The Nightmare's Return

Chapter 4

Rachel answered her phone, barely checking to see who was calling. The call ended up being a FaceTime with Akiko..

"Hey girl, just calling to tell you about a deal I scored with an independent film producer. Looks like my film's are gonna go to higher places!" Akiko seemed ecstatic, but kept her usual confident demeanor as she spoke, which always made it clear to whoever was around her that this kind of amazing turn out was always going to happen for her, when she spoke about her work. Of course the attitude she always held up first to everyone whenever she spoke, also helped everyone to understand that nothing less than success was meant for her.

"I'm putting this news out no matter if people are still awake, or not!" She continued. "So.. What the heck is up with your face?" Akiko asked, after stopping to actually take a look at Rachel for a moment, while slightly squinting.

Rachel who had been looking back and forth from her mirror to her phone, had her hand on the side of her neck, trying to soothe her anxiety. She had heard what Akiko had said, but the reality of what the words that she had spoken brought, were completely lost to Rachel at the moment.

"Huh?" Rachel responded back, while looking at her mirror.

"Oh man, did you not listen to anything I just said?" Akiko said from the phone, temporarily forgetting about Rachel's condition.

"Oh sorry, I.." Rachel tried to answer, finally looking at Akiko through her phone.

"Akiko do you remember those Nightmares I used to have about Mr. Tophat and the carnival, when I first got here and met you guys?" Rachel asked Akiko.

"Yeah, and than we helped you take him and the carnival out." Akiko recalled.

"Well, Iv'e been having them again."

"What, the same nightmares? Why, he's gone."

"I know but.. I don't know, something's wrong. I'm having the nightmares again, visions have returned, and I'm seeing things that all remind me of him again." Rachel finally admitted.

"Of Mr. Tophat?" Akiko said, now back to being more concerned about Rachel, than her news.

"Yeah. I thought maybe that I was just stressed about school, but something else is happening."

"Okay, that's it!" Akiko said loudly. "You know what? We need to all have a reunion. We've all been away from each other for awhile now, and now crazy stuff is happening again!"

Despite being grateful to hear it, Rachel couldn't help feeling guilty about pulling her friends into her troubles.

"Akiko that doesn't need to happen, really." Rachel protested.

"No, too late, already going to send out invitations.. HEY! Put that back I'm still using it for production!" Akiko cried out to a stage hand, as she ignored Rachel's protest. Turning back to Rachel after yelling at the stage hand, Akiko finished up by saying, "Expect to hear from us soon, I gotta go take care of some things here and go tell Graham, I'll probably run into him out of his classes later, as I do."

"Alright." Rachel said, giving in to Akiko's stubbornness. There really wasn't any stopping her most of the the time, when she had an idea.

"Okay cool, see ya." Akiko left off, as she hung up.

As Rachel's phone screen went black, she looked around her room and felt nothing but uncomfortable at the quietness and strong loneliness she felt now. She dialed a number on her phone and steadied herself, to keep from sounding panicked.

"Hi, Mom." Rachel said, trying to sound like her usual self as the phone picked up on the other end.

"Oh hi, sweetie." Rachel's mom said happily. "What's going on, how were classes today?"