Hey readers,
this book will consist of short stories I compile from different competitions or write for pure fun. I even started collecting prompts I wrote or beginnings of books. It helps me track my progress and I would love for it to be entertain...
When the sun settles in its rosy bed of clouds and the blue darkness stretches over the horizon. When the street lights light up and a soft calm falls over the world in its peaceful slumber. When these lights all dim, a shadow emerges from the darkness. Slowly, yet determined it climbs through open windows, slits under door cracks, or slides out from the room underneath the bed. His home: the shadows. His name: dreamcatcher.
The dreamcatcher settles in front of little figures, lulled in their deep sleep. Resting his cool palm against their skin: leg, arm, or forehead, he closes his eyes and whispers foreign prayers. A ghostly touch, supervising their dreams. Hurt, pain, anger, and fear - they all disappear when they feel him near. He listens to their sadness and mends broken hearts. To leave them only once they had enough. Once they grow up, fierce and strong. Once they know where they belong. Until then he keeps calm at their side, ready to listen, ready to hide once daylight reaches their windowsills.
He may not watch every dream but tries to hurry to every child's bed at night. They never notice nor care, but he has been okay with that for long.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
His destiny had been forged the day he met her - a small girl cuddled up in fear. Resting his palm against her forehead, he saw corridors filled with children. Suddenly, a push from behind and nasty laughing from all sides. Running away and pushing through the crowd, the girl broke down in a restroom. Sobs racking her little body and shaking her soul to the core. The moment he could not take it anymore. Whispering his calming words, the girl mumbled in her sleep and surprised the dreamcatcher with the words: "I know you are here." Why could she tell, how would she know? "No, you don't", he frowned and pulled back his hand. His heart a puddle of anticipation and fear. "I do", the girl rubbed her eyes while she continued to stare at the white wall in front of her, "I will give you some privacy though. You may not want me to look at you." The dreamcatcher cocked his head to one side disbelieving. "So tell me what bothers you", he stated breaking the comfortable silence. "They say that I am ugly with my dark skin and look like dog's crap on the streets." The girl began to stiflingly sob into her pillow. The shadow kept silent and as the girl looked around, he had disappeared.
The following day a shade of darkness followed the small child to a worn-out building carrying the sign: "Gracetown middle school". It noticed two boys in particular with wide, muscular shoulders and keeping straight faces intercepting all that crossed their way. The small boy with owl-like glasses and a worn-out, oversized sweater - they pushed him in the backyard and demanded money from him while crushing his glasses under the soles of their Jordans. The girls holding hands at a dusty part of the building sealed of with warning tape - the boys cornered them and beat one of them up as the girls wanted to shove past them towards the exit. The little girl from yesterday - hid in the restroom for most of the day, but still had to endure insults at every corner she took. Even the people that those oversize bullies allowed close to them, they were pushed daily, too hard for it to be "friendly".
The following night a familiar shadow slipped into another room. One could not see their hand in front of their eyes as the figure sat down on the carpeted floor. The silence stretched for a while until the dreamcatcher opened his mouth - slowly, deliberately. He told the two boys, vulnerable in their peaceful sleep, a story. In the language of dreams and colors. Of a wolf without a tail.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
His family despised and blackballed him. They stated that he should be ashamed of his body that he could not change and blamed him for his mistakes, while sugarcoating those others made. They undermined his self-confidence and he forgot how to love himself. After having been thrown out of his pack, he roamed the woods. Completely and utterly alone until he met him. A wolf with white fur, different than anything he had ever known whose leg had caught in a hunter's trap. The white wolf told him how his family had discarded him as if he was mud and the short-tailed wolf could relate to him. Yet, instead of judging him, the mistake his family had made: the short-tailed wolf accepted the way his friend was and freed him of the trap. Those two friends formed a bond that day and as the days passed, got more wolves to join their pack. A diverse pack - different, but more of a family than his previous pack had ever been. If they had not befriended each other - who knows if they would still wander the woods. Alone.
As the sun kissed the floor and slowly crept up the wooden floor, a girl awoke to the sound of birds chirping, but fearing being picked on and pushed to the ground again. Afraid of what this new day would bring, unknowns that she would receive a heartfelt apology. For long the children would comment that the savage wolves had turned to loyal dogs overnight. What a coincidence.
The dreamcatcher's purpose was born that day, the moment he realized that his actions mattered. This is why, our dreamcatcher travels to take horrible dreams from us. A guardian to make us see the right way and proving that love is unconditional.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
***** A drawing of the girl for reference:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
