Children of the Beloved

Chapter 5 - The Frightened

Typically, when a person has a bad dream, they tend to not remember little details of what goes on. A person's entire family could be murdered three times and the world could end and be rebuilt, yet the dreamer would remember none of it.

This was not the case for Sarai, though. Ever since she was younger, the girl suffered from terrible night terrors, sleep paralysis, and insomnia. It was a fight she had to battle often, but it was also something she had grown accustomed to.

But the thing that was special about her was the fact that she almost always remembered everything about her nightmares. She kept a dream journal on her at almost all times just in case she remembered more details about her dreams from the previous night; it was almost a hobby for her.

This didn't mean that they didn't scare her still. She could wake up with cold sweats or crying or maybe not even be able to sleep at all. There was medicine to help her, of course, but she hated the idea of relying on something that wasn't her own willpower.

Her dreams could consist of anything from killer clowns to a zombie apocalypse, obviously with some scaring her more than others. She took these dreams as a blessing though, knowing that when she woke up she would be fine and quickly understand that it was all fake.

So when Sarai woke up in a place that was rather unfamiliar to her, she wasn't surprised. In fact, she made an almost instantaneous assumption that she was dreaming.

Another skill that Sarai seemed to develop is living out her dreams- this is why she remembered them so thoroughly. She would almost "live" in them for the night.

"Hmph," The shorter, brown haired teenager pushed up her glasses and mumbled to herself. "Where are we tonight?"

She took a moment to look around at her unfamiliar surroundings before trying to tie it to a place from her real life.

It didn't take her long to realize that she was standing in the middle of a street that ran by her old home. It was in the downtown part of Esmeralda, or more commonly known as the underclass sector. These are where many of the "non-believers" are forced into, or even what could be considered the poorer side of Esmeralda.

Many of her dreams were set here, and for an obvious reason.

She hated that damn house more than anything in the world. Of course, her dreams came from her fears- but a lot of them came from her anger and resentment as well. It's almost as though her mind put her in places and situations that she could only realistically live out in her dreams.

But still, Sarai was in control. She knew she was in control, and she felt more in control today than she usually did.

So she simply avoided the house that once caused her all of her pains and fears and doubts and insecurities, and went on her way.

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Sarai doesn't usually feel a drawing to certain places or people in her dreams, so she tends to wander aimlessly until something happens in most cases. Other times, she immediately starts her dream in the action. This simply was not one of those times.

Walking down the side of the road on a bumpy, concrete sidewalk, she looked around and admired the scenery. Despite its terribly negative connotation, she loved how downtown looked. While she suffered many bad memories, she also made a lot of good ones here. Especially with her fr-

"Hey, Nash!" Sarai called out from across the road. She spotted one of her best friends randomly, alongside a wild Declan who suddenly came out from behind him. "Ah, hey Dec!" She called out again before crossing the road without even looking.