Fish Tails

Chapter Two

K

Dreams.

That's all they are.

Dreams.

But why are the so real?

I sit up in my bed and tear the wet shirt off my body. It stinks of saltwater and sweat. This time, my bedsheets are soaked in water. At least, I hope they are. The last time I wet the bed was in second grade.

For the past three weeks, my dreams have been nightmares. Stuck in the middle of the ocean- the worst part? I remember every second of it when I wake up.

And then there's her.

The girl who always accompanies me in the dreams. With pale skin, large green eyes and thick, dark blue hair.

Although these dreams are all my fears combined, there's something about her that calms me. It's crazy how everything that happens when I'm asleep is my worst nightmare yet, I can't help but wait to see her again.

I wondered if I should tell anyone about these dreams. My mom, maybe? They've become so real now- at first, I just tasted saltwater and now, I wake up drenched in it... What if one night I drowned? The town would go nuts.

The boy who fears water drowned in his own bed.

Could that happen? In the dreams, I only wake up when I drown... Surely I couldn't drown in real life.

I sat at the edge of my bed, pondering. Should I risk falling asleep tonight? Or any other night? While sleep was a necessity, I'd rather go without it until I go crazy than drown. And the woman in my dreams, she was just a person. And it was just a dream.

I've read that the people you see in your dreams are people you've seen in real life. Probably passerby's, people hiding in your peripheral. I've only lived in a small town in Michigan and here so there's a likely chance that I'll someday come across this girl.

Like I'd want to come across her. That's crazy talk.

I sigh and get up to rip the sheets off my bed. After taking them to the laundry room and gathering new sheets, a light turns on downstairs.

"Hey, what are you doing?" My mom appears in the doorway of her bedroom.

"Um, changing sheets.." I reply quietly.

"In the middle of the night? Are you on your period? Oh wait, you're my son." She said with a chuckle.

"Ha-ha, very funny, mom."

"What happened?"

"I just spilled some water, nothing to worry about so go back to sleep," I motioned to her room.

"Alright, if you say so... but if you have blood on those sheets, hydrogen peroxide gets it out."

"Goodnight mother." I said, exasperated. She walked back into her room and closed the door. I went upstairs to my bedroom and fixed my sheets.

By the time I was done fixing my bed, I was wide awake. I looked around my dark room. It suddenly felt suffocating.

I slid down the staircase and walked across the apartment to the back balcony. A hammock bounced in the wind. I grabbed it it my hand and spread it out so I could lay on it. Since it was a full moon, I was able to see everything without a light on.

The beach was just in front of me, the waves moving back and forth across the sand. It was a beautiful sight. I didn't enjoy it much though. As the waves receded, I felt the pull in my stomach. Fear.