Dreamcatcher

21

You can't stay so lazy forever, young Dream Catcher. Do you not hate the Dream Catchers? Do you not think about your hatred for dreamcatchers, how much you want to take them away? You'll need to resume work eventually.

And so she did. Her arms lifted the twenty-or-so dreamcatchers in her arms like they weighed nothing, and perhaps they actually did. The physical aspect of taking dreams and dreamcatchers was the easy part.

What was hard about the job was the mental aspect.

Aerial wanted to puke each time she looked at the flower-and-web patterns, the bells, the feathers, the string, the hoop, the thread, the butterfly – everything. Her hatred was more than before, perhaps two years back, but Aerial knew why.

Everytime she looked at a dreamcatcher, she felt like somebody was tugging on her wrist. Everytime she looked at a dreamcatcher, she felt like she could hear the dying breaths of whoever lived inside the house.

She could hear the screams. She could hear the cries. She could hear the tears dripping down cheeks and chins.

How did she deal with this before? Aerial had no clue. Perhaps her brain simply droned out her thoughts and numbed them like doctor's medicine. Now her brain was failing her, and she wondered if she was becoming more and more human with each porch she walked on.

Maybe she wasn't fit for this job anymore.

You can't stay so lazy forever, young Dream Catcher. You'll need to resume work eventually.

There – over there – there's a strong dreamcatcher on that door. Seems like the person there has a nice dream ready for taking. Steal it, young Dream Catcher. Steal it.

But Aerial didn't listen. She was wrong – her brain still droned out thoughts. It only droned out some, however.

She walked by the house like it didn't exist, like there was no dreamcatcher over there, no strong scent of hope and life.

Turn back, young Dream Catcher. Take it. Take it. It's time for them to die.

But Aerial still didn't listen. She quickened her pace down the street, hoping the voice would leave her for good, for forever. The voice grew louder. She closed her eyes and covered her ears.

Turn back, young Dream Catcher. Turn back. Turn back.

Turn back.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Her step grew faster and faster, quicker and quicker, until she was already far from the house, far from the neighborhood. The voice quieted down, a shadow in the back of her brain.

But Aerial didn't listen for the first time. She smiled. It was her first smile in more than two months.

Where are you going, young Dream Catcher?

Aerial's smile softened peacefully. To make amends. To talk with someone I should've talked to more.

What do you want out of it, young Dream Catcher?

Anything. I want anything. A reaction of hatred, grief, anything.

Are you going to hurt her by doing so?

I think she grows stronger from pain. She's that kind of person, you see.

After she turned onto the familiar street of dreamcatchers and plain houses, Aerial immediately spotted that one house – the one of Chase and Venus. On the porch sat the young woman in her white lawn chair, a journal in front of her. She sat in still solitude with a cup of tea, and at times like this she seemed...at peace.