The Maestro

Chapter 9 -- The Sunrise

Note: In this chapter, Irene's nightmare deals with the topic of suicide. As you may already know, Irene struggles with depression and thoughts of harming herself. If you don't want to read the details of the dream, then skip to where that part ends and she wakes up. And remember, Michael is gonna help her to overcome her illness. ❤

Nightmares.

I had them often...and tonight was no different. A particularly disturbing one occurred after I'd fallen asleep, nestled in the covers of the unfamiliar bed. Surprisingly, I'd had no trouble falling asleep in this strange mansion. But now, in the middle of the night, the real terror began as my darkest thoughts took hold in the form of a dream.

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A room began to appear around me. I felt the cold wood of a rickety chair beneath my bare feet. Realization hit me--I was back at my room in my house. I kept my head down, for I knew what I would see when I lifted my head; this scene was all too familiar.

Of course, the plot of the dream couldn't be stopped, and my head eventually lifted so I came face-to-face with what I dreaded so much. A rope, tied into a noose, hanging from the ceiling. The only problem was, I couldn't see the ceiling, for it was all black when I looked up. The noose simply hung from nothingness, reaching down to the height of my head when I stood on the chair. I wanted to scream, but when I opened my mouth, no sound dared to come out. Everything was eerily quiet. So quiet, I could hear my heart racing inside my ribcage.

I looked down to see what I was wearing. An old t-shirt, sweatpants, no socks. Reaching my fingers up to feel my face and knotted hair, I tried to talk myself out of this dream.

It's all just a dream!

You can wake up!

It's not real...

But I didn't wake up. And suddenly I knew...the only way to wake up, would be to--

I stepped off the chair and slipped into the rope. No emotion anymore. No feelings. Just the feel of the rope tightening around me. I couldn't...breathe. My vision went foggy, and then...it went...

Black.

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Air rushed back into my lungs again as I lunged forward from the mattress, drenched in sweat and out of breath. God, why did these nightmares always happen to me?! Tears were beginning to run down my face while I was trying to calm myself down, but it took a while before I could even see clearly without blinking back the tears. It was only now that I could actually see my real surroundings again. I remembered all of what had happened the night before, and how Michael had let me stay in the guest room for the night. I looked around me, and noticed that it was morning now.

Sunlight was streaming in through the rose-colored curtains that covered the picture window, casting a warm tint over the room. The bed I was sitting in felt soft and comfy, and the comforters and pillows looked as if they'd been fluffed. I could see the hardwood floor, but something was different about it. There weren't as many rotting planks as before. Perhaps it was only because I hadn't seen the room in the daytime yet, but still...it looked a lot better than the rest of the house had seemed last night.

I glanced to the bell that was beside my bed, noticing how the metal gave off a shine. I remembered how Michael had disappeared when I turned to say goodnight to him last night. It was hard to believe that this was actually reality, he was actually a ghost, and I was actually staying in a haunted mansion.