Dreamcatcher

6

At early Saturday dawn, it suddenly occurred to both Aerial and Chase that she had stolen the dreamcatchers off of many neighborhood doors a week ago, the day before Chase's birthday. She did find it peculiar for the dream-affected people in the households to take a while to die after their life turned to hell, but she didn't think twice about it.

Well, that was until most of them began to take their own lives.

Nightmares in life and dreams were the same. Things were clueless, people panicked, hope drowned itself in the heart's basin it sprung from, and suddenly the only thing keeping people sane was ending their own pain. It could either be from waking up – an easier yet uncontrollable solution during sleep – or committing suicide, another solution once their real-life dream left their firm grasp.

"You saw this coming?" Venus asked, practically shaking the brain around in Chase's skull. Her voice rose like a mother's, eyes red and bloodshot. She was getting increasingly irritable, Chase noticed. "How can you just predict that everybody on our street will start to kill themselves, huh?! Are you stupid?"

"T-Their dreams were basic. They wanted to live a normal life with happiness and prosperity. The only way to end a dream like that–" Chase began. When he saw Venus raising her hand like she was about to slap him, he dropped his sentence and braced for it. Seconds later when he opened his eyes, Chase saw her lower her hand in a depressing acceptance.

Venus looked like she was about to cry. In truth, it wasn't a far-off possibility. She cried often, mostly alone in her bedroom, and she had previously told Chase that it was the only way she could express her sorrows without hurting others.

"But how, Chase?" Venus asked, her voice hoarse. "Dream Catchers usually only take dreamcatchers that are attractive, either ones that have reached their limit or have worked for far too long. Who would dare take a weak dreamcatcher full of simple wishes? Did a Dream Catcher come to their doors? Did somebody take them?"

But instead of answering her answerless questions, Chase walked away from Venus, turning his back to her. "Just stop, V. Worrying about this has no meaning. It doesn't matter who takes the dreamcatchers – they're all the same to me."

"But–"

"Tell me, would it make you feel better if our neighbors took the dreamcatchers off their own doors, letting themselves face hell at their own will?"

Venus knew Chase was odd. At times he sounded dead inside, a shell of the usual sentimental-yet-hyper boy she knew. Sometimes his voice would turn serious and melancholy all at once, and he would always not look her in the eye.

"V, do you hate Dream Catchers?"

"...Yes? Why wouldn't I? Do you not–"

"You hate Dream Catchers, Aerial hates Dream Catchers, and I have to put up with both of you guys," Chase muttered. He sounded exhausted. "Y'know what? Whether a Dream Catcher takes dreamcatchers simply because They have to, or maybe because They hate dreams – I understand both."

"Chase—"

"I'm fed up with your dream, V." Chase let out a drawn-out sigh. His messy hair covered his eyes once more, shadowing his inner thoughts normally concealed from the world. "I'm...I'm just fed up."

The teen was about to walk away, but he stopped when he heard Venus speak again.

"It's the only thing keeping me going, Chase. This dream. It's...the only thing."

"And it'll keep you going – that's for sure – until it doesn't. A life should have an end, no? That's what gives it meaning – an achievable finish. A dream should be the same." Chase's voice had grown colder than it already was, and Venus felt her hands shaking. It seemed they were always shaking those days. Eventually when she did let the tears flow out, Chase was already long gone from the front yard.