The Past Never Sleeps

The Dream or Nightmare...?

Sarah was contemplating on how bad of a friend she was. Alex remembered everything about her but she, on the other hand, completely forgot his mother died on this day 12 years ago.

She took out her phone from the pocket in her dress and turned on the messenger in Alex's account.

'Sorry I forgot about tomorrow.'

She flinched at the message and quickly erased it. Instead sent him a blatant message.

'Thank you for today. Waiting for another day like this. Good night.'

She turned off her phone and went to the bathroom. After her night routine, she leapt on her bed and wandered off to dreamland. Only she forgot that nightmares are dreams too.

Sarah's mind was filled with the thoughts of the smiling face. The lavender scent does little to no help to ease her mind. She could feel the bar filled with teenagers with their dates, dancing away their worries on a school night. She was staring at her probable fifth serving of scotch. Honestly, she had lost count way earlier. Maybe she should order a glass of water next.

She was just surveying her surroundings with her intoxicated head, and blurry vision. Something... unusual caught her eye.

She saw a face or... head? It looked like it was dismembered... or rather mutilated from the body. Sarah's mind might be intoxicated, but it seemed way too real. And that indistinguishable smile... it was grinning from ear to ear, and not metaphorically. It seemed the smile was slit with a knife and blood was slowly dripping from those cuts.

It wasn't still, it was coming closer, one step at a time... Closer to Sarah. She rubbed her eyes once to check if what she was real, oh what a grave mistake that was.

The next thing she knew was that 'it' was right at her in the eye, a knife carving into her stomach. "You're next, Sarah Harper." It whispered in a voice that was almost way too real to be just a dream.

Suddenly, the bar faded away. She was in her bedroom. But it wasn't the safe haven she knew. No, It was far from it.

The room was deadly cold, and that grotesque caricature of joy seemed to be everywhere— the mirror, the doors and even the shadows. The room was bathed in a sickly, flickering light, casting long, creeping shadows that twist and writhe like living things.

Sarah woke up with a jolt, her heart pounding. The room is dark, but the lingering fear from her nightmare makes it feel suffocating. The shadows seem to move on their own, and she can still hear the whisper, "You're next," echoing in her mind. She knows she won't be able to sleep again tonight, the terror of the smiling face deeply embedded into her consciousness.

As if that face wasn't enough, her alarm clock rang. She slightly jumped in her position and hastily sought to turn it off. She looked out her window. The sun had barely risen, taking into account that it was early July.

She stood up gently from her bed and disappeared into the bathroom.

After taking the much anticipated ice-cold shower, she slid on some clothes and took out a packaged cold-coffee from the refrigerator. Maybe, she will just buy lunch from the cafeteria today.

Sarah stepped out of her house, the crisp morning air doing little to clear the lingering fog of her nightmare.

Her foot brushed against a little something. A little package was sitting for her on the porch. It was of indicolite colour and wrapped up in a perfectly neat sacramento green bow. It also came with a letter. And not those cryptic letters. This one was short and not enclosed in an envelope.

They say that people with green eyes have the world enclosed in them.

From, your secret admirer

She smiled at this. Alex thinks that even after five years of friendship, she couldn't decipher his handwriting. She opened the gift to find a notebook on which her name was engraved on. She gently brushed her hands on the inscribed name and smiled to herself.

In the midst of all this chaos, he still found a way to make her smile. Even though she knew, this gift was just a short-term distraction. It was still a very welcome and anticipated distraction.

Both internally and externally smiling, she took a glance at her wrist watch. 7:00 am. Even though classes start at 9:30 am, she decided it would be best if she would reach the school early. She was pretty sure in the midst of all this murderous chaos, she must have forgotten to re-check her lesson plan. And most of her classes consisted of younger kids, thus a flawless lesson plan was always easier.

She got in her car and heated up the engine. While on the road, she glanced at the once innocent town, forever tainted by the murder of Debby Long.

On the first glance, Elderwood would look like the perfect idyllic town to settle down with your family. It's scent of caramel mixed with the perfect amount of chocolate chip brownies. The misty environment which helps not to keep your skin dry and in the summers, many woodlands to camp.

But with every step you take closer to the town, you will smell the scent of blood, and instead of happy families you will see their shadows quietly, but surely lurking in the background, craving for blood and attention.

Her car passed by the small, quaint houses. The people of Elderwood were desperately trying to ignore the fact that there was a killer on loose.

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 I searched 10 websites to learn about some cute myths about green eyes. But got frustrated and ended up in a Wikipedia page about serial killers. 

Anyways, QUESTION: I want to add a character from the LGBTQ+ community, because they are so cool. Drop in some suggestions in the comments please.