PREFACE
When I sleep, I dream; When I'm awake and stationary, I have no thoughts. I have the same dream for about two weeks, and then it would switch. Sometimes, I dream a dream for two months at a time. When I sleep, I don't choose what I dream about. Someone else does. I never thought anything of it, until I started dreaming of death. My last dream of death, was my death. Someone was trying to tell me something. Was my dreaming of death putting my life in danger, and pain in my life?
CHAPTER ONE
"Everything seemed so, familiar. Like, I was meant to be there, ya 'know. Just, it felt like it was home, but, it wasn't. My mom was there, and so was Jimmy and my dad. You were there, along with Kendra and Ryan. We were all having so much fun." I'd been talking to Andrea for a couple hours now. I was telling her, with many details, about my reoccurring dream I'd been having for a few weeks. Andrea was so fascinated by what I explained to her.
"All of the trees were draped in blankets of weepy leaves. The grass in the field whirled in the formation of the wind. But, what was weird, was that two little girls across the field were singing and jumping rope. I felt like I knew them, but, I don't remember ever meeting two little girls." Her and I were both lost in my words. " Nicki! Come down for dinner please!" My mom called. I was disappointed that I had to end my dream telling with Andrea, and so was she. "Hey, Andrea, I have to go, It's time for dinner. I will call you after and tell you the rest when I'm done. Oh, and remember, don't tell anyone, anyone, about my dream. Okay?" I said to her strictly. Andrea sighed with disappointment and we said goodbye.
I put the phone down and slid off my green and yellow comforted bed and sat on my floor. I opened the drawer of my nightstand and took out the mirror. I looked at myself, smiling. My black hair shined in my bedroom light. My features were so much like my dad. No one really saw the left half of my face, because my bangs were always covering it. I didn't want people to see it, the scar. I have along scar on the left half of my face. My mom would always tell me a different story on how I got it when I asked. Either it would be "You ran into a vehicle" or "A cat got angry at you" or maybe "You didn't know what scissors were at that age".
I don't remember anytime in my life when I was hurt and got a scar. But, then again, I have a terrible memory. Every memory I have up until I was nine is a blur. My dad died when I was nine. I wouldn't leave my room for about a week when he did. My mom would have to almost break down my door to give me food because I wouldn't open it. I would be sitting on my bedroom balcony staring into the forest that was mapped out in front me. My mom was one month pregnant with Jimmy before my dad died.
I laughed a brief "Ha" and put the mirror back in the drawer. When I hoisted my self up from the floor, I grunted. Although I was a track runner at my school, my muscles were still very sore. I started towards the stairs, but when I stepped out of my room, my little brother ran past me and knocked me into my door frame screaming "Weeeee! Zoom zoom!" I hit my right shoulder and side. Jimmy, my brother, and I got along, but we both had our differences. Like I don't like being pushed into my own door frame by a six year old boy. Jimmy stopped and turned around slowly. I stared at him and said, "Jimmy, what did I tell you yesterday? Don't run past my room like that. I keep hitting my shoulder on my door frame and it's starting to get really annoying." He looked at me apologetically and replied, "I'm thoory. I didn't mean to. I'm really thoory Nicki." He said through three missing teeth.
"It's fine. Just don't do it again, okay?" "I won't Nicki, I promithe." Jimmy said sweetly. He was always a suck-up whenever Jimmy knew he was in trouble. Jimmy smiled wide and ran down the stairs. I followed him slowly, watching my feet. When I got to the bottom, the aroma of steak, peas, and mashed potatoes danced around my nose. I smiled and dashed to the table. My favorite meal! When I sat down, there were four plates set out. My mom always sets a plate for my father, even though he's passed. My family and I don't usually conversate during dinner. My mom always said, "It's not polite to speak at the dining table. Your mouth is almost constantly full of food, and we should appreciate the meal by eating it, and not speaking and letting it get cold.".
