It was late. On a winter’s night. We were in the car, driving. From where, I didn’t know. To where, I never found out.

My vision was hazy. This told me I was in a dream. My sister was sitting next to me. I remember her when she was younger, more innocent. She would always follow behind me, silently nodding in agreement. Of course, she was smart enough to make her own decisions, but she told me it was always easier to follow someone else.

“Maybe it’s more painful, when they’re dead and gone, but there’s always someone new to follow instead.” She always answered like this, eyes carefully blank and staring past me, whenever I asked why.

But that was when we were older, and yet the younger dream version now reflected that blank expression.

Was it the future warning me to keep watch over my baby sister? Or was it Fate telling me it was meant to be?

My mother was also in the car, cheerfully quiet for once. Maybe it was because it was all a dream? I’d like to think it was because my aunt was also in the car. My mother wouldn’t have been able to gossip about our relatives then.


My family is a den packed with wolves. Nosing about each other’s lives, gossiping about relationships, I’d learned that I didn’t want to be a part of that family early on.

So then, it wasn’t the fact that I didn’t care about what my mother said for once that scared me. It was the fact no one said a word that did.

I looked out the window once during that dream. Mist was curling in, like a blanket of dirty snow, covering everything in white. White isn’t such a nice color. It takes in everything, hiding behind other colors so that its true nature isn’t seen. White innocence is just a mask. Kids don’t know better than to walk off with a stranger, lured by candy as a bear is to honey. But at least the bear can defend itself.

We stopped at a gas station, the mist edging in around the place. We’d stopped for dinner and I found that I couldn’t move my body. I was merely a spectator as my sister, mother, and aunt chatter among themselves. Because of the sudden increase of noise, I didn’t notice that the mist was drifting in, following us as we stepped towards the cafeteria.

When Mother opened the door, it was like a sudden bang in a horror game. I was suddenly whisked towards a flashback.

Standing in the entrance of the cafeteria,I found myself staring at a table. A mother sat there with her six-year old son. How did I know that? What was going on-?

The mother stood up and told her son to stay where he was. Her son squealed happily, his hands sticky with a half-eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The mother went to throw her trash away and to pick up more napkins.

When her back was turned, a man wearing a black cloak appeared next to the boy. The man wasn’t scary, he wore black sunglasses and a goofy grin was on his face.

But then he reached out… with a skeleton hand. The boy couldn’t even squeak before he was hidden under that cloak. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t even scream in fear. The man turned to me with that crazy grin on his face. He opened his mouth to say something, but then completely vanished. The woman came back and seemed confused. What? Your son was just kidnapped! And you-?!

Forgot.

The woman finished the peanut butter and jelly sandwich and then left. As she walked through me, I was thrust back into my original dream. And while my soul was trembling in fear, my body had spotted an odd pile of toys in the corner farthest from the line to order food.

My body begged to go there and its mother agreed. As it walked there, my sister followed behind. I looked back once. She was pale with fright, her eyes wide with terror. My body didn’t look back again.

Soon after reaching the toys and playing with a familiar doll that was missing an arm and a leg, I got the feeling that the cafeteria was darker than it had been. Looking up, I was almost forced awake by terror. HE was there, but HE wasn’t the only one! Another man, dressed similarly, also stood next to him. They were only a few feet away. I heard his words this time when he opened his mouth.

“You’re next.”

It was enough that I took control of my body. I staggered around as you normally would when you take control of your body in dreams. I lost sight of my sister within seconds.

I hope she’s okay.

I started gasping for breath in fear, trying desperately to keep myself from being caught. HE went after me while his buddy went after my sister.

She didn’t scream. She’s smart! She’ll run away in time, right?

I fell to the floor and tried to stumble to my feet again. It was so hard, trying to move my limbs. It was like trying to swim when you’re tired. My muscles didn’t want to work.

Too bad, you lose. It felt like that when the dream caught hold of me one last time. My body turned onto its back and I was forced to watch as HE came closer. His grin was stretched so much, it was inhuman. His skeleton hand grabbed for my head-!

I sat straight up, sweat coursing through my real-life hair and on my real-life body. Wide-awake, adrenaline coursing through my veins, I looked wildly around. Was HE here?! Somewhere?! Under the bed or in the closet?!

I calmed down the moment I saw my sister sleeping contently in bed. She was curled up in a ball as usual and her back was facing me as she slept in the corner.

It’s just a dream! It’s just a dream.

I thought that to myself as I went back to sleep.

Tomorrow, you’ll completely forget and you’ll have fun playing in the sun!

Tomorrow, you’ll go to your family reunion and play with your cousins!

It’ll be so much fun, you’ll forget this ever happened!

The next day, my sister wore that same blank expression.

The next day, my doll didn’t have a leg or an arm.

The next day, I heard on the news that a mother didn’t remember her missing six-year old son.

The next day, I saw… HIM.
I was seven years old at the time. I am now twenty-three. I have never forgotten.