NEL:

Fragments of a memory.
Roots of trees.
A midnight's moon and a ghastly shadow.
A house...
Those eyes.

I shivered. I hated my dreams - it was like my subconscious purposefully wanted to terrify me. I really don't know what I did to deserve these nightmares. I pay my taxes. Sometimes...

God, I wish I had insomnia. Staying awake would be better than falling asleep, than going back there. Back to my dream world.

I know one's dreams are the subconscious mind's way of analysing the days thoughts - but I had a great day! None of those things happened! I swear, there was literally nothing that brought down my mood.

Except that May chick - but other than that, it was smooth sailing.

I swear, if she's the reason I'm gonna have bad dreams from now on - she has to go. I don't care if she's a homeless hoe or what, she's just got to go far, far away.

Her and that brother. God, he smells like a dog.

I sighed. Now that I'm awake - I have to do something. I can't just sit here and wait for the sun to rise.

The more I think about - insomnia seems pretty bad. Not sure if I'd really trade if I got the chance.

That dream.

I couldn't get it out of my head. It was just so... Weird.

Mom.

I hadn't had a dream about her in years. Why now? After everything? I thought that I'd gotten over that. Not that it's something to 'get over', but...

I placed my feet in the cold floor. Fuck. I had decided to go to her grave. Maybe there was something there. Maybe that was why I had this dream? My shrink said I should face my problems head on when they come at me.

Maybe, if I saw it one last time, I could really move on.

I grabbed a hoodie and threw some sweat pants on. My shoes were by the door and I slipped them on as I went.

I could hear Joe snoring as I passed her room. Jikes - I think I know what I'll get her for Christmas. That sounds dangerous for her health.

Marissa was silent, as usual.

That God damn brother of May's - Jake? Justin? Honestly idk - was also snoring. I guess I understand why Joe and him hit it off so well.

And May - of course - was reading a bloody book. What a bitch.

Now - don't get me wrong, it's not the fact that she's reading a book that pisses me off, but the fact that she has to switch the light on. And if that's not enough - the fucking door has to be open for some reason unknown to us all.

Some people are trying to sleep, ya know? And you and your bloody light are not helping. I know I can't sleep if a light is on. Maybe this whole thing is all your fault. Humph.

I switched off the light. She screamed.

Bitch.

I continued on my journey, scurrying down the stairs, through the kitchen and living room, into the foyer.

I stood at the front door.  A slight breeze managed to enter through the tiny slit under the door that we hadn't bothered to fix up.

I opened it and stepped out.

Jesus Christ it's cold. I could feel my feet turning blue. Damn these shoes.

I already felt stiff. I started debating whether or not I should really go. It's pretty cold - maybe I could battle my demons in the morni-

The door slammed shut behind me.

Well, I guess the world as other plans for me.

Shrugging, I strolled into the night, heading for Nowhere.

I could just feel that this was gonna be a looooong night.

********

Hi ya'll!

So... I've changed this chapter a lot. I mean - there was a whole dream scene thingy and that was like... Well - it was a lot of words.

But, I kinda feel really attached to the dream scene so I decided to include it here. Well, ⤵️.

It's not edited (sorry 'bout that...), but my grammar and stuff was fixed by le amazing Nakeishar . GO CHECK HER STUFF OUT.

SO, I HOPE YA'LL ENJOY!!!!

Be safe
~ K.

********

DREAM SCENE:

'I ran.

The trees began to move, their roots lashed out at my feet with an uncontrollable anger, grabbing them and pulling down - sending me face-first towards the ground.

The roots cocooned me into a ball. I felt my lungs beginning to close, pushing all air out - slowly suffocating me.

I clawed at the roots with my nails. They were growing by the second - from short, messily cut nails to talons made of shadows and cut as sharp as nightmares.

I tore the bark right off the roots, a black liquid oozed out slowly as if it were blood. The leaves became hard and brittle and fell to the ground.

As I tore through the roots - I saw a small opening.

