The Dream

The Beginning?

"Sara, Joey, it's time to go to bed you two," Lena Winters, a mother of two said to her children who were playing together in the living room of their two story apartment.
"But mommy, I'm not tired!" 6 year old Joey stated with his brown teddy bear gripped tightly in his right hand.
"Joey, sweetie, you have to get some sleep so you can get up and go to school tomorrow," said Lena.
"I can take him to bed, mom," 15 year old Sara told her mother as she walked up beside her little brother.
"Thank you Sara," Lena said, somewhat relieved she didn't have to deal with her stubborn little boy for the night. She bent down and grabbed both sides of Joey's face and kissed his forehead. "Goodnight Joey," she whispered to him and let go of his head. "Goodnight Sara," she said before kissing her daughter's forehead and Sara grumbled. "I'll see you two in the morning, sleep well and make sure you go say goodnight to daddy."
"okay mommy!" Joey cheered, "Come on, Sara, lets go see daddy!"

As the two children walked off Lena went into the kitchen to finish cleaning up the dishes from the meal they had a couple of hours before. As she was washing the dishes the light above the sink blew out and she had to go get a spare light bulb to fix the light.

When she got back from the closet with the light bulb, she saw something strange. She didn't know what it was but it was dark in color. She fixed the light and went back to look down the dimly lit hallway to figure out what the thing was that she had just seen. She walked over to it and picked it up, pricking her finger in the process.

She examined the object. it was a black rose. "What in the world is this doing here?" she questioned, "I bet Sara left it here..." she sighed and grabbed an old vase and filled it with some water before placing the rose into it. "Better keep it alive or Sara will kill me."

"Sara?" asked Joey, "can you tuck me in like mommy does?"

"I guess..." Sara said with a sigh. She tucked her brother into bed just as he asked and then went to bed herself. She lied there uneasily for a while until she finally fell asleep.

All she heard were screams and the sound of people getting hurt. She was scared and confused, but the screams sounded very familiar. That only made it worse...

"Goodnight honey," Lena said to her husband, Wade, as she lied down to go to sleep.

"Goodnight, babe," Wade mumbled sleepily back to her.

Sara had been sleeping for a couple of hours when the nightmare came to life. First they had been hearing tapping in the walls, but of course they thought it was just a few rats crawling through the walls.
Then it was the blood that they have been finding scattered throughout the house. And now, the rose and next, the attack. And it may come sooner than you think.

Sara looked around her, her green eyes wide as a distorted figure appears in front of her. She tried to scream, but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. She thought to run, but her legs were locked in place. The figure was crawling its way closer to her and she stared, her mouth agape.

The thing writhed, its body bent in a half-moon shape. It looked like a dog at first, but as it got closer she realized that the thing looked more human than that. The creature, whatever it was, held up a claw-clad hand out at Sara. She took a slow step back, tripping over a hole in the ground. She tumbled down, her brown hair covering her eyes. She felt something sharp prick her cheek. When she looked up to see the thing over her, it's claws stabbing her cheek...

She shot up from her uneasy slumber, screaming and drenched in sweat. She looked worriedly around her bedroom before her hand made its way to her cheek. She felt something warm and wet and moved her hand so she could see it, crimson covered her fingertips.

Lena sat up, hearing a scream she raised an eyebrow, hitting Wade with her hand to wake him up.
"Did you hear that?" Lena questioned.

"No..." Wade mumbled as he sat up slowly, looking at his wife with a confused look.

"Well it sounded like a scream," Lena said, "and it sounded like it came from Sara's room again,"

Wade quickly got out of bed and turned on the light, not even looking back at Lena before he walked out of the room and down the hall to his daughters room, quickly barging in the room to see Sara on the bed, looking at him like a deer in headlights.
"Sara?" he whispered, "are you alright, sweetheart?"

Sara nodded reluctantly, staring at her dad, "I just had a bad dream..." she mumbles, rubbing her cheek with her hand,

"Are you sure? You're rubbing your cheek," he paused, "Did something happen to it?" he took a step towards her, an eyebrow raised.

Sara noded again, slower this time, "I don't know what happened to it, but it hurts a lot and I think it's bleeding."

"Well lets get you fixed up. How does that sound?" he smiles at her, holding out his hand for his daughter to grab.

Sara smiled back, hesitating a moment before taking his hand. Wade pulled her up and led her to the bathroom where he grabbed some band-aids and a washcloth with a bit on water on it. Lena had finally caught up and walked in, too.

"What happened you two?" she questioned, looking at her somewhat injured daughter.

"We don't know what happened to the cheek," Wade answered, "but she said she had another nightmare."

Lena nodded, walking over to her husband and resting a hand on his back as she watched him put the band-aid on Sara's cheek. "You know, Sara, you can sleep with us tonight if you need to," Lena stated.

Sara smiled slightly and looked up at her mother, "Thanks, mom..." she mumbled, standing up and following them back to their room. She laid down between her two parents for a while before finally falling asleep again, but luckily not having any nightmares... this time.