June 7--Dragon

Carly awoke in a sweat, a silent scream on her lips. The images that had been burned into her psyche had taken on a new terror.
The woman was back. It had been nearly five years since the dream had last haunted Carly's nights.

The woman always came to her in the same fashion. She carried a huge staff made of wood topped with strange glowing crystals. Her hair was wild as if she were constantly caught in a wild wind. Always the black and crimson gown billowing about her. Skin deathly white glowed. The woman would descend a stone staircase, walking straight for Carly, always halting a distance away. Opening her mouth, a banshee's scream would erupt then she was gone.

The dreams began when Carly turned fifteen. That night, she and her girlfriends decided to stay out past curfew. Storms raced across the sky and the girls felt wild and daring. Carly's mother had grown concerned and gone out looking for her daughter. A dark night, an old stone bridge and a slick road proved to be a deadly mixture and Carly's mother died in that dark, lonely place. The next morning, search crews found her, hair billowing amid dark waters and blood.

Carly blamed herself until grief and guilt consumed her. And the terrible dreams began.

Her mother, it had to be, exacting revenge on a life too short, that's what Carly told herself. Her mother angry and screaming.

Then, when Carly turned twenty, the dreams stopped.

Until tonight.

This time there was a new element. Behind the woman stood a demon. Grayish and slick-skinned, it bared its spiked teeth and roared, joining in the woman's scream. In tandem, demon and woman moved closer and closer. Carly could almost smell the decay and musty scent of death.



Calming her labored breathing, Carly tried to make sense of the return of the dream and the new elements.

The ringing of the phone rought her back to the present. A quick glance at the clock told her it was three in the morning. Trembling she answered. A banshee's scream and a demon's roar sliced through her sanity.
The next day, Carly's body was found in her room. Razor-sharp teeth marks covered her body, a silent scream on her lips.