The Girl of His Dreams

This was written for a contest, and it's my first short story. Let me know what you think. Thanks :)


The Girl of His Dreams

He could smell the burning incense all around him. He could feel the vastness of the place he was in. But where exactly was that? He was waiting for someone, that much he knew. A woman, he was sure. Oh yes, they were rendezvousing here… in this place… Why couldn’t he remember? Had he hit his head? He didn’t think so, but he lie still just in case.

There was no light in this mystery place. The dark, stale air pressed in on him, making him feel claustrophobic, despite the immense size of the room. He had to get up, he had to do something. Figure out what the hell was going on. Where was she? Where was he??

Footsteps echoing far off, soft steps, coming closer, getting louder… the footfalls in synch with the beating of his heart… quickening as his pulse quickened… almost running now… he couldn’t breathe…

Light exploded all around him - he cried out and shielded his eyes from it. His heart rate slowed to almost normal as he recovered from the shock. Looking around he saw hundreds, maybe thousands of candles, all dripping with wax, as if they’d been burning a long while. That couldn’t be right, they must have just been lit. But that would mean they had all been lit at once, and that didn’t make sense either…

Except for the candles, the room - which was much larger than he had thought - was almost completely bare. The walls, floor, and cathedral ceiling were of lifeless, dusty gray stone. There was an ancient wooden table, covered with even older books against one wall. An incense burner sat atop one of the books, blanketing the surrounding area in heavy gray smoke, and that was it. There were no chairs, no rugs, and no paintings. His eyes, recovering now from the blinging light, took special notice of the lack of windows.

He was inside a large circle of various colored candles, laid out in the very center of the room. He was alone in this place, alone with the dripping wax. He wasn’t chained or shackled, but he didn’t want to move. Oddly, he wasn’t afraid, just utterly confused. He was waiting for her.

Clothed in a low-cut red velvet gown and cape, she stepped from the shadows where she had been waiting. She moved around the outside of the circle to stop at his head, her heels clicking suductively as she came. Her dark beauty was above and beyond that of all others his eyes had ever beheld. Her ebony curls flowed down her back and framed her stikingly porcelain face. Her emerald eyes looked out from under long, full lashes. She bent over him and smiled with full and luscious lips, the color of a fine merlot, exposing perfect white teeth. “You’ve been waiting for me.”

“Yes”, was his whispered reply. He watched with growing excitement as she rose and shrugged off her cape, and then slowly, her velvet gown. Her body was immaculate, with graceful curves and full breasts covered in flawless ivory skin. His anticipation rose as she slipped out of her shoes and came to him. Stepping inside the circle, her motions promised him the wildest passion he had ever known. As she once again bent over him, she began to hum in a low, sensual voice. She kissed him deeply, his mouth, his throat, and he responded. She hummed even as they kissed, the throaty sound caressing his ears. Their passion engulfed him, and he didn’t care that she was unknown to him, or that the walls held no windows to the outside world. In the far recesses of his mind he wondered what is was she hummed. That throaty music was intoxicating, inhancing his pleasure.

He couldn’t stop thinking about the tune. He knew it from somewhere. A movie… a children’s movie… Disney? He thought it strange that she should be humming a Disney song, but as the entire situation was strange, he found it to be of little consequence. He dismissed the thought and lost himself in passion.

He saw something out of the corner of his eye. The glint of a knife. No, a hooked claw, a talon. Claw? Talon? He looked up and let out a shriek which sounded strangled to his ears. Her skin was jaundiced and dripped like the melting wax. Her howling mouth held one rotten tooth, and her hair was stringy and covered in grime. But what drew his immediate attention were her missing emerald eyes. She glowered at him through gaping sockets, and shrieked her tune, no longer humming softly. The claw flew at him and he tried to shove her away, but she was far stronger. He was able to deflect the blow – aimed at his face – and it slashed his shoulder. Pain and blood poured from the wound, gushing and ebbing with each terrified beat of his heart, but he ignored it. The last thing he saw was the talon flying toward him. He howled in agony as she clawed out his eyes, shrieking her song.

÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷

He awoke with a yelp. Panting he reached for his eyes, and when he found they were where they should be, he opened them.

He was back in his hospital bed, the sterile white linens soft against his skin. The familiar restraints that he normally thrashed against were a comfort on this night. Anything to prove that he had only been dreaming. He knew he wouldn’t get back to sleep, so he lay staring up at the ceiling, trying not to think about his ordeal. He decided to ask Nurse Annie to up his dosage tomorrow night. Hopefully that would help with the nightmares.

Then he heard it. Humming, down the hall. Nurses hum, it’s ok. That tune was too familiar, though. He’d heard it only too recently. Then, as he lay there straining to hear, words were put to the tune. “I know you…”{/}

It was coming closer, growing louder with each breath. I walked with you once upon a dream…”

He couldn’t believe it, didn’t want to believe. “I know you…”

It was right outside his door now. He could see the shadows of two feet. He moaned as the knob began to turn. He began screaming, thrashing against the restraints. “…that gleam in you eye is so familiar a gleam.”

He cowered as the door opened. His frantic screams crescendoed, but he couldn’t drown out her singing.






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