Wildest Dreams

e i gh t

I took a deep breath and pressed on the doorbell. A moment hasn't even passed when the door was opened by Glen.

"Maple, you came." A smile formed on his lips. Contagious like it always was, I returned the gesture. "Come in."

I rubbed my shoes first on the rug then let Glen led me to the living room, where Nancy and Tina sat.

"Look who decided to come," Glen announced, making them look at our direction. The surprise was more than obvious on their frozen figures on the sofa.

"Hi." I did a small awkward wave.

It felt like the first time meeting them, but everything was uncomfortable instead of friendly.

"Maple, hi." Nancy was the first to speak after a few seconds.

"What are you doing here?" Tina asked, bringing her feet down from the sofa. There was an unreadable expression on her face as she stared at me.

"I—"

"She's having the same dreams as you. That man, you said, with knives for fingers," Glen answered for me, which intrigued the two more.

"You've been... talking?" questioned Nancy.

Glen shook his head quickly. "No, no. I was, well we—"

"No, we were not. Just today when he told me about you," I answered, stepping closer and letting my hands wave as I spoke. "He happened to see one of my drawings, which was an exact description to your dreams. He connected the two and came up with the clever idea to meet up and talk about it."

"You're saying that as if it's not clever," mumbled Glen.

"Yes, coming from a jock like you," I retorted, turning to him with a glare. I  immediately felt regretful at the thought of adding more tension in the room.

"Sorry. That was a joke and I didn't mean to snap," I apologized.

Nancy rose from the sofa and walked towards me. I thought she was going to be furious at me for snapping at her boyfriend, but instead she pulled me in for a hug.

"God, you still sound like the old you, Maple," she laughed.

I released my uneasy shoulders. "Thanks, I guess?"

"And I'm glad you had a comeback for Glendolyn. It's like he's the one with the period," Tina teased and we all agreed to it, except for Glen of course.

He rolled his eyes and headed to the kitchen. "Oh, I forgot. You three always teamed up against me."

Nancy, Tina, and I sat on the sofa and began our conversation with mostly about the changes in our lives. Tina was on and off with Rod, Nancy and Glen have a fling together, and me... I was still me.

Nancy then brought up the boiler room topic. Turns out, our dreams weren't of the same person only, but also the events of trying to escape him and the place it happens.

Glen had placed a bowl of popcorn before us when his head snapped to the sound of steel scratching from the outside. We froze and heads turned to the window.

It was dark and almost nothing can be seen.

Subtle but unmistakably, there was another drag.

It was like ice cold water dropped on us. The sound of my heart beat rang loudly in my ears. I grabbed the closest thing to defend myself as we to the backdoor. Glen was the first to step out while the rest of us stayed behind him. Our alarmed eyes scanned the surroundings.

Glen signaled us to stay put as he stepped into the lawn, curling his fists in anticipation until he stopped where the light from the inside faded.