Don't Wake Me if I'm Dreaming Read Free Page B

I look down, clenching my fists, mustering the courage to drop. I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and extend my foot falling into the knee deep, freezing cold water. “Ehhhh geeezus!” I shriek. In an instant, I lunge back, tripping over another smaller rock, falling to the ground with my legs partially submerged in the water. I look around realizing my plan failed. As I scurry to stand, wiping dirt from my pajama shorts, I glance across the cove. The boy has returned, standing again at the water’s edge. It is difficult to make out more than his silhouette in the darkened forest’s shadows with only light of the moon, but I know, undoubtedly, it is he. Another surge of fear trembles through my body, ripping at my nerves, as his gaze crosses the water hitting me. Distance and the darkness isn’t enough to prevent the visions from happening with the same numbingly cold sensation ripping through my body. The image of me is as visible as before, and it is no longer dark outside. I’m wearing pink striped pajama shorts and a matching tank top, exactly the way I looked before falling asleep. That is about the magnitude I can visibly see from this distance. Suddenly, a man is standing directly behind me, sending a soaring fear through my body, worse than I was already feeling. I can’t control what I am seeing, or what I am doing, I can only watch as I stand facing the little boy with a stranger at my back. That is the point I wake, still not having any answers, just more reasons to fear sleep.
    ***
    I set the pen and tablet on my nightstand then leaned back against the headboard. Looking at my toes, I examined them as if expecting to see dirt. I spaced off trying to remember if I had missed any details of the dream. I pictured the man, I saw in the boy’s vision, standing motionless behind me. I remember he stood a few inches taller than me, maybe six foot, with dark, almost black hair, but I couldn’t see the fine points of his features. Just as suspicious as his presence, was his attire. He wore what appeared to be a black suit or tuxedo, like some secret-service agent or something, which made no sense. As if any of it makes sense, the voice in my head argued as I snapped back to reality.
    The fear had hardly diminished by the time I used the bathroom, washed up, and brushed my teeth. I stopped a moment, stretching in front of the bathroom mirror as I yawned with a stare at my reflection. “How is any of this possible?” I murmured, reaching to hold the sink for balance. Thankfully, the mirrored image didn’t reply. At this point, anything impossible seemed to be anything but impossible. I twisted my messy hair into a braid, and then searched for my cellphone. I knew it was ridiculously late to make a phone call, but I didn’t want to be alone. Matt had to sleep whenever time permitted at the fire department, and he had to be at a job site by seven in the morning. I could only think of one other person that wouldn’t hang up at this hour. I speed dialed my best friend, Aimee Rutledge’s number, and was beyond grateful when she answered.
    “Are you dying?” she asked just louder than a whisper.
    “Not exactly!”
    “Then allow me to arrange for that.” She breathed deeply through her nose.
    “Sorry, I know it’s kind of late… early...” I groveled. “I need you right now.”
    “It’s Sasha. Go back to sleep,” she muttered to her husband, Vance, with a groan, “What time is it?”
    “That’s not important, and I know you want to meet me at the diner. I’m desperate. I don’t want to be alone right now.”
    “I thought that’s why you have a boyfriend?”
    “He’s working and I need you, not him,” I involuntarily whined a little.
    “Can’t this wait until tomorrow morning?”
    “It is morning, a quarter past three to be exact.”
    “You need a live-in companion to keep you company. A bird or a cat, anything.” She yawned. “It’s not healthy always being alone all the time.”
    “A