sees Willow carrying her child. Willow smiles and hands the toddler over to her mother and sits on the ground.
Suddenly, Willow hears an intense screeching sound. The sound overcomes everything. She realizes that the sound is the alarm on her phone. Willow lazily opens her eyes and looks up to see that she is sitting in front of her computer. She looks at the page pulled up on the screen in confusion. At the top, bold letters read "DREAMCATCHER". Willow's eyes widen in realization that the day she just witnessed is nothing more than a mere dream. Willow looks down at her fingers which rest on the keys of the keyboard and begins to type her story:
The sound of knocking echoes throughout the room...