She and I have never been very close, or similar. I haven't taken much after her. I don't have her slight English accent, or her swift, blond hair that Jimmy got. I take after my dad in many ways. Black hair, green eyes, his height. My dad was fairly tall. Around six foot four was his height. I have his personality. We were both always excited about the best things. But, I guess I get my energy from myself.
Surprisingly, my mom started talking to me during dinner. "Nicki, are you alright? You look a little antsy about something." She said. My mom, Mariah, could read my face easily. She would no if something was bothering me when I didn't say something was. "No. I'm just fine." I replied with a smile. My mom nodded and we continued eating. I was actually a little impatient about waiting to call Andrea again. During the not-so-silent silence at dinner, Jimmy's slurping of the potatoes and peas was getting annoying. I finished my dinner fast and put my plate in the sink.
On my way upstairs, I heard my mom conversating with Jimmy quietly. I couldn't make out anything she was saying, but she was probably telling him she was proud of him for eating all of his food like a good little boy. When I was finally in my room I immediately picked up the phone, but when I did, there was a noise, a loud noise, outside my window. I set the phone down and walked over to my balcony doors and looked out. I couldn't see much, so my hands reached and opened the doors and I walked out. When I opened the door, the fresh air whirled around me and flooded my room. I smiled a little smirk and went to the railing of the balcony.
"Nicki! Nicki! Down here!" Someone was whispering my name very loudly, apparently to get my attention. I leaned over the railing and saw, to my surprise, Andrea. "What are you doing Andrea!?" I yelled. "Well, since my house phone is down, I thought I'd come to your house so you could tell me your dream in person." Andrea replied happily. I chuckled and smiled at her. I always knew she was a little weird, but I never thought she would come to my house to listen to the rest of my silly dream. I looked at her in humor for a couple more seconds, and then asked, "You could have called me using your cellphone. Anyway, so uh, how do you expect to get yourself up here?" I asked "Front door?" She questioned.
"I suppose you didn't think about how you were going to get up here, did you?" Andrea knew I knew it was true. Her smile answered my question, and I ran down the stairs quietly to the front door. Peeking around the hallway corner, I saw my mom sitting in my dad's study reading a book. My mom's back was towards me so she couldn't see me. I tried as hard as I could to open the front door silently, but it's always had a slight click when it was opened or closed. I peered my head around the wooden door and signaled Andrea to come in. She ran quickly in the house with her light feet prancing up the stairs.
After I shut the door I ran up the stairs to find Andrea stopped in the hallway upstairs. I had a questioning look on my face, until I walked up and stood next to her. Jimmy was standing at the end of the hall looking at both of us. He had a smirk on his face and was rubbing his hands together. He wasn't so sweet when someone else was being sneekey.
"I'm gonna tell mom." Jimmy said.
"Please don't. I didn't tell mom that you were pushing me into my door frame."
"Tho," He said leaning forward, "I'm thtill gonna tell."
"Okay. Then if you tell mom, then I will tell her that you've been pushing me into my door frame." Jimmy looked at me with shock. I wasn't going to tell, but he knew he'd get in trouble if I told. "I won't tell." Jimmy said as he ran back in his room. Andrea and I both laughed and walked in my room. I closed the door silently and Andrea started to talk. "Tell me the rest of your dream." She said pleadingly. "Okay. Um, where was I?" I ran through my words in my head and found where I had stopped.
