Dreams

Ahh! No! I felt my bed shake. It was that dream again – a nightmare, rather.

The hourglass figure of a thin, slender woman was enveloped by shadows. Her silhouette seduced my eye’s gaze. Her lips formed a smirk. Her red dress contrasted against the blinding darkness. Her hair, oh so long, was akin to that of a mane of a gazelle. Her voice beckons to me. “Come to me, Ben. Closer…”

I shuddered at the thought. I had always dismissed that dream as nothing more than a passing phase in my still rather adolescent life. The passing day, a transfer student appeared at school. A fair maiden, should I say. Her cheerful eyes brightened the usually dreary classroom. The sense of dread of the upcoming examinations seemed to have been put away, temporarily at least. Even the form teacher himself seemed rather exalted.

As I once again daydreamt, my thoughts running from reality, a sudden glimpse of the transfer student and an unexpected revelation made me quiver. I shivered in my seat, still lost deeply in thought, though shock still courses in my veins. The new transfer student, a Japanese girl known as Yuki, very much resembled the demonic woman in my accursed dreams.

No, I told myself. She couldn’t be ‘her’. The woman of my dreams, albeit ironically, is the devil. But Yuki, on the other hand, is the epitome of angelic beauty. My pocket vibrated. A message? I carefully took out my cellphone & read what was written.
‘Hey Ben. Do you remember the dream I had last night? That woman in the dream and the new transfer student in your class, they resemble each other very much. Could this just be a coincidence? I’m confused and scared. Or is it just me, I feel like something bad is happening…’ The message ended.

So it wasn’t just me, but Sakura too, huh? My next-door neighbour, Sakura, had been having the same demonic dreams for a while now. She, as scared as she was, too dismissed it as something coincidental. Maybe it was a ghost movie character we watched together when we were younger, she says.

I mustered enough courage to approach Yuki. After successfully navigating my way through a throng of hot-blooded male students, I passed a note into Yuki’s small, clasped palms. Even if she was the devil’s advocate, I thought to myself, she was impossibly beautiful.

‘Meet me at the park at 8pm, tonight.’

I waited in anticipation, trepidation coursing through my veins. As I looked up, hearing the whirring of the flutter of wings of the creatures of the night, I admired the moon glimmering in the eerily blank, black sky, casting its light on the park. Whistling to calm myself, the smell of lavender strongly protruded my nostrils, stirring me out of my thoughts.
“I’ve never asked a girl out before. I’m extremely nervous. But, I must do this. I must be a man!” I squeaked to myself. A giggle broke the silence in the park as some girls passed by, probably wondering what this weird guy was doing, loitering around the park at night, talking to himself.

Just as I was trying not to get embarrassed by that slightly embarrassing episode of self-encouragement, a shadow grew in the light, out of the corner of my eye. Is she here already?

As I dusted myself down and stood up to get a closer look at the passing figure, my body suddenly lost all mobility. Fear suddenly engulfed me. What is this feeling of absolute fear? Just then, ‘her’ eyes opened. Like fire playing in the fireplace, her eyes burned crimson red.

Shit. This can’t be happening. Sweat trickled down my face. My feet lost all will to move. My heart started beating faster and faster. Anticipation of meeting up with the devil apparently crushed my courage of confronting Yuki out here, by myself, all alone, in this god forsaken place where not many people pass.

Just like in my nightmares, her mouth started to form a smirk, baring her fangs. A chuckle pierced the deafening silence. She let her hair flap in the wind. Holding her arms in the sky, she clenched her fists, and proceeded in my direction. Sweat was covering my eyes. I struggled to move. Just then…

“NO MUM! NOT HIM!”

As I craned my neck to see who it was, the glint of a bladed scythe stopped me in my tracks. The sound of metal scraping the concrete ground screeched in the night. The darkness enveloped everything. I couldn’t even see a thing, except for the devil and the blood-soaked scythe.

“Shinn! Run!”

Where was the voice coming from, and who was it? Suddenly a gust of wind blew out of nowhere. Giddy. I was seeing stars. I couldn’t think. My eyes started to roll back.

“Wake up Shinn!”

Argh… I could feel the slight brush of hair sweep across my face, someone catching me as I slumped to the ground.

When I came to, I was lying on the park bench, my head on someone’s lap. So warm and cozy, I didn’t feel like waking up. I opened my eyes. The face of a girl was staring right down at me. A fleeting moment passed before I could recognize who it was. Then, though I was that close to her, I wasn’t feeling scared at all. Even though she was the devil. Then, out of sheer exhaustion and excitement, I passed out again.
The morning came soon after. I was awoken by the buzz of the alarm. Groggily, I sat up in my bed, still unsure of the happenings of last night. I, once the ever-so-apathetic Shinn, became enthusiastic all of a sudden, revitalised by the excitement of the passing night.

Somehow, or rather, I began to remember the words of a former upperclassman. “Carpe diem, my friend. Carpe diem. Don’t regret this life. It’s yours for the taking.” My usual apathy often dismisses that, but somehow, somewhere, I feel like I finally understood what he meant by that. Live my life to the fullest. How idiotic of me. Only opening my eyes to the world after a ridiculous demonic encounter.

I strode out of house, chest up and high. Reminded once again of the dreams I once held so dearly to my heart, ever since I met her, and that promise I, or rather, we had to each other, I looked forward to life once again, unobstructed by obstacles in life.

Ahh… La dolce vita, how I missed the sweet life.