Seizing the opportunity before they realised their mistake - I ripped the roots further apart, pulling myself up and out of their cage.

I stumbled blindly over the plants and bushes - the darkness surrounding me and leaving little moonlight to guide me along my path.

I was running in circles. I knew that I'd been running forever.

I've been running for so long I've forgotten what I'm running from.

My feet seemed to sink into the ground - the mud grabbing like souls from hell, pulling me down - calling to me in the language of my fears. I told myself to keep going - to get out of here and away from these demons I call my memories.

Out of My Dream World, a dark and isolated place.

A place where my nightmares come out to play.

Wind whipped my hair about, pulling me towards a stone cottage. It's thatch roof glowed like sunshine as the stones shimmered in the moonlight.

"It's not real!" I hissed to myself, spinning on my heal and sprinting in the opposite direction - away from that cottage of horrors.

Wind didn't seem to like this. Raising her hand, she flicked me with such force I was sent rocketing back towards the cottage, landing on the doormat.

"Fine Wind - have it your way, but I know that whatever lies beyond that door is more than what you bargained for." I told Wind, picking myself up and wiping the mud off my clothing.

Wind only seemed to chuckle at my statement - turning the slight breeze into a storm, throwing trees around and startling what little wildlife there was.

I raised my arm, ready to knock on the door - only for it to open on it's own accord. I jumped back in surprise.

I had hoped that no one would answer - but it seems as if nothing is going my way.

And in any case - nobody ever opens the doors to the houses in My Dream World.

After all, it's a deserted wasteland of forgotten dreams.

I slowly pushed the door open to reveal a dark, deserted hallway.

Wind gave me a gentle tap - telling me to proceed.

"No - just, no. I am not walking down some creepy dilapidated hallway in a cottage that's been built out in the middle of nowhere! Hell no!"

Wind sighed. My fear of creepy-dark-hallways-in-cottages-that-aren't-even-as-big-as-the-hallway was really starting to annoying her. She gave a look and folded her arms.

"Fine. I'll go down the damned creepy hallway - don't rush me..." I muttered, beginning my long journey down the passage.

The door slammed shut behind me, locking me into a maze I knew I could never escape from.

I banged against the door with such force that it's hinges squeaked, but I knew I would never break free.

"Help! Help me! Wind, don't leave me!" I screamed, continuing my assault upon the wood.

Eventually I stopped. Sinking to the ground, I cried. I cried for all the things I'd lost.

I cried for all the things that had slipped through my fingers.

"What is wrong, child?"

The voice halted my tears. I knew that voice.

It was the voice that should have made my river of tears into a sea.

I stood - knowing that I had to face the demons that I had hidden from for so long. I turned, looking the ghost straight in the eyes.

I froze.

The woman that stood there was a spitting image of her.

Red roses for lips, shinning porcelain for skin - hair made of midnight, stolen from the moon-lit sea. Her beauty captivated all those who looked, a spell of sweetness with a hint of murder.

The only thing different from her appearance and mine were her eyes.

They were emerald, like my mother's. Joe had our mother's eyes and our father's features, while I had taken mother's looks and father's eyes.

This woman looked exactly like my mother.

Everything, except one little thing.

Those eyes.

They were the same colour of course, like gems shining in a flashlight's beam, but this woman's eyes were... Different.

Her eyes were like stone - cold and deceiving, heartless and cruel. Eyes like that - they belonged in the sockets of murderer's skull, not my mother's. She was not a killer.

This women would be undeserving of mother's eyes. And I would rip them right out of her skull if she had stolen them.

I knew this women was not mother.

Mother was strong, her magic lingering in the air as she entered the room - her presence unmistakable. Her aura powerful, and as she took strides through a house or home - some might of mistaken her for our ruler.

This women was the opposite of mother.

She was thin and sickly, with a fragile and weak appearance. The only power she had was the madness that danced through her eyes. A madness that only gave power when one brutally pulled down another.

Down to a place that most fear.

"Well, child - at least I didn't abandon you." '