Nightmarish Reality

    Familiar faces laughed and whispered to each other quietly.  Looking over at a boy in the corner, they giggled.  "No."  I stood there, detached from what was happening.  He lifted his head, his face still hidden in hair.  The girls looked at each other confused as he stood.  His eyes overflowed with blood as the grin on his face grew disturbingly more contorted.  I backed away from the scene, joining the screams of the girls in the room.  Our blood painted the walls.

  I awoke screaming. My clothes were wet with sweat.  Those bloody eyes had been haunting my dreams for the past few weeks.  They had haunted me earlier on in my childhood as well, but had resurfaced again as I turned 17.
I looked at my clock.  8:03 October 4, 2009.  My worries about the nightmare temporarily forgotten as I hopped down the stairs pulling on my socks.  I threw my messy brown hair into a pony tail and ran out the door to catch the school bus at 8:12, a piece of toast protruding from my mouth. 

  School was long.  I caught myself dozing off at least once every other class, and didn't even bother trying to eat a lunch.  Instead, I favored myself a pass to the nurses office where I stole a good half hours worth of sleep before being disturbed. 
It was a bad day,  I could barely even remember three of the formulas for the Trig quiz. 
Dragging my feet on my way home, I looked up at the cloudy sky, hoping that I could get some decent sleep that night. 

    I had never paid much attention to my ceiling.  It's textured paint finish was much more intriguing to the eye than one would think at a first glance.  This is pathetic.  I smirked at my own self pity. I couldn't sleep.  I turned on my side to look out my window, my bed creaking as I moved.  I closed my eyes.
Relax.
    There was a noise outside.  My eyes shot open.  There was something out there, it's eyes reflecting in the moonlight.  I screamed.  The creature darted away as fast as it had appeared.  My family had grown quite used to my bizarre and unexplained outbursts.  So no one minded.  They didn't understand my fear.  They didn't care.

    The next day was a blur.  I was sent to the principal's office fourth period.  Reasons for which were more obvious than not.  My grades were slipping more than usual.  My friends weren't talking to me.  The nightmares I had told them about became too disgusting.  I was too disgusting.  Revolting. 

  I went through the rest of the week, every day played out the same as before.  Nightmares, no sleep, do bad at school, get home, loud voices, lack of understanding, no compassion, and I try to sleep. 
  Friday finally came around.  The end of the week.  Maybe the end of something more.  I threw my head up and laughed at the sky. 
  My feet walked with energy I hadn't had in so long.  They carried me to a place I did not recall knowing.  I smiled.  It was all so freaking pointless.  Every single little thing had no reason.
  The sound of rushing water filled my ears.  "I'm ending it here."  I stepped up to the edge of the river, "I win."  I jumped in and let the river take me.  At first it was peaceful, but as the air was crushed from my lungs, I panicked. 
  I flailed helplessly as I was tossed about by the currents.  Sleep was pointless if you don't get to wake up. I want to live.  I thought desperately.  Wake me up!  My head hit against a rock.  The world went dark.

  Warm arms held me over a shoulder like a sack of potatoes.  I inhaled deeply; air.  "I'm awake?"  I murmured sleepily.
  "Huh?"  A deep rumbling voice said.  I found myself flipped so I was looking into my rescuer's eyes.  "Why that you are."  He laughed, his voice full of natural charm.  "And what would your name be?"
  I hadn't realized I had been staring into his big brown eyes until then.  "O-oh-oh!  Um..."  I looked away, blushing, "I'm Terra.  Terra Rizkas."
He was amazingly gorgeous.  He stood at about six feet, he wasn't that pale, but not tan, and he looked about my age. 
  "Lionel Marcus.  Call me Nel."  He shifted his grip on me again.  "Do you think you can walk?"
  I nodded my head.  "Thanks," he put me down, "I don't know what I was thinking." I said.
  He laughed again, "So why did you walk in to the river?"
  I looked around and kept walking, "I walked in 'cus I wanted to sleep..."  I trailed off.  "You get the idea?"
  He looked at me with a face that said it all.  He got what I meant.  I told him about it all.  How my life had been going down the drain because of a few nightmares and the whole lot.
  Somehow, telling him seemed like the right thing; like it was something that had to be done.