"Oh yeah. So, there were the two little girls, right. They looked familiar. Little green dresses with orange hair and white bows on their head. I started to walk to them, but then Ryan, Kendra, and you called me over to where you were. I went to you, and I looked at what you told me to look at. There was a large water fall, with many rainbows floating from it. We kept following the water fall down from the top over and over again. When the water hit the bottom, a poof of white mist repeated. Every once and a while you'd see dolphins poke their noses out of the water. Kendra had a crazy idea that should go swimming in it. Ha, we were all up to it, but you. Ha. We talked you into doing it. We all walked with amazement down the spiral hill that seemed to be floating. Vines and leaves contoured every inch of the spiral. All we saw when we go to the bottom was sparkling blue water, blue and green leaves floating, and we smelt fresh air, with sea salt and and a hint of cinnamon. Everyone smiled. There was a little cliff, about twenty-five feet tall that you had to jump off of to get in the water. Ryan jumped in first. Screaming, of course. Then me. When I ran the mist from the water fall tickled my face. I smiled and laughed as I jumped. My arms and legs flailed and wiggled when I fell weightlessly to the water. My body made a splash. As I swam over to Ryan Kendra was already half way down. Once all three of us were in the water, we had to scream at you to get you to jump. It was really funny. You finally jumped and we were all in the water at the bottom.It was so much fun.
Again, her and I were lost in my words, with no movement except a smile. Suddenly, my mom knocked on my door and said, "Nicki, can I come in?" Andrea's eyes widened and so did mine. What am I going to do! I thought. "Um, hold on mom." I said as I hand-jestered Andrea to hide in my closet. She was small enough to fit. "Okay mom." I said as I ran back to my bed from closing the closet doors. When my mom opened the door, she was smiling widely. She walked over to me, put her hand on my shoulder and said, "I love you sweetie." It was rare that my mom would come up to my room and say that she loved me.
She barely ever went in my room, and when she did it would be to put some of my laundry away if I forgot some downstairs. "Love you too, mom." I said with a small smile. She kept smiling, and then she looked out of the balcony doors, looked at the forest before her, and sighed. "Alright, well, I'm going to go say goodnight to your brother. Goodnight, Nicki." My mom kissed my forehead and left. When I heard her down in Jimmy's room, I got up quickly and ran over to the closet. When I opened the doors, I saw Andrea sitting on the floor, reading a notebook entitled
DREAM JOURNAL
"Andrea, what are you doing?" I asked as I reached for the book. "I found this book. A dream journal. Are these you dreams?" Andrea kept turning as I kept reaching for the book. It looked like my dreams were amusing to her. As she read a couple of my dreams, word for word, she kept smiling. "Andrea, c'mon, give it." I said as I tried snatching the notebook again. "Yeah, yeah, one sec. Let me just finish this last sentence."
I stood up straight and crossed my arms. When she was done reading, I took the book and put it in my desk and locked it. "Andrea, those are my dreams. You can't just read someone's dreams that they have written down." I wasn't as angry as I would be if it were to have been my mom or maybe even Jimmy. But, Andrea's my best friend. "Well, can I get inside of your head for a night? Your brain must be really interesting to be having those amazing dreams." Andrea said with amazement in her voice. I smiled and replied, "Thanks, Andrea. That's really nice." Andrea shrugged her shoulders and said, "I know."All of the sudden, Andreas phone started to ring a monotonous ringing. On the screen it said MOM CALLING. "Oh crap" she said as she looked up at me.
"Hello?" She asked as she answered her phone.
"Andrea May Victor, where are you?" I heard her mom's voice very strict on the other line.
"Um," Andrea looked at me with her eyes asking me the question. "Tell her you went for a walk." I whispered.
"I went for a short walk. I wasn't in a good mood. I'm coming back right now."
"Alright. Get back here soon. It' almost midnight."
"Okay."
"Love you."
"Love you too. Bye"
"Bye."
"I have to go home. My mom must've woken up and went to check up on me." She said with disappointment in her voice. "It's fine. You could come over next time with our parents knowing so this doesn't happen again." I said with a smile. "Well, see you tomorrow at school. Bye." Andrea said. We both hugged and I said, "Let me go down the stairs first, to make sure my mom is still in her chair." "Sure." Andrea replied as she followed me to the staircase. I walked down to the bottom of the stairs while she waited at the top for me to wave my hand. I waved my hand and told her it was clear. She ran down the stairs and out the door. "Bye." Andrea yelled as she left. When I shut the door, I immediately ran up to my room. I had a great idea. I unlocked my desk drawr and took out my Dream Journal. I took it and ran out on my balcony. "Andrea! Here, give it back when you're done!" I tossed the journal down to her and she caught it with a smile. "Thank you!" She yelled back to me. Andrea turned around and started walking back home.
