Dream, Stills

Chapter One: "Emeree's Town"

It was a lovely town, at least for Emeree. It was near the edge of Western Australia, far away from Emeree's troubles in her waking life. In her dream world, Emeree was free. She was a lucid dreamer, as she had a vivid imagination. But, it wasn't her imagination that made her special. It was her love for nightmares. Her life was fraught with mystery. In fact, one could say that Emeree was a very paranormal person. She had long strands of ghostly blonde hair, sweet amber eyes, and pale skin. Not many people liked her. She had a couple acquaintances, but she was basically an outsider at her high school. Her only real friend was David, a muscular boy who just tried too hard to be popular by excessively putting gel in his hair and showing his muscles all the time.

Somehow, Emeree related with him, even though compared to David, she was quite small. She was definitely not short, however! Emeree could run really fast, as her slim legs allowed for easier maneuverability. Apart from PE and English, she was pretty average in most areas. Emeree had to admit, though, that she thoroughly enjoyed cutting up frogs in science. She had a fondness for blood. Perhaps it was because it was the very thing keeping her alive. But, regardless of how her fondness for blood came into being, Emeree still felt as if blood was a part of her identity.

You see, Emeree had a strong feeling that she had a twin brother who died when she was too young to remember. She had recurring dreams of a boy in a pram. She couldn't see his face, but she could see his blonde hair. It was almost like hers, but just a tinge of it was darker. She was sure that his hair would darken as he grew older. But, she knew that he never would grow up. She hadn't remembered seeing this boy as a child. In fact, her parents kept no photos of him.

Emeree sensed that they were hiding something from her. She couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't an only child. It was as if a part of boy's soul had passed into Emeree's. It would explain why she felt presences. It would explain her freakier dreams, in which she was her alleged brother. She could hear the cries of her parents in the background of these dreams on the asphalt road, and sometimes she could see a young version of herself walking right into the busy road.

She couldn't bear to watch. But, she had no choice. She was in a dream, and while most of her dreams were easy to control, this wasn't. This felt real. It like a twisted sense of deja vu, and Emeree's spine chilled at the thought of this puzzling mystery.

When she first had these dreams, Emeree had asked her parents once if she ever had a brother. They were hesitant at first, but then Emeree's mother explained to her that Emeree had absorbed her brother in the womb.

Emeree had believed this for so long, having accepted it as a logical answer. However, she had come to realise that this may have not been the entire truth. She didn't push her questions, though. Emeree knew that it was best not to talk about her brother's fate. Besides, she didn't even know if the dream with the collision had actually occurred in real life.

The dream still remained with Emeree. She could never forget it. Her brother's mystery left her unsettled, and she didn't really want to learn the truth about it. She was happy with her own conclusion about her sibling, and didn't fret much about him. She just lived her life, revelling in the vibes of horror she received from her mysterious past.

Emeree's love for horror had followed her into the dream world, as did all her memories. Although dreams were thought to be merely videos that brains conjure when people are asleep, Emeree believed otherwise. The dream world felt like another reality—one that offered infinite possibilities. The dream world wasn't bound by any laws, any rules. It was a realm of madness. And yet, everything in the dream world fit into place for Emeree.

The town, for example, was a town that didn't exist on any maps in the real world. The world was both different and the same in the dream world. Sometimes, Australia in the dream world was normal. Sometimes, Antartica would be close to Western Australia. Other times, it was not.