Dreamland

Chapter 3: Some Documents and Pictures

Chapter 3: Some Documents and Pictures

Kate doesn't have a single idea about her mom having another child. She was shocked and surprised to read a document about a child, who was brain dead when he was born, was her mother's son. According to the document, the baby was brain dead when he was born and was kept to the hospital since then. She found a note, her mom's note, that said she won't be visiting the hospital anymore because she believe that the baby was dead. The child was named as 'Christian Newman' and was supposed to be three years older than her. Kate reread the document thrice until her eyes welled up. She was crying when she got up and took the next box, labeled '1998', the year she was born. It was another document, but the folder was tightly sealed by masking tapes. Inside the folder was her birth certificate and her parent's marriage certificate. There's a plastic with 3x5 pictures in it. Kate was confused, because the pictures were just some parts of the forest and some pathways, but the last picture surprised her. It was the cliff from her dreams.

Kate had enough and put the two boxes away, she decided to open the last one after dinner, then figure things out. She went outside the house to tend their front porch garden. It started to rain when she was about to finish so she got up and cleaned up. She was so exhausted. She tried to relax because she doesn't want to be stressed. Seeing humanoid shadows and finding out you have a brother in a day is very weird. Plus, school is in three days. She went to her room to take a nap but read some books instead... She didn't noticed that she fell asleep already.

The forest was dark, foggy, and smelled of petrichor. Leaves crunched as she takes her steps forward. Where am I?, she thought. Suddenly, a wolf howled somewhere beside her, sounding so near she thought it was next to her. She was going towards the howling sound when she heard another sound coming towards her. Footsteps. She turned and ran away from the place where she started, the forest stretching endlessly. She stopped as she reached a place where there's less fog and smelled of soft breeze. A beach?, she thought. She was about to sit down, but she heard her chaser. She ran again, not caring about the wounds and scars on her feet. She was running aimlessly when she reached a cliff. A dead end. She turned to face her chaser. It was a man.

"Please don't," she begged, almost choking.

"Don't what?," replied the man with a deep, raspy voice.

"Please don't push me." she tried to see what the man looks like, but his hat covered his face. The man took a step forward and she took a step back.

"I won't," replied the man, who stopped moving. He took something out of his satchel, something like a folder full of papers. She was surprised to see a lot of red gashes on the man's hand as he reached his hands forward.

"Kate." he said, surprising her.

"Take it." the man said, giving the folder to her. She was too surprised that she stepped back, the earth crumbling beneath her. She fell on the edge of the cliff.

Kate woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. It was her friend, Janelle. She texted Kate about a delivery guy who was looking for her:

"Yo Kate, it's Janelle. There was this delivery guy looking for u. I told him where u live because he was holding a folder full of paper. I think it was important tho, so I told him your address. Btw, school in three. xx"

Kate was confused. She just saw a guy handing her a folder in her dream, and that the guy didn't kill her. Fear killed her. Kate texted Janelle back:

"Okay, cool. So, does he have a safari hat on his head? Is he full of scars or something? Can't wait to see you, Jans :)"

Janelle took four minutes to reply:

"Idk, he looks really normal. No hats and no scars. Why? Anyways, I hve to go (fam dinner). Can't wait to see u too, Katie!"

And with that, Kate heard the doorbell rang.