Dreamcatcher

Chapter 10 - Thursday

It's my day off again—today and tomorrow—and I'm relieved for the break. I need the space, some time away from the diner, away from people. Dean's confrontation yesterday has shaken me more than I want to admit. His words have been running laps in my head ever since. No matter how hard I try, I can't stop dissecting my life, picking it apart piece by piece, trying to find something that doesn't add up. But everything seems... normal. The only thing that feels off is my dreams. They've been more vivid, more unsettling lately, but that's just stress, right? It has to be.

It's almost lunchtime, and I've been lying in bed all morning, lost in thought. Daniel left for work hours ago, blissfully unaware that anything's wrong with me. I should get up. Do something. Anything. If I lie here any longer, he's going to come home and notice that I haven't moved all day.

With a sigh, I sit up, glancing around the room, and my eyes land on the dreamcatcher Daniel gave me. I stare at it, the feathers swaying slightly in the breeze from the window. "If I'm caught in a dream, does that mean I'm stuck in you?" I mutter, my voice laced with sarcasm. A bitter laugh escapes me. My mind is spinning with delusional thoughts. It's ridiculous, I know, but part of me can't shake the feeling.

Shaking my head to clear it, I get up and head for the shower. The hot water helps, washing away some of the tension. Once I'm out, I decide I need to do something to lift my spirits. Maybe if I make an effort to dress up, I'll start to feel more like myself.

I curl my long, chestnut brown hair, letting it cascade softly down my back. I go for a subtle smokey eye, accentuating my brown eyes, hoping it'll give me a little confidence boost. Then, I pull out one of my favorite sundresses—a soft blue one that always makes me feel good. It's getting chilly outside, probably one of the last days I can get away with wearing something like this before the cold sets in. But I need to feel a little lighter, a little freer, if only for a moment.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat, my mind starts to wander back to Dean and his cryptic warning. There was one thing he said that I haven't been able to shake. Djinn. He said something about a Djinn having me trapped.

What the hell is a Djinn?

Curiosity gnawing at me, I sit down at Daniel's computer and type the word into the search bar. I hesitate for a moment before pressing enter, feeling a knot of unease in my stomach. Part of me hopes this is all some weird misunderstanding. But a smaller, darker part of me needs answers.

I stare at the screen, reading and rereading the words until they blur together. Djinn... humanoid creatures with blue eyes and markings... reality-altering hallucinations... coma-like state. Every detail feels like a knife twisting deeper into my gut.

My hands tremble as I scroll back to the top of the article, as if starting over will somehow change what I've read. But it doesn't. The blue eyes. The cold, suffocating darkness. The feeling of being trapped, paralyzed. It all matches my dream too perfectly.

This can't be possible.

The air around me feels too thick, too heavy, like the walls are closing in. I force myself to take a breath, trying to calm the sudden racing of my heart, but my mind is spinning. What if Dean was telling the truth? What if everything I know—my life with Daniel, my job at the diner, even the small, mundane moments of my day—are just fragments of a fabricated reality designed to keep me asleep?

I push the chair back and stand, pacing the room in an attempt to ground myself, to feel something real beneath my feet.

The glowing blue eyes. The freezing room. The helplessness. It wasn't just a nightmare. It was something more. Something worse.

I wrap my arms around myself, shivering as I try to push the thought away. But it clings to me, relentless. If what Dean said was true—if I really am trapped in some kind of dream world created by a Djinn—then what is my life? What is real?