"It wasn't always this way…"
The rain poured into the street as those haunting words echoed through the night.
"I remember a time when I was actually happy. When I had a future. When I felt as though I meant something. No… It wasn't always this way, but this is the way it had to be."
I raised my hand and wiped the rain from my eyes. My vision cleared, if only for a second allowing me to see the blood dripping from my arm onto the pavement. The blood stained the stream at my feet as it rushed down the hill behind me. Why couldn't I feel any pain though? That's when I heard the footsteps slowly growing louder walking towards me. They were knocking at a relatively calm yet intimidating pace. Similar to that of a clock. The louder they got, the more haunting the footsteps became. Then, the shadow of a person stepped into view under the streetlight roughly 20 yards ahead of me. The light managed to hit the figure perfectly, blocking all features from view.
The shadow seemed more than familiar to me. As though I knew who it belonged to.
Familiar as it may be, this was no comforting sense of familiarity. I felt like I was staring death in the face as I have done many times before. Maybe it was death? Then again, there's no way death is a physical being. That's just absurd. And what would death want with me anyways? It's not my time. If it were, I would surely know.
The figure stretched out and arm and beckoned me forward. I was petrified. Even if I wanted to step forward, my body refused to listen. I've always been so stoic. Fear has never been an emotion I've so easily displayed. Something wasn't right. My eyes remained locked upon the figure.
The beckoning became slightly more demanding as though the figure was getting angrier. I stayed still. I could feel my heartbeat pounding through my entire body. That's when I noticed that I actually was paralyzed. I couldn't move. I couldn't even blink. Something was wrong.
All of a sudden, the figure's arm shot down immediately and the figure stomped angrily towards me. The scream it was emitting as it closed in on me was unbearable. Never have I heard a more terrifying scream. My heart began aching. My breathing was out of control. I just managed to close my eyes as the figure was about to grab me. Then I felt a hand grab my arm with such intensity that I was sure I would soon be dead. I opened my eyes.
It took me a good five minutes of calming down before I noticed was able to grasp what had happened. I was still squeezing my arm as my breath finally caught back up to me. My sheets were covered in sweat. It was a dream. I was alive. I quickly opened the drawer to my nightstand and pulled out my journal. I documented what a saw and what happened in the dream. 'It wasn't always this way…'. What was I saying? What does that even mean? Why was I bleeding? I had so many unanswered questions for myself.
The clock near my window read 4:27.
"What a miserable time to wake up."
I looked down at the latest entry to my dream journal. My hands were still shaking. I'm used to having nightmares. In fact, I like them. Horror has always been one of my favorite things because it makes me feel alive. But this dream seemed so different. I'm not sure if I believe dreams have meaning, but I would definitely be evaluating this dream in detail when my thoughts cleared up.
This dream sequence is not a red herring. It will mean something much later in the book.
