The Perceptive Type ⚜️ n.m.

1; To My Knowledge

Harper has always had the same dream. One of beauty and pain living together, combining as some cosmic reality that was made for only her. No, she didn't enjoy it. She's always been frightened by the dream.

No, a nightmare.

She's had the same nightmare since she was a child. When she told her parents, they would say that it wasn't real and that she shouldn't be afraid.

It always started with the forest, the one that she grew up beside. The rich, pure soil under her bare feet, the luminous foliage that glistened under the sun and the oak leaves would filter the rays to her tanned skin. She wears a white, simple dress made of fine linens, flowers are woven through her wavy, mahogany hair, and she is surrounded by hundreds of people whom she does not recognize. They were welcoming her with open arms, smiling, and giving Harper words of glory.

Harper, take the power.

Harper, it's all for you.

As she felt her heart warm to the praise, the heat didn't stop. Her heart flooded with pain next, and then burning magma flowed from her heart and throughout her body. Her heart felt like it was going to explode until it did.

Her vision was blurred by radiant blue ribbons leading from deep inside her chest to the hundreds of other people standing in front of her. The other end of the ribbons struck them in their chests and they exploded into blue stardust. Harper would fall to her knees and, as she took her last breath, crumpled into stardust with them.

When Harper would wake from this nightmare, her body would feel so hot but freezing at the same time. Numb, frozen, aflame. Earlier in her life, she could scream and cry till her parents would come to soothe her. But now the tears left her eyes just as panicked but her breath would be caught in her chest like her heart held her lungs hostage. The seconds felt like minutes but when she would finally breathe again it was like an answer to prayer.

The nightmare has been coming to her more and more throughout the years. The night became a dread and sleep rarely came easily. When her body finally succumbed, the nightmare came. Without fail. It never, ever got better. And tonight was no exception.

She trembled, placing her sweat-slicked face into her hands. Her breath finally caught, burning her lungs and throat as it ripped through her. Tears slipped from her eyes as she pushed her fingers through her hair. Moments passed and she wiped away the tears from her puffy eyes and cheeks.

The beginning of school came too fast.

Harper stood from her bed and walked into the bathroom, squinting through the artificial light when she flicked it on. A cold shower was all she needed to rip the claws of the nightmare from her mind. Though it kept her feeling awake now, she knew that the fleeting hours of sleep she had gotten would creep up on her.

Harper got out of the shower, dried off, and put on some mascara and some concealer for her darkened under-eye. She unwrapped her hair and watched in the mirror as it fell in damp ringlets around her face. She got dressed in black jeans and a dark gray sweater. Harper put on her sneakers and grabbed her bag, keys, and phone before leaving her room.

She ascended the stairs quickly, noting that Jenna gave her a questioning "Why the hell are you not in school right now" gesture because her mouth was full of bagel. Harper responded with a dismissing wave before she fled from the house to her car.

Surely she had time for coffee, right?

Too late to answer if she did or not she pulled into the Java Java Hut. Two coffees. One drip with a slash of cream, the other a double shot in the dark with a splash of cream. Tipping and saying her thanks she zipped out and towards the school.