With Fear or Without

48- Dream in a Dream

It's just a dream.

This time, Cleo only repeated her mantra once before opening her eyes. She was pleasantly surprised to see she wasn't alone. Charlie was by her side, having just pushed themselves back to standing and apprehensively scanning around. They weren't in the circular chamber anymore. They were in a tunnel deep underground, as far as Cleo could guess.

"Where are we?" Charlie asked, as if Cleo would have a clue.

"No idea. Another nightmare?" Cleo suggested.

"Maybe."

It felt different, though. Definitely a dream, but not... hostile, or threatening to them. Cleo's head was clear and her senses were with her, unlike the beginnings of most dreams.

Then the whole tunnel shook, a huge earthquake disturbing the ground beneath them. Cleo was thrown off her feet as the world shuddered. She fell back on a wall in a half-standing position, the rumbling pounding against her eardrums.

Just as suddenly as it started, the quaking stopped. After the loud quaking and cracking, the absolute silence was eerie. Cleo could hear her own rapid heartbeat and her heaving breaths. Her ears rang after the overwhelming sound.

"Definitely someone's nightmare," Charlie grumbled, breaking the thick silence. They brushed bits of dust and rock off their shoulders and out of their ruffled hair.

An absurd idea came to Cleo. An explanation so crazy it had to be right.

"Andy's nightmare."

"What?"

"It makes sense, doesn't it?" Cleo said. "Andy hated whenever it started shaking underground, remember?"

Charlie peered at her before responding. "Of course I remember. But... how can we be in her nightmare?"

"I was in yours," Cleo reminded them, in the stage whisper she had adopted for the odd situation.

"Sure, but only after you got out of your own," Charlie countered. "And this doesn't feel like a nightmare for both of us like earlier."

"Yeah, you're right. But the shadows came from Andy this time. That's gotta mean something."

Charlie frowned. "Yeah. That was messed up."

Nodding in response, Cleo looked up and down the tunnel. It was hard to see past a few feet, but she swore she saw the fainted bit of movement through the darkness that swallowed the tunnel. The slightest shifting in the shadows.

"Charlie, there's something there," she whispered, straining to see farther.

Following her gaze, Charlie whispered back, "Can you see what it is?"

"Not from here." Cleo tiptoed forwards in the direction she saw movement.

"You're going towards it?" Charlie hissed at her. Cleo waved a hand over her shoulder dismissively.

It's just a dream, she thought. Not even my dream. Even better.

"This is exactly why you should watch more horror movies with me," Charlie grumbled behind her. "So you can learn from them."

"No thanks," Cleo whispered back to them.

Slowly, she began to make out the outline of a small figure sitting in a heap against one wall. Faint ragged breaths reached her ears, taken in short bursts like the crumpled person was trying not to cry.

Cleo glanced over her shoulder at Charlie, who returned her look and merely shrugged.

Well, she wasn't getting any ideas from them. So she did the most logical thing.