  He took me to his place.  It turned out that he had graduated from high school the year before and had a job nearby.  He made me call home and tell my folks that I'd be back home by tomorrow morning. 
  I was given a change of clothes to wear while mine were drying.  Though they were a bit huge, I didn't complain.
Nel gave me some blankets and forced me to nap on the couch while he made some ramen.
  "Nightmares you say?"  I nodded vigorously as I slurped up the ramen.  I hadn't been eating much recently.  "Here, you can sleep and I'll watch over you to make sure nothing happens."
  I cocked my head to the side, wiping my mouth with the giant gray shirt labeled 'Cuttle Me' with a giant Cuttle fish on the front. 
  "Don't worry, you'll be safe."
  I curled up in the blankets, at ease.  I had just gotten the best sleep I had had in what seemed like forever.  I felt calm, but my heart wouldn't stop pounding in my chest.  "I may not know you very well," I glanced around the room, "But I trust you.  Thanks."
  "It's no problem."  He picked up my empty bowl and deposited it in the kitchen.  "It's what I do."
  I stood up and looked him in the eyes.  He looked so familiar.  "Why though?"  I stepped closer to him, "Why me?" Another step and he didn't move.  "You didn't know me before know," I stopped, not closing the distance between us.  And then it hit me, "Or did you know too?"  My body filled with fear.  I had heard that dreams do weird things, predict the future, the past, give you insight to daily problems, relieve stress, strange powers, the ability to wander into another's dreams, but I never thought it could have happened. 
  Nel looked down, his hair covering his eyes.  Just like in the nightmares.  "We've known each other for a while." 
  Thoughts raced through my mind.  This can't happen; not again.  I didn't want my life to end the same way I knew my nightmares would if I didn't wake up.  Nel was a good guy.  It couldn't end the same.
  Nel lifted his head, his eyes pouring out blood, but he wasn't grinning, he was crying.  "I'm sorry."  He said as he pulled open a drawer full of butcher's knives.  "I didn't think you would be like this.  This fun.  This nice.  So vulnerable."  He grabbed the sharpest of them.  "But some nightmares are just too real to escape." Where was the line between dreams and reality?
  Memories of every outcome of the nightmare came back to me.  Convulsing on the floor, poisoned, shot, strangled, hacked to pieces, drowned... Why hadn't he let me drown?
  Nel closed his eyes, raising the cleaver above his head. 
  I stepped so close to him that we would be chest to chest if not for the height difference.  "You didn't let me die before."  By a will that was surely not my own, I threw my arms around him, burrying myself in his immense chest.  "This game is over.  I win for real this time."  I reached up and touched his cheek gently, wiping away his tears. 
  He bent down, picking me up like a bride.  He pulled me close to his body, dropping the sharp blade.  "Maybe you'll win next time."  He brushed the hair away from my face gently.  "I'm sorry this was so quick."  He placed his lips upon mine, stealing my breath away.  A quick and chilling numbness spread through my body.  I choked on my blood, unable to breathe.  He held me tighter, squeezing the life out of me as I drowned in my what was pouring out of my veins.  Nel didn't save me, but I would not forget his laughter this time.  That alone I knew as I lost again.

  I awoke with a start, but no screaming accompanied it this time.  I ran into the bathroom, looking at my forehead closely to see if anything was there.  There was not.  Just pale skin. 
  "Huh."  I said to myself.
    It was a slow morning, but my mum dragged me out to the mall to help her pick out some Christmas presents for everyone of our long lost relatives.  I managed escape for a few minutes. 
  I immediately ran towards the door for fresh air, but something made me stop.  I ran the other way.  Towards a sound so familiar that I might have thought it belonged to a close friend.
  And then I saw his face, and hoped, deep down inside, that it would work this time; even if I didn't know it yet.
Maybe I can control the nightmare... or then again, maybe not.