Dream #3

I wake up and my head hurts; not a surprise. I look around myself as I lie on the floor, waiting for the pain to go away this time. Max is next to me, hands on his chest as if he’s in a funeral casket. Something touches me.

I screamed and saw Eleanor and Ashley, hovering over me. “Jeez guys don’t do that.” I tell them, my heart still racing. Usually they’d laugh at this but their faces were serious.

“Don’t say anything,” Eleanor whispers, a finger on her lips. I lit an eyebrow. “Wake Max up,” She whispers once more. “If you want to get outta here quick you better do so. It’s his dream.”

I try to wake Max up, doing everything I can to do so. But he doesn’t budge, doesn’t even flinch or move or anything. He lies there next to me, his hands on his chest still. I look at Eleanor and Ashley.

“He’s not waking up,” I whisper to them. They’re faces go pale. “Why? What has happened when I was asleep?” I ask them.

“Max is a fan of supernatural things,” Ashley tells me. I know exactly what’s coming.

“They’re everywhere.”

“Where are we anyway?” I ask as I blanch. “We’re afraid only Max knows the answer to that. And he’s asleep.” Eleanor whispers an answer.

I get on my feet with the other girls. “What do we do now?” I ask.

“We have to find Max’s spirit,” Ashley tells me. She and Eleanor are trembling from fear and I feel sceptical that we’re going to make it out alive.

“This is the last dream,” Eleanor tells me. “I want to escape. I want to leave.”

“Then we better start looking for Max.” I tell them, walking out of the room we’re in.

I realize that we’re in an apartment. An apartment that’s old and ruined. Not a surprise that Max chose this place to dream. The three of us walk warily around the apartment to search for Max’s spirit that has apparently escaped his body.

I find this quite stupid but hey; it’s a dream and dreams are always full of nonsense.

The apartment is big and surely has many levels, making it impossible for us to find Max’s spirit. “I say we split up,” I said, turning back to them. They look at each other and back to me as if that was a stupid thing to suggest (though I have to admit it was).

“Are you mad?” Eleanor asks, her British accent deepening as she speaks.

“What’s even crazier, is that you expect us to find Max’s spirit in this big apartment by going in a group. You said it yourself, you want to leave this place so I’m suggesting a ticket for that,” I tell her. Ashley and Eleanor look reluctant and I can’t blame them; I’m feeling reluctant myself.

“Fine,” Ashley says in which surprises me. Eleanor and I look at her in surprise. Ashley looks at us in a way that says what? I’m doing the right thing. I feel a sudden burst of hope deep within my chest. “I agree,” Ashley and I shake hands, waiting for Eleanor to agree with this.

Eleanor thought it over, put out a hand and said, “I’m in.”

…

The apartment gets darker as I walk down the hallway, rooms on every side. The walls smell damp and I swear I saw a cockroach crawling by. The carpets that dress the hallway are peeling off the floor showing the wooden planks beneath it.

I didn’t notice that I was walking on a loose floor board so the plank broke, sending me falling down into some bottomless pit. There, I’m surprised to find Ashley and Eleanor, hand in hand with each other, trembling like mad.

“Alex!” They both shriek. I jump as I hear footsteps running towards me. I feel something hugging me.

And I know it’s definitely not them.

I feel bones hugging me. They’re cold and hard, hugging me tighter. I scream and they let me go. I hear them cackle and their voices fade.

I’m lost, I don’t know where to go. I’m all alone in this dark pit. It makes me overwhelmed and I want to sob my heart out but I hold it in.

And that’s when everything goes black.

…

I wake up and my head hurts. I turn and see Max right next to me in the position he was in before. I gasp.

I’m back in the room. History’s repeating itself.

I turn to my other side to see Ashley and Eleanor hovering over me. “Great, you’re awake.” Ashley says in relief. I sit up straight and stand up. They’re both surprised at my actions.

“Let’s go find Max’s spirit,” I tell them as I begin walking away hurriedly. They seemed to be bewildered at how I know this without them telling me.

“How do you-”

“History’s repeating itself,” It sounded crazy, idiotic. They must think that I’ve gone mad. I hold my hands up in front of them and shake them around. “You know what? Never mind let’s just go find his spirit.” And with that, I scamper away, my other friends trailing behind me.

“Watch your step and DO NOT take risks.” I warn them seriously. I seriously did not want to go through this again. We all take wary steps with me leading the way.

It isn’t long before my hair stands on end. Moans and cries start coming from each of the apartment’s rooms. They’re pleading for help, for mercy, to let them free. It was only faint voices in the beginning but soon, it got louder and much more irritating.

Ashley covered her ears and I could see that Eleanor was about to scream. “Ignore them!” I yell back at them, fastening my pace. “We need to find Max!”

We start trotting and the next thing we know, we’re running as if the voices are now chasing us. I can hear our heavy breathing. I feel overwhelmed, scared. That’s when I hear it.

Max.

I stop running in front of one of the rooms and hear chains rattling. Max’s voice can be heard pleading for help, pleading to someone to let him go. He’s crying, I can hear it.

“Guys,” I whisper to the others. They too stop running. “He’s in here.”

I slowly open the door, making it creak. I can her Max gasping and his voice saying, “D-D-Don’t hurt me. J-J-Just let me g-g-go.” He’s trembling. I get in there and Max’s face smiles of relief.

Immediately, the chains burst open and Max rushes towards me, arms around me. I hug him back and pull away. “We have to get you back in your body, bud.” I tell him.

“Gladly.”

Together, the four of us run back to the room we came from and find Max in the same position he was when we left him. The spirit knew what to do so it did its job. It jumped back in Max’s body and he woke up gasping.

The apartment begin collapsing and I knew that this meant that we’d pass.

To be continued in: Awake...