Dream to Reality- A Short Story

Dream to Reality

Ah, ROTC. My second favorite class, though it's a hassle during Physical Training. After doing the "Daily Seven", our platoon was starting to head inside, a few people stopping to catch a small sip of water on the way. I stretched my arms above my head, loving the crack my shoulder made. My lungs filled with the cold, crisp November air, burning from the large intakes of the freezing oxygen.
It was my last hour of the day, thankfully. We all changed out of our PT sweats and started to do our chores, my squad getting to sweep this time. After chores were finished, we were dismissed early, since the ROTC building was on the other side of the school campus from the bus shed. I walked down the short steps silently, as I always do. That's when it started.
I heard my platoon sergant, Afla, walking behind me, tall as always.
"Feeling better, Washington?" he asked, catching up to me. I guessed that he was refering to my sickness the day before. I turned my head to him and smiled.
"Yes, sir. Much better," I replied. Then, my ear twitched as I heard a noise similar to a low growl combined with a hiss. I turned towards the sound and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw the narrowed yellow eyes staring at me from the woods. My face paled instantly and my blood ran cold as I realized:
My dream had become a reality.
I was haunted by a dream that I had had a couple of weeks earlier, where a giant, demented cat-like creature would jump out and try to attack me. That was only half of the reason why I kept thinking about it, though.
What really makes me shudder is the fact that in my dream, I became totally different. My short red hair grew to about shoulder length, the color seeping from it and making it white. The color went into my irises, the green darkening into a dangerous red hue.
Then, pain struck through my back, as if I felt something trying to rip me apart my my shoulder blades. When it finally did, I sat there, shocked as I looked at a pair of ebony black wings shooting out from where my shoulder blades should have been.
The creature would come out from the woods, stalking low to the ground wile its fierce yellow eyes stared me down. Then, it would come at me like a train, and right as it would pounce, a bright light would surround me as I gripped something metallic in my hand. After that, I would wake up, but this time I was pretty sure I was already awake.
"Washington? What's wro-" Afla stopped as soon as he saw the creature emerge from the barrier of trees. His face held a look of pure fear as he backed up a step, clearly not having seen anything like it before. "What the hell is that?!"
"Run..." I whispered, then gasped as a tingling feeling ran through me. I felt every fiber of my being starting to change; my hair growing until it hit my shoulders, the color seeping into my eyes. My heartbeat quickened and my breath grew ragged as I thought, 'This means...'
Just as I had predicted, a firey pain boiled in my shoulder-blades. I fell to my knees and gritted my teeth in pain. I could see Afla kneeling beside me, panicking and yelling, though I could not hear him from the blood pounding in my ears. Then, I don't know how, but I heard a voice as soft as cotton call out to me.
"Let it go, Faylynn," it said "Let it break free."
I did as it said, and all at once my two wings ripped from my back. My eyes were wide as a couple of black feathers floated down to the concrete.
The hiss of the monster drew me out of my trance as it prepared to pounce. I turned to Afla, who was trying to pull me away despite having seen me sprout wings. I pushed him about two meters away, telling him to get out of there. Then, the creature leaped toward me, claws sharp and teeth bared.
Time seemed to pause suddenly, as if the world had decided to stop spinning. The strange light appeared around me, just like in the dream, except this time I saw a woman in front of me. She lifted her arm with her palm facing the ground next to my hand. Another bright light appeared as a sword was gripped in my hand. I lifted it up, examining it in awe.
Then, time returned to normal as the woman disappeared. The creature was about to land on me and rip me to shreds, so I thrusted my arm with the sword in my hand and pierced its heart. It gave out a loud cry before it went limp, its weight resting on top of me.
I quickly rolled it to the side so it wouldn't crush me. Covered in blood and breathing heavily, I stood up on shaky legs and looked down at the corpse.

"Dream to Reality" Copyright Shel Zansler, 2011