The Dream Eater

Be advised, this story contains scenes that allude to violence and gore.

“I’m telling you. There’s something in the bedroom. I saw it!” The woman said to her husband in the other room.

“Honey, I don’t see anything. What did you see?” The man stood in the doorway to the bedroom, every light on, as he looked in the closet, under the bed, behind the door.

“I saw it while I was looking in the mirror. There were two red dots that looked like eyes!”

“Honey, now you’re just being dramatic. Are you sure you’re not just spooking yourself after that movie we saw?” He turned to the mirror just the same, checking the reflection for anything out of the ordinary.

“Babe, I know what I saw!” By now she had inched her way to the door frame, peering in.

“Well whatever you saw, it’s not here now. Can we go to bed? It’s late.”

Indeed it was late, the couple had returned home from the movies past midnight. I continued to wait in the dark corners of the room until the lights went out. It was the witching hour by the time their breathing slowed indicating the switch into deep sleep. Soon they would dream. I slithered from the shadows and hovered over the woman. Cathy? Mary? Who remembers anyway, I tried not to stay too long in one place. Unless the nightmares were consistently too good to pass up, that is.

But it’s rarely worth the risk now. Not like the old days when people were written off as insane. My favorite was when people believed, some even saw you, and they had enough respect to pay tribute. You didn’t have to siphon here and there, just enough to keep going on to the next place.

Glimpses, I’m guessing fragments of the movie, took shape in the woman’s mind. A darkened alleyway with the sheen of a recent rain painted the scene. Cornered and starting to panic, a woman backed her way into a brick alleyway. Why do they always do that? Silly animals, humans. Multiple male figures, features as dark as the alley, but otherwise undifferentiated, blocked her only exit. Screaming, she runs face first into the brick wall behind her.

Visions shift to another scene, this time a corn field outside of town. Same set of men chasing the same woman. Must have been a cheesy horror flick. But they don’t make ‘em like they used to anymore. I sighed. Guess now is as good a time as any. Eyes closed, yes I have eyes, though not in the way a human expects; I sniffed the dream air and followed the scent to where it originated. Dreams are kept in the same part of the brain, but each person is different so the path to get there is also. At the edge of the nightmare, the vision changed from the scene itself to a dim gray emptiness. Here it is.

A golden orb floated in the gray, unattached and unmoving. Willing my spirit form, I reached out a tendril of power towards the orb. As we connected, power surged into me. It tasted like what I imagined mulberry’s would, though I had never eaten physical food. It was sweet, dark, and a little tangy.

Outside, the woman’s body stirred. Humans never like the feel of the contact, even though it doesn’t actually hurt them. This is what makes it dangerous though, the mind fights the intrusion. Time to go. Snapping out of her body, I regained my position in the dark corner of the ceiling over looking the sleeping couple. She rolled over, curling into her husband.

I left their house through the crack under the front door. Drifting past houses, still dark with sleep. There should be enough time for another. My senses spread like veins as I passed each house, searching for my next meal. Aha, there.

Floating up the porch steps and sliding under the door I paused and listened. It was a male this time, and I could sense the dream had just started. Into the room I went, hovering over his still form, sheets had been cast off and sweat beaded his forehead.

Dim gray light, an austere room. A cell, maybe? It had a single bed and sink, turning I saw the man with his fists pounding the glass “wall”. There were no doors. He looked around the room and then up. Spotting an opening, he removed the A/C vent, pulled the bed directly underneath and pulled himself up and into the duct. Following him, the duct collapsed as he crossed into the next room over. He tumbled out onto the floor, where a scuffle ensued with the occupant. I lost interest in the show unfolding and began my search.

At the edge of the cell block the light faded into a deep black void. Here. Once the the dream faded to black the orb appeared and I again reached my power towards it. At contact, I was pushed out of his subconscious and for a moment hovered over his body, which was twitching as if electrocuted, before being pulled back in down the tether of power that had initially connected us. Guess I better be quick with this one. His subconscious was fighting me, so I pulled the energy hard and fast. Outside, his body had progressed from twitching into bucking, so I severed the connection, shooting out of his subconscious bouncing off the floor to the ceiling where I stayed waiting for the man’s dream to settle. Instead, he jolted upright in bed.

