Nirvana

1

Evelynn Gray woke up with a jolt, her heart pounding, her mind racing, and her breathing panicked. Was that a dream? Why was she jogging? What was that thing chasing her? Was it human? Eve began to panic as she imagined the pain she felt in her dream. It all felt so real, but the pain was nonexistent once her injuries became worse in the dream. All these questions raced through Eve's head as she crawled out of bed and grabbed a glass of water to calm her down. What could that mean? She grabbed her phone from her nightstand and scrolled through her socials as she walked through her apartment getting ready for the day. She froze after reading a news article about a dead body found in the park next to the giant willow tree. The injuries were described exactly as she saw in her dream. Her body broke out into a cold sweat, and she started to panic, her heart was racing, "The fuck...I thought it was just a bad dream," she said out loud. Eve walked over and fed her cats for the day to keep herself occupied, especially before they started to yell at her for it.

Her two sweet babies were the bane of her existence and yet her greatest comfort. They scurried over as she poured food into their bowls, first her large Maine coon, he was a gorgeous brown tiger striped pattern, his name was Gizmo, and he was her first-born baby. The second of her kitties was a little black cat who she called her house panther, his name was Nibble. They devoured their food as Eve got ready to leave. She sprinted out of her apartment and down to the crime scene, upon getting there she saw a huge crowd. Others must have been as curious as she was after reading that article, she tried to ignore the idea that the monster in her dream was real, but after seeing the crime scene she knew she couldn't ignore it

It was obvious that whatever killed this poor jogger wasn't human, her body parts were scattered within a 50-foot radius, they had covered up the body at this point due to the nature of the scene, but it was hard to ignore the parts, and the blood splatters and pools all over this place. Eve didn't know a human could hold so much blood inside them. Interrupting her thoughts, one of the officers walked too close to the crowd and they erupted with questions. Reporters, Eve thought. They all begged to know what happened, who was the victim, do they have any leads yet.

"Unfortunately, we cannot answer all your questions right now," The officer tried to redirect, "Just go home and let us take care of things," He sighed. With that people actually started to leave. Weird.

"I cannot catch a break with these people I swear," The officer said, clearly exhausted already. Eve studied him, he seemed stressed. She tilted her head, watching him walk around the scene, he was taking notes. Eve could tell he was new at this, the way his brow furrowed, and his tan skin seemed to pale when glancing towards the scene of the crime. He probably just left the academy and was transferred here hoping it would be a quiet job. What people don't know about Eve is that she's an empath, very Intune with people's emotions, and what she discovered recently is that if she focuses enough, she can hear other people's thoughts.

Eve focused and paid attention to the officer, she was right about everything this far about him, he was stressed, new, and exhausted. She heard some things that intrigued her though about the case. "How the hell does a person get torn to shreds like that? Emilys' family is struggling so hard already and now she's dead. There's no way whatever killed her was human but what will we tell the people? Why were all her organs missing? I can't handle this right now," The officer's thoughts screamed in her head, and she winced at how loud they were.

She decided to try and talk to him when he walked over again. Once she left his thoughts her head felt like it was being crushed for a moment, the blood flowing and leaving and pulsing. It made her dizzy, this was normal after listening in though, she always struggled and didn't do it much. Her mouth was dry, and she felt cold air flow by whipping her hair around, confused, she looked up, the hairs on her arms stood on end. The doll. She saw it standing by the willow tree, towering up by the wilting branches, its wicked grin even more horrifying in person. Eve could see the blood stains still on the doll's arms, mouth, and neck. It took a step towards her, its body wobbling and twitching wildly as it raised its foot to take another step like it was ready to pounce and make Eve her next meal. Eve could swear she could hear the giggling bubbling up from the doll's chest. Eve took a big breath and looked around, no one else seemed to notice the doll.

"Officer, I have a question for you," Eve's voice sounded slightly panicked and shaky. The officer turned towards her annoyed, but his face relaxed once he saw the fear in hers.

"What's the issue, ma'am? You're still hanging around a crime scene," He questioned. Eve lifted a shaky hand and pointed towards the willow tree where the doll was standing, her movements more erratic than before, her grin wider and terrifying. The officer turned to look where she was pointing, and the doll dissipated. What?! Eve was stunned. She searched the tree and the ground by the tree, but nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"I don't see what you're pointing at. Ma'am, I think you should go home, this scene is disturbing, and you really shouldn't be here," He said. Eve began to panic more.

"I'm sorry, I should have said what I was pointing at before doing so, have you guys checked by the tree? I've got a weird feeling about it, like something is off over there," Eve tried to sound calm but it was clear she wasn't fooling the officer, but who would believe her about the doll? Was it even a doll?

"I guess we can look, thank you," the officer said, looking annoyed before asking her to leave again. That's what she did, she left, looking over her shoulder paranoidly. Worrying the doll was going to be behind her, chasing her, ready to pounce. She could feel the cold shakes overcome her, she had never been so scared in her life, discovering that monster in her dreams was actually real. That's horrifying. Her body shook and trembled even though it was hot outside. She couldn't seem to get warm. Eve hurried back home and locked her door, checking it multiple times, she checked every room in her apartment. She paced back and forth in her living room. Was her mind linked to the victim somehow? Did her brain stop her from experiencing the pain she was supposed to feel in that dream? Why didn't she, she felt everything else. It made no sense to her. Eve rationalized that it was because she has never experienced being so brutalized like that before.

Sighing, Eve walked over to her desk and opened her sketchbook, deciding she was going to draw the monster she had seen. The doll had unproportionate limbs, her skin cracked and oozing a dark wispy matter from said cracks, they covered her entire body actually, including her face. The cracks were more pronounced there, some pieces looking to be missing entirely, she had long brown hair that flowed down her back, and she wore a torn-up silk dress. Eve paused for a moment, cringing at the drawing, then immediately going back to it. This time focusing more on the doll's face, her eyes like big black holes, a void that could draw you in, her nose unremarkable, her mouth though, that was terrifying. Her mouth was wide, too wide, her smile haunting, her teeth-stained red. Her lips curled upwards when she smiled as well, and her mouth wasn't fully closed, it was like she couldn't fully close it either. It scared Eve deep to her core. She scanned over her drawing for a few more minutes, trying to figure out if she missed any details before closing her sketchbook and putting it away.