Dèjà Vù

Deja Vu

    Camdyn woke up covered in sweat. His chest rose up violently and his heart was beating so hard it moved him. The eighth night terror in a row. He thought. It was like he couldn't escape it. It was the same one every night. The same nightmare every time. The same reaction. And nothing ever changed. He didn't really know what all happened in the nightmare but it was scary. He glanced over at his dog Molly. Her eyes were wide in fear. He must have scared her.
    "Sorry Molly" Camdyn whispered "I know it's the eighth time" Molly laid back down and he rubbed her back. He turned his head to look at the clock. 2:00 it read like always. He sighed and tried to relax. Although he knew he couldn't fall asleep he never could. So he stood up quietly careful not to wake the people in the dorm room over and grabbed a glass of water. He went to the bathroom and looked at his face. He had bags under his eyes from countless nights of sleep deprivation. His brown hair in a mess. He didn't even look alive really. Most of his friends and even his science teacher asked him what was wrong but he told them all the same thing. He just wasn't feeling good. Which he and everybody else knew wasn't true but they decided not to say anything because once Camdyn was set on something he wasn't giving up. So he kept on not getting enough sleep in his small old dorm room with his service dog Molly. Camdyn went to his small desk in the corner and opened up his laptop. He opened up the chatting app he had. He was prescribed this so that maybe he could become more social. He looked through his messages and saw he had a new message from Mason, one of his best friends.
    Hey buddy. How's it going? I just wanted to ask cause I'll be leaving for Alabama soon and won't have internet. Tell Molly I said Hi. Talk To You Soon!
    Camdyn frowned at the sight of this. Mason was his best friend and he had to go without him. For some reason Camdyn felt like that would be the last time he'd talk to Mason. He brushed off the thought and went through the rest of his messages. He didn't have anymore but he went to Phoebe's inbox and scrolled through the conversations they had and smiled. They were talking about meeting up but he lived in North Carolina and she lived in Oregon. But they were very similar in other ways. They liked the same foods, watched the same movies, and read the same books but the best of all was that they were both majoring in Photography. Camdyn scrolled up even more and started to grin from ear to ear. The picture of her. "Man, is she beautiful" he thought. He closed out of the messages and relaxed in his chair. He tried to rest but he still couldn't. He was too scared of what would happen if he did. So he laid there for at least 3 hours and stared at the ceiling. The alarm went off at five but he felt like he was asleep still. He got ready in a complete stupor. Camdyn decides to get coffee. "It'll help" he thinks. But as soon as he walks out, Jared, one of his friends, stops him.
    "Camdyn you don't look too good" he worries " Do you want to go to the doctor's" Camdyn had been asked this everyday and at this point he was fed up.
    "I don't need to go to the doctor's!" he exclaimed. Jared, clearly offended, stepped back and threw his hands up. Camdyn didn't mean to be like that he was just, tired. Camdyn walked in the common room to grab some coffee. He didn't bother to get a mug and drank it out of the pot. People were looking at him funny but he didn't care. But it made him anxious anyways. Camdyn went back to his dorm room and grabbed his books to study at the library. He walked there without even knowing where he was going, he was honked at by at least every car in the campus. But he eventually got there. He sat down at a table and absent-mindedly flipped through his book. He started to feel drowsier than before and soon enough darkness enveloped him.
    He awoke to someone tapping on his shoulder.
    "Hey son wake up" he heard as he looked up to see the librarian staring at him. "It's five o'clock" he said.
    Camdyn mumbled and stood up to meet the librarian and nodded. He grabbed his books and started towards his dorm. He felt way more energized but still tired. And then he remembered. The night terror. He didn't have one this time. He raced to his dorm and enveloped himself in sleep.
    But he was wrong. Very, very wrong.
    He was walking to what looked like a mansion but was a coffee shop in what seemed like a slow manner. Camdyn eventually reached the door and opened it. He walked in and is greeted by the smell of fresh coffee beans and the smiling faces of the baristas. But it seemed too nice. He brushed the suspicion away and walked up to get a coffee.
    "One sma-" he was cut off by the loud *crack* of a gun. He turned his head and watched a man fall to his knees. And then darkness.
    Camdyn woke up sweating. It was two o'clock. He was wrong, the nightmare came back again to haunt him. But it didn't finish again. He woke up right before the end, or what he thought was the end. He sat up quickly and got ready even though it was early. Man did he need coffee. He sat down on his bed silently and cradled Molly in his arms. And then his alarm went off. He shot up and ran to the common room. But on the coffee maker was a sad note that simply stated "Out Of Order".
So Camdyn decided he would go to the campus coffee place. He walked as slow as he could still deathly tired. He finally reached it and was washed over by thoughts of Deja Vu, he had been here before. But he hadn't. He had always gotten coffee from the common room. He let the thoughts roll away and walked into the building. All the employees smiled at him. A little too happy. He smiled back and walked up to the counter. "Can I have a sma-" he started but then remembered where this was. It was his night terror. In this moment of realization memories of Phoebe and Mason flooded over him. And then he heard the loud crack of a bullet leaving the chamber of a gun. He turned as he saw a man fall to his knees, a large hole in his stomach in which he was clutching. Camdyn went to run towards the man and heard another crack. He felt his body being thrashed forward as the bullet tore through him. He clutched his leg and the pain rushed through his body. Camdyn fell to the ground and went silent. He looked at his leg and blood was pouring out. The memories he had washed through his mind making him smile. After all those sleepless nights this is what he wanted. Permanent sleep forever. But he also didn't want to die. The meetup with Phoebe. Everything. And one of the last things he did was yell at his best friend. And what would happen to Molly he thought. He let everything on his mind wash away as he saw a young man standing over him. He raised the gun to Camdyn's head and with the last of his breath. Camdyn was almost able to mumble a no but he couldn't. Camdyn watched the bullet escape the gun as if in slow motion. And then darkness.