Dreamcatcher

Chapter 3: Dealing with a Psycho

Upon opening my eyes I once again found myself in that shattered home. The one I visited every time I closed my eyes. I struggled to recall how I had come to be there but no memories came.

My hands were shaking from the frigid air and the fear that grasped my heart. I could not stand the constant smell of blood I had to endure whenever I was here. How many times will I have to go through this? I just wanted this horrible nightmare to cease.

As I once again walked over broken glass I suddenly froze in my tracks. Something was different this time. Something was out of place.. what is it?

I scanned the room to determine the source of my shock but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The entirety of the room seemed to waver in and out of reality and my vision was skewed but that was nothing new.

But that's when I glanced down at the blood trail. As always it led toward the half-open door to the room with the little boy but that wasn't what had caught my eye. My sight slowly drifted toward the opposite end of the trail. The side from which it had originated. It led to another doorway, a door that was standing wide open. What? That door has never been open before.. I had tried to open it many times before while in the dream but it had never budged.

A new sense of terror filled me at the sight of it. This was different and while intriguing, it scared me to find out what was beyond that door.

Cautiously I began to step toward it. My legs seemed heavy as if my body was trying to stop me from reaching my destination. I pushed onward, stepping over the smashed table on the floor as I neared the doorway. Finally, I reached it.

I stepped within the room. At first I could see nothing for it was too dark. I felt along the wall for a light switch until I found it. It felt much higher on the wall than it should have been as I flicked it on. The light momentarily blinded me but my eyes quickly adjusted.

This room was even more blood soaked than the one with the boy. Specks of white carpet could scarcely be seen through its now bloodstained visage. The red liquid was thrown all about the room in what was the most brutal scene I had ever seen in my life. There was a window on the right wall which I could see nothing out of. As in the dining room all the furniture was annihilated beyond repair.

My gaze moved toward far left corner of the room. I wish it hadn't. At that moment I regretted getting curious and walking into that room for there lay a carcass. At least what was left of it. Once it was a human being but now it looked only to be a decimated body but I could barely tell through the horrible sight before me as I walked closer to it. Deep claw-like wounds covered the body to the point where the victim was unrecognizable. Limbs lay in pieces around the corpse. It's head lay nearly severed from the shoulders. The long hair suggested it was female but there was no way for me to be sure.

I choked and covered my mouth, trying not to throw up. What could have done this? That's when my mind traced back to the little boy in the other room, covered in blood, "Brother, what have I done? I don't know what I've done.." He had asked me. But no, that could not have been the case.. A little boy couldn't have done this.

I looked up and that's when I noticed the only piece of furniture in the room which was not destroyed; a mirror. I walked towards it, unsure why I would do so and what I hoped to gain from it but for some reason it interested me. I stood before it, it was oddly taller than I was. Unsurprisingly it was covered in blood so I reached out my hand and wiped enough away so I could see my reflection in it.

What the- That can't be me! But it was me, just not how I should've been. I was younger. A lot younger. I saw myself staring back at me and realized that I must have been even younger than the boy in the other room. What's going on here..?