I closed the patio doors and walked to my bed. I smiled as I took the picture of my dad that was sitting on my nightstand with my cellphone, lamp, and radio, and I held it to my chest. "I love you dad. Goodnight." I whispered to the picture. When he was still alive, my dad would always come up to my room before I went to bed and we'd talk a little bit, then, he would kiss my forehead, tuck me in, and say I love you. I still do it. I will sometimes start talking, as if my dad were there to listen. As I set the picture down, I smiled. As I yawned, I turned around in my bed and switched the light switch. As soon as I closed my eyes, the dream started again.
We were still in the water, splashing each other, laughing, and having the best time. Not long after we jumped in, the dolphins started to swim around us. It was amazing. All of the song birds were singing, frogs were croaking, and even some horses stopped by to get a drink. They were unusual horses. The horses were lime green, with a body shape of a camel without the humps. On every other part of it body, the so called "horses" had a couple of orange spots that looked like they were paint splatters. I'd never seen anything like them before. All of us were amazed. It seemed like a full day had gone by in my dream, but in reality, about 3 hours had passed. Then, the dream turned into a nightmare.
The horses were being shot at and so were the dolphins. The little girls I saw jumping rope were running and screaming with their green dresses dripping with their blood. Tears flooded the girls' tracks behind them. The once perfect and beautiful sky was now being taken over with darkness and fear. As Kendra, Ryan, Andrea, and I ran out of the water, we all watched the waterfall go red with blood and turn the water we ran out of into its mirror image. Screams were heard all around us. "Run!" Ryan screamed to all of us. We all started running, but we had no idea where we were going. We would be running in and out of clouds of black dust. I tripped over what seemed like the two little girls' jump rope. "Help! Andrea! Help!" I kept screaming, but they kept running. The last thing I heard before I woke up was me screaming.
I woke up in a panic, breathing heavily. My chest and forehead were lightly covered in sweat. I looked to my left and out my windowed doors and saw that it was thunder storming with the sky flickering with light. I sighed, and put my head in my cupped hands. As I rubbed my face lightly in my hands I said, "What is going on in my head?" I was thinking about what Andrea said. She wants to get inside my head. Right now, I think that would be good for me right now. The last time I had a nightmare was one day before my dad died. I didn't even have one after he died.
I pulled off my covers to cool off and looked at my clock. Three fifteen a.m. Another three hours and I had to wake up for school. I thought about going back to bed, but, then I thought about going to get a cup of water. I thought about what to do. "Glass of water, I guess." I said as I stumbled out of bed. Rubbing my eyes when I walked down the stairs helped me so I could find the cup and sink for water. I switched the kitchen light on and went to the cabinet adjacent to the fridge and grabbed a cup, still in my red and black plaid shorts and green and blue Old Navy T-shirt. On the other end of the counter was the sink.
I walked over to it quickly, so I wouldn't waste time. As I filled my cup up with water, I heard Jimmy get out of bed and walk to the bathroom. I started to doze off a little bit, but then I felt the water over flow and spill onto my hand. My head jerked up and I shut the faucet off. I drank the water as fast as I could with big gulps every sip. When I was done, I lightly set the cup down, making sure that I didn't drop it.
When I was back up in my room and in my bed, I repeated to myself, "Have good dreams, have good dreams. No nightmares, no nightmares." I kept saying that until I was sleeping. My dream left off where it was before the nightmare started. And it was a perfect dream after that. The unusual horses were still there, drinking the water. From then on, it was a good dream without any nightmares. The girls weren't sopping in blood, and the sky was beautiful. Nothing was to be heard except the grass moving like seaweed and rubbing against each other from the wind.