The New Light of Hope Book V: Corruption From Within.

Chapter X: A Reocurring Dream.

Abigail:

Date: July 8, 2020.

I never really spoke about this nor have I not even once mentioned this before to you, but ever since I was in eighth grade, ever since I was thirteen, I had this reoccuring dream thaat I would have almost, if not, every single night; if it wasn't an important one that had a message that I would have to keep in mind, my mind would be occupied by that same dream, and it began and ended in the same way as it did the last time, the time before, the time before that, and the time before that.

But exactly was the dream? Well, I will tell you about it right now.

So, in the dream, I would find myself in a wasteland with nothing but sand, rocky edges and hills, cacti, and a fiery red sky –though the dream is set to be plain as day–

That was how I viewed the world and society itself depending on what goes on in or outside of Lucella, but to me that was how I mainly saw almost every day from my own perspective. And in the middle of this nowhere desert, there always stood a small iron cage with a bird inside of the cage– the bird appears as a gray bird with dark gray markings similar to that of a racoon, and yellow eyes; and that bird obviously representing none other than Amethyst. And every time I had this dream, I would always go up to the bird's cage, but rather than setting it free like I should have done, I instead insult the bird as well as it relatives, tell it that the cage is where it'll end up if it's careful although I told the bird that the cage is its so-called "natural habitat" either way and sometimes go as far as shaking and rattling the cage as well. It took me a while to realize that this reoccurring dream was a representation of me and Amethyst and our differences between one another due to the fact that our parents –namely my father– have had his fair share in the rivalry until they had set it all aside and decided to be on good terms with one another.

And as I said before, I would have this dream every night and it would begin and end the same way always. But on this night when I had that same dream, something… changed up a bit compared to what I remembered from the other times when I had the dream.
…
Date: July 8 - July 9, 2020.

I found myself in the same deserted wasteland as usual, went up to the same iron cage with the exact same bird in it, ready to torment it again. But this time was different— the bird was already dead before I could even get to it but I did not see anything in the cage that could have led to its sudden death. "Hey, Tweedledum, wake your sorry ass up, you useless pile of oxygen." I said, putting my hands on the bars of the cage, but no answer. So I said: "Wake up, you useless bundle of feathers and wings!"

Again no answer. "Just what I fucking thought. Weaklings like you can't handle shit like this. You cowardly skink." I said. Just then could see what looked like a trail of blood that came from its mouth and both of its eyes and it trailed down the bird, led out of one of the holes in the cage and dropped to the dry, hot ground. What the hell is wrong with this bird? I was taken aback a bit by the site of the bird and what I was seeing unfold in front of my very own eyes. Then, the bird decayed and was no more afterward. But then, I saw the pitch blackness of a void swallow the desert and everything within it, including the cage where the bird once was and I began freaking out about what was unfolding in front of my own two eyes and I frozen in shock when the desert had been swallowed in the darkness.

I began to look around the dark, empty abyss, hoping to find something within its emptyness— but as I looked around, I couldn't find a single thing. But just went I thought I could not find anything and that I was by myself, I came across something that I would never forget even to this day. I saw two red eyes staring at me as if they were staring directly right into my very soul and would not take their eyes off of me even if they tried. And what freaked me out the most is when they whispered: "Feel the evil inside of you."

I didn't know how to respond to this and just at that moment, that thing jumped out at me, attacking me.

I shot awake and shot my head up from my bed; my heart was racing like crazy that it felt like it was going to jump right out of my chest, I was sweating profusely, and I was inhaling and exhaling at a heavy rate. I held my hand to my heart and grabbed ahold of my chest as I began hyperventilating. "Abigail, what's wrong?" Bellatrix asked me as she shot out of her bed and ran off to check on me. "Abigail what happened? Are you okay?"

Abigail: "I-I-I-I-I-I just experienced the same dream but this time it was different than any other time where it began and ended the same way as before. This time, it was far more disturbing than the previous times; the bird in the cage was dead, the desert was swallowed by the darkness along with the bird and its cage, and then I was left in the dark and these malicious red eyes were just staring right into my very soul before it attacked me. And so, here we are."

Bella didn't even know what to say in the moment, all she could do was hug me and say: "It was just a dream, Abby. What you saw in it isn't real and it was just a twisted version of the dream you've had since eigthth grade."

Abigail: "I know, but what if it meant something? Something… important that I need to know about."

Bellatrix: "How so?"

Abigail: "I don't really know how to explain it, all I know is that it means something sinister that might happen. That's all I really know about in terms of trying to figure out the meaning behind it all. Everything just happened so fast, I couldn't even make out what was going on in the moment. I honestly don't have the words to descibe what happened other than the fact that it terrified the living hell out of me."

Bellatrix: "Do you know anything else about the dream besides what you saw in it?"

Abigail: "That's all I can really say about it."

Bellatrix: "Do you want to talk about anything else?"

Abigail: "Sure. Why not?"

We spent the next sixteen minutes just talking about whatever it was we wanted to discuss or whatever was on our minds until I began feeling tired and we both went back to bed to rest up once again for the next day to come.

But still, that dream could not leave my mind that night as I slowly went back to sleep. I was now terrified out of my mind and wanted to know more about the dream if I were to ever have it again the next night or the next if it did not happen again. What did it all mean? Was it something important? Was it a warning sent by Maria that I should be worried about on one hand? What did any of it even mean besides what I knew about it previous before that night when it took a sinister turn? I had so many wuestions on the manner but slowly drifted off to sleep as I wondered to myself what it meant and why or if I should be worried about it.

Well, as it turns out, I would have to worry about it because it did mean something. Something awful and beyond my own understanding on it and I would learn what it all meant soon enough.