Stella sat nearly still as she did her work, entering data into the computer without taking a break for an hour straight, if she could stop blinking and get her work done faster, she would. Every thirty minutes or so her eyes would wander towards the hallway searching for any sign of Matthew. She realized that she did not even see him come into work today, but she kept having this strange feeling that he would just appear in front of her! She exhaled deeply as she tried to clear her mind and stop letting her paranoia get the best of her. "Maybe Matthew knew the person that died and was put into the morgue, but that still doesn't explain why he was smiling!" Stella thought to herself before she suddenly felt a small tap on her shoulder. "You're mumbling to yourself Stella" Mr. Harrison (Stella's boss) said in a hushed tone as he stood behind her with a concerned look on his face.

Stella turned around to face him and gave him a small smile as she tried to hide her embarrassment. "Hello Mr. Harrison, I was just really focused on my work, sorry" Stella lied. "Well, it's time to clock out, so continue working hard tomorrow." Mr. Harrison said as he headed towards the exit. Stella looked around and noticed that her coworkers were all packing up to leave and began packing up herself. "Mr. Harrison wait! Did Matthew come into work today?" Stella asked in a slightly shaky voice. "Matthew was out on the field today, but yes he clocked in today, why?" Mr. Harrison asked sternly. "No reason." Stella said as she quickly packed up her things and headed out herself.

As Stella walks towards the door to exit the building, she notices something strange! As Mr. Harrison walked out of the glass door his long black coat seemed to shine as Stella watched him walk away through the transparent exit. As Stella continued to watch her boss walk away as if she were in a trance. He suddenly stopped moving, remained standing still for a few seconds before slowly turning his head around as he stretched his neck and gave Stella a wide grin that looked almost devious as if he were wearing a devil's mask. Stella shivered in fear before she suddenly rushed closer to the door and swung it open with full strength only to see that no one was there. She was at work alone and the very last person to clock out thirty minutes after her shift was already over and well pass the time her boss had left.

Stella looked around at the empty parking lot still in shock after what she had witnessed. She slowly took a step forward as she began walking towards her car but was abruptly stopped when she felt a hand lightly grab the top of her shoulder. She felt her insides shudder as fear and paranoia overcame her. She slowly turned her face around to see who had grabbed her and when she faced the stranger, she let out a sigh of relief once she saw Will's face. "We were supposed to have dinner together, remember?" Will said with a smile on his face, even though it was clear that he was trying to hide how worried he was with a cheerful expression. "Oh...your right." Stella said in a hushed tone as Will began walking her to her car.

Stella looked around the parking lot and suddenly everything became a dark blur. Her mind seemed to be spinning as everything moved around her in a perfect circular motion to the point where she couldn't tell if she was spinning or the world around her suddenly began moving! Everything went black and all Stella could hear was someone calling out to her. "Stella, Stella wake up!" It sounded deep and defined like a man's voice. "Stella...Stelllaaaa! C'mon Stella wake up!" A voice repeated in her head as she suddenly sat upright in her chair! She was still at her desk and Will was standing beside her, "How-how did I get here?" She said with low hanging eyes and a foggy brain. "What do you mean? You fell asleep at your desk and forgot to clock out. Everyone already left, but I came over to your desk to wake you up because we have a dinner date remember?" Will explained. "I-I fell asleep? I didn't even walk out the door yet? I didn't see Mr. Harrison turn into...that thing?" Stella mumbled to herself as she tried to understand what had just happened to her.

Will gave her a strange look before asking; "What did you see, Stella?' She looked over at him and hesitated before answering. "I think I just had a weird dream when I dozed off, that's all." She replied before quickly changing the subject and asking Will what restaurant he wanted to eat at. He gave he a small smile and replied "it's a surprise, but I think you'll like the place." They both headed to their cars and Will lead the way but as Stella was driving she realized that the road looked familiar, but she couldn't figure out where she remembered it from. She shook her head and tried to clear her head and only focus on her dinner with Will. After about 10 minutes, they finally reached their destination.

When they arrived, Stella noticed the yellowish twinkling lights that covered the roof of the restaurant and lit up part of the street. Before Stella could reach for the car door handle, Will suddenly opened it for her and greeted her with a wide grin. Will held out his arm towards Stella as she placed her hands around his forearm and they walked towards the sparkling building. As they stepped inside the building, she noticed that the scenery looked similar to something she had seen before. There were medium sized light bulbs hanging from the ceiling on black ropes that were laced between each other creating a spider-web type design on the ceiling. Will's eyes widened as his eyes wandered around the room. "This looks even better than I expected" Will said in a low tone. Stella was enjoying the view of the beautiful restaurant but felt uneasy at the same time. Everything around her started to look familiar but she couldn't piece it together. Her eyes flashed to one of the signs on the walls that read "La rêve" and she finally realized where she saw the restaurant before. The restaurant Will took her to was the same one she had a nightmare about...

Author's Note:

The pieces are all starting to fall together, but that is making everything more frightening for Stella! Can her dreams be premonitions of what will happen to her in real life or just simple nightmares meant to scare her? Tell me what you guys think in the comments! I hope you're enjoying the story so far! Thanks for reading! :)