short story compilation

The girl in my dream

When I was a child, I was an introvert and had difficulty socializing. I'm used to spending time alone reading books or playing puzzle games. I'm shy so it's hard to communicate, unless people start the conversation first. My physical body is also weak. When my friends were playing soccer or chasing each other around, I would just go under the tree and sleep under its shade.

One day after dinner, I went to my room as usual and then took my favorite book which told about the great warriors of the past, imagining how brave and great they were compared to me who was even weaker than women. I read the book until I finally fell asleep.

After a while, I suddenly woke up in a very strange place. tall trees towered all around me. The place was very dark, the cold wind blew thinly, piercing my bones. Where is this? My mind is confused. Wasn't I in the room just now? Oh, this must be a dream, right? I immediately hit my cheek as hard as I could and only felt a little pain. OK, this is a dream. But where is this?

As I was confused. I saw the shadow of someone approaching me. I immediately stood up and prepared to run, but somehow my legs suddenly couldn't move so I just stood still, waiting for  the shadow to come.

When it got close, I could see who the figure was. She was a beautiful girl, her hair was bright red along with her pupils which also glowed reddish. Her skin looked pale white and her whole body also looked slightly radiant under the sun-dress she was wearing when compared to the trees around her.

She came to me then stretched out her hand and asked me softly "Wanna come with me?"I was confused by her question. Who is this girl? Follow where? . 

"Come on, this must be your first time here, right? Let me guide you around this dark forest." My body moved again on its own and accepted the invitation as if I was hypnotized by the girl's presence and finally followed her.

The two of us walked through the forest slowly because our vision was very limited. We didn't talk to each other until she suddenly open the conversation.

"So, what brought you to the dark forest?" she asked. "What do you mean?" I asked her back. She smiled faintly at my answer then began to explain.

"The dark forest is actually a beautiful dreamland, it is a place for children to be creative, play and bring all the imaginations they have into reality."

"This place used to be called the forest of light. But one day, an evil entity appeared and wreaked havoc."

"All beautiful imaginations turn scary and start to scare children. The bright sky began to be covered by the growing trees. The children cried and then slowly disappeared, Back to reality. And until now, there were no more children here until you finally appeared."

I fell silent hearing the sad story. I saw the girl's face smiling, but her eyes actually radiated an aura of deep sadness and loneliness."Are you... one of those kids?" I asked her which I immediately regretted. Why are you adding to the problem? I asked myself.

The girl looked at me so I immediately apologized to her and asked her to not pay attention to what I said earlier. However, the girl smiled and said that she didn't mind and started telling her story "It is true. I was one of those children whose dreams were crushed by the nightmare."

"Nightmare?" I asked again.

"That is the name I gave to the entity that destroyed this beautiful dreamland."

" And the reason why I can't wake up is because I'm currently in a coma. I don't know how that could happen. All I know is that something hit my head while I was playing in the yard," the girl was silent for a moment but smiled again.