“Who’s there?!” He said looking around and wiping the sleep from his eyes. “Show yourself!”

Silence stretched for several heart beats before his breathing slowed and he relaxed back onto the bed.

“Just a dream. Get yourself together John, the house is empty. As usual.” His lids fluttered shut as he pulled the covers up and over his head.

That was too close. I thought as I glided out of the house. The light glow of dawn was just peaking through as I floated through the still dim street. Towards the end, there was a dense patch of trees far enough away from people and the every day goings on, so I found a nice patch of shadow and rested. As I listened to the birds chirp, the air shifted around me and the landscape changed.

I was back in my realm, the realm of dreams. It isn’t like the physical realm of the humans, the dream realm is more of a collective consciousness of all beings that dwell here. I floated through several dream spaces; a coming baby, a human flying, a big promotion. This was the hope level. Coming to the central space which was a vortex leading through all dreams levels, I followed it down to the processing floor.

Processing was made of a churning, moist mist resembling a cloud formation and as we added our dreams to the mix, little bursts of lightning would spark between them. Eventually, the process would push the cloudy visions up level after level, continuously adding to our home.

Exiting the way I came, I returned to the human realm. Night already blanketed the streets, the moon an amber sliver between the trees. Lights still illuminated many of the windows. My senses picked up a house filled with enough negative energy that I was sure would result in a nightmare. Gliding under the door, I explored the house. Immaculate, verging on sterile. The master bedroom was modern and dim with accent lights, but there was a nice spot just above the bed in the corner of the ceiling.

Waiting, but not for long, the wife came into the room and prepared for bed. She kept looking over at me from mirror she used while attending to her nightly skin regimen. Another sensitive, I should tread carefully. Thinning myself along the crevice so I didn’t darken the shadows quite as much, I watched her finish up and headed towards the bed.

“Relax Janet, you’re just imagining things. Shadows are just shadows. There are no red eyes, just normal shadows. Go to sleep.” She said, fluffing her pillow and getting under the sheets.

Grumbling as she got comfortable, “You would probably be more at ease if your husband was home to check the house and not fucking his secretary at the office late into the night. But what can you do.”

She adjusted her eye mask over her face and instantly fell asleep, it wasn’t long after that before short dreams flitted behind her eyelids. I waited until the sleep deepened and she was the least likely to startle when I fed. Here we go.

Two people, tangled in sheets, a third steps out of the darkness with gun drawn and aimed at the others. So much blood. The sheets, originally white, reddened with the crumpled figures. The woman stood shaking, the look on her face said she debated turning the gun on herself, but instead it clattered to the ground as she fell holding her hands to her face. I left the bedroom scene as it started to morph. The edge of the dreams melted into a pale pink light, misting like blood rain all around. Her orb was more hidden than the others, but after groping for it in the mist a moment, I found it. As I began to siphon the energy, her physical form bolted up right with eyes wide open.

“Who’s there?! Jack, is that you? Are you home?” Panting slightly, she gingerly stepped out of bed. I was partially expelled from her psyche but still connected through her dream which meant she was more likely to know when she saw me. Besides I was tethered to her so I couldn’t easily hide, so I choose to stick to her back, just out of sight.

“I can feel you, show yourself!”

Impossible. Right? I’m not able to touch humans, I usually just pass right through them if we happen to run into each other. Maybe because we are still connected? I need her to fall back asleep before she starts draining my energy instead. With only a tendril still connected, I kept to the shadows as she moved through the house, checking for anyone or anything not supposed to be there.

We are not designed to stay straddled between the physical world and the subconscious mind, so as she pulled me with her, our energy created a spark and like a matchstick the ceiling caught fire. She screamed and ran through the house, my Smokey form trailing behind, and a string of fire that only grew hungrier as we went.

Thunk. Thud. Unconscious, she fell after running head first into the front door. I snapped back into her mind, siphoning every once of energy I could take as quickly as possible and snapped out. The house was fully aflame as I slid under the door.