Coniferous | dreamnotnap

1. Woodland Whisperers

Hi! As I stated in the description, this story is a repost from ao3. It's fairly popular over there, so I thought this audience would like to read it as well! Here's the link to the ao3 version, if you'd prefer to read it there or view the very important tags such as content warnings (THIS IS RATED MATURE FOR A REASON):

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30783257/chapters/75983771

I won't be doing any more authors notes in this version of the story, but if you want to see them (idk why you would), there are tons on ao3. Btw, I am uploading this all at once up to where the story currently ends (20 chapters).

ENJOY!

The crackle and pop of burning tree sap stirred sleeping squirrels from their slumber. Hot orange flames licked the air and the pine wood it clung to. The campfire blazed, lighting up the grassy clearing, allowing Sapnap to see the dirt sitting in the cracks of his hands and caked into his clothes. It had rained days before and he had slipped in the aftermath of mud, later struggling to find a body of water to clean off with. He had to live with the dirt there, but that was nothing new. Sapnap was a traveler. The woods were his home and the cedar boughs were his roof. Apart from his mothers home and the tent he slept in, of course. Metaphorically, the woods were his home.

He sighed. He needed water, very soon. To bathe in and to drink. He licked his lips.

Sapnap reached down into his sack and pulled out a leather water container. He unscrewed the cap. If he wanted a good, refreshing drink, he'd have to finish off the last of his supply. He did just that. He'd look for a lake or a river early the next morning.

With the dryness of his mouth temporarily soothed, along with the heat of the fire finally seeping through his thick coat, he relaxed. Slow blinks and heavy limbs told him to sleep. He lifted himself off the block of wood he was sitting on and crawled into the canvas tent he set up just before nightfall. He closed the front flap and sat on the familiar bedding of grass and pine needles covered with multiple thick blankets. He tugged off his worn brown hiking boots.

"Call me when the wind is calm and I can hear my name," he sang quietly, the same song he sang every night before bed. It sounded like an old viking chant, but it's origin exactly was unknown to him. All he knew was that it was about a very real creature. His mother used to sing it to him as a child as a warning. "Show me how you tie a noose and act like it's a game."

He rubbed his face with his hands, feeling his scruff, almost a full beard. He needed to shave, soon. At least it kept him warm. "From a branch the last one hangs and sways for me to find."

"I'll watch my step and hide my neck, for you, I will not die."

______

"SAPNAP."

Sapnaps eyes flew open wide. He stared at the canvas wall of his tent, petrified and paralyzed.

The fire light was gone, allowing the moon to cast a blue haze over the tent. Sapnap knew he'd heard a whisper of his name. He pulled the covers up to his nose. It must've been a dream. But... a dream or a Dream? The subconscious illusion or the rare entity of the same name? His stomach churned at the possibility of the second option.

"Ssssssaaahh- ahhh... puhhh- naahhp."

Sapnap was fully awake. The sound was entirely real, and entirely inhuman.

Hide neck, hide neck, hide neck, Sapnap thought frantically. He pulled his coat hood over his head and tugged the collar up over his chin, then pulled the covers all the way over his head. The song was simply a reminder of how to evade a Dream. They had the tendency of pulling people out of bed by their necks. The logic is that if the neck is hidden, the human is safe. Relatively. Dreams were known as playful creatures, unafraid to show themselves and prod at their victims.

Sapnap gasped at the first contact.

He kept the covers taut over his head and screwed his eyes shut. Through the thick layers, all could feel was the faint pressure applied to his upper right leg. It stayed there, unmoving.

"Sapnap?"

He kicked his leg upward slightly. The pressure ceased.

It resumed on his left arm, heavier this time. Very close to his face. He shuddered, feeling goosebumps all over and sweat collecting anywhere it could.

"Stroooong." The rasp of a voice hummed. The dream was taunting him.

Sapnap felt tears in his eyes. "Go away." He cried. His voice cracked.

The gentle laughter chilled his bones.

"I do what I want."

The murmur was followed by a rough tug at Sapnaps blanket. He panicked, straining his fingers to keep it in place. His knuckles must've been white. The Dream just kept pulling.

Sapnap was full on sobbing by then. He didn't want to die, not like this.

He froze, even the beads of sweat stilling as his fingers slipped and the blanket fell to his chest. He couldn't breathe as the blacked-out eyes of a humanoid creature gazed down at him. If the eyes didn't give it away, then the elongated face, the insane height, and incredibly bony everything, did. This was a Dream. A neck snapper, a caller, a nightmare; all the nicknames. Some even called them baiters, as a rare amount of them played with their prey in a more... sexual way.

This Dream seemed like a baiter.

Sapnap struggled to see through the dark and his tears but he preferred it that way. He squeezed his eyes shut to see nothing at all while sobs rattled his body. His neck was still hidden under his coat collar, and felt snug. It only provided mild comfort.

A cold, sharp fingernail drew a stinging line down Sapnaps exposed, tear-streaked cheek. Near his lips, the nail became the soft pad of a fingertip. It halted, then traced his lower lip with the weight of a feather. He felt the long nail brush his upper lip. Then, it moved down to his coat collar.

"Stop-" Sapnap choked. "Leave. Please."

His begging must've struck a nerve. He couldn't feel the thing anymore, nothing demonic touching him anywhere. He risked a peek through wet lashes and nearly laughed in relief when his tent was empty. He pulled the covers back over his head and after the adrenaline wore off, promptly fainted.