The Rebels of the Fallen

Human Nature

The dreams came at night.

A redundant statement to make, Caroline was aware. Of course dreams came at night. When else would they come? Nobody could dream during the day- well except the children, only Caroline was no child anymore. Daydreams were for children. It would be pointless of Caroline to hold onto silly dreams.

These dreams weren't silly- something was wrong with them. Something by instinct told Caroline this- showed her the hairline difference between her dreams and normal dreams. Between her dreams and nightmares.

The dreams were never the same. She would see many faces, hear many names. Caroline had never seen them before in her life. She knew that she hadn't. She knew the faces she'd seen. None of them matched the ones in her dreams.

They were full of such pain and sadness. Grief colored the faces she saw. The places around them tinged gray as they came to her. She mourned people, watching her dreams and knowing the people she saw were long dead.

The dreams weren't all bad. Worlds lit up brightly by such vibrant colors. Machines that Caroline had never thought to dream up. Some of them were, according to the dreams, built by her own hand. Caroline marveled at the contraptions.

Then she'd cry, because it was always the dreams that started happy that ended the worst.

Caroline saw and felt pain in this dream like she hadn't ever before. Like someone had taken her, broke her in half like a pencil, then pushed her broken pieces back inside her body. Waking up from these dreams always felt like stepping on broken glass.

Tonight's dream was no different.

==ROTF==

It was the machine again. The wonderful machine that Caroline knew was more like a real living thing. Caroline never felt afraid of this machine. This place was a second home to her- or it appeared as such in her dreams.

John Smith was there

And Martha the maid.

They were all running into the machine. Caroline only felt the feelings of fear. They were running from something.

"Get down!" John Smith yelled out.

Caroline ducked behind the console unit.

A loud BANG came from the doors. Carolina grunted as the entire room shook. Sparks began flying from the middle space in the room, from what looked like a complicated mess of equipment. Something whined at her side. Carolina turned to it, seeing her dog Rebel curled up by her feet.

John Smith rushed to her side. He held her shoulder. "Did they see you?" John Smith asked herself.

"No!" Caroline answered. In her dream, she knew who he was asking about. She knew what the threat was. It made total sense to her. There was danger. She was worried. She held tighter to Rebel.

John Smith nodded. He rushed over to Martha. "Did they see you?" He asked her.

"I don't know." She answered.

"But did they see you?" John Smith pressed.

"I don't know. I was too busy running." Martha explained away.

"Martha, it's important. Did they see your face?" John Smith asked her.

Her dog whined. Caroline scratched behind her dog's ears. "They couldn't have!" She told John, quite rudely she thought. "I used my hood and she was ducked in front of us!"