Chapter 7- The Dream

Dear diary,

Let me tell you about that moment…

The very first time I set my eyes on Tristan Hemmingway at school.

Oh, how did I know his full name? Well, the girls sitting behind me simply couldn’t stop mentioning it.

To be honest, time just stopped, and I’m not exaggerating or anything.

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.

Then came the slow whooshing of air into my lungs, forcing me to inhale deeply. Time struggled with the freeze to bring everything back to normal, but the battle was difficult.

Yet even then, it seemed as though time would emerge out of this battle the winner.

Very cliché, I know… but that’s exactly what happened to me!

I watched him enter the lecture room in slow motion, the smile on his face turning into full-fledged laughter as he bro hugged one of his friends and they stopped for a chat.

He was so beautiful.

I couldn’t say much about him because our encounter was rather short, but there was no denying that Tristan was a very attractive guy, and that he had an equally charming personality to go with it. Even with that, there was also this pinch of darkness that I could sense around him that made him all the more alluring to me… it was as though he was hiding some huge secret, or something quite close to that.

As a matter of fact, I think I just might have a little crush!

Now back to me for a moment, since you don’t really know me and I just started writing in you…

I’m Natalie and I just moved into this stupid neighborhood, all thanks to some stupid relative of my stupid parents —naah, I’m just kidding, they’re pretty amazing and I love them to bits, but we never settle at one place for long because of their work or some other big thing and it really is a major bummer all the time.

I’ve been to a lot of places in my eighteen years of existence.

I’ve met a lot of people, but I don’t have any friends, you know?

What’s the point anyway?

I’d leave them behind eventually after all, and then we’d try the long distance shit that always fades into nothingness.

Hard pass.

But for some reason, Bloomingdale Valley seemed like it would be different, and not just because I’m finally attracted to some guy I don’t even know, you know? –okay it might be a little, but I really don’t think that’s the only reason.

I-I just don’t know how to explain it… it’s like this gut feeling in the pit of my stomach, but we live to see.

********

Natalie was stuck in a deep sleep, and who could blame her really?

She had started college today, and had pretty much forgotten how stressful the whole experience could be even when one was in great condition, much more to talk about walking all day with a limp.

Yes, a week had passed since the incident. The cast had come off, the crutches had been done away with, and honestly speaking, Natalie had not wanted to spend another day alone in the beautifully creepy mansion, and so she had gone to campus, despite the slight pain and soreness she could still feel in her leg.

The eighteen-year-old couldn’t explain it, but she had this feeling in her belly that just wouldn’t go away.

I-it felt like that calm before a storm… like-like that tensious pause of silence before thunder struck after a streak of lightning appeared. Truly, it felt like that eerie silence in scary movies before the horror strikes!

And Natalie didn’t like it one bit.

Apparently, Natalie wasn’t the only person feeling this. Her parents could feel it too. As a matter of fact, everyone in the house was walking on eggshells, as-as if anything they did wrong could set evil off.

So the young woman slept.

At first, it was a peaceful sleep… a dreamless one in fact, but Natalie soon became restless, tossing and turning, still stuck in the clutches of deep sleep, only…

It wasn’t peaceful anymore.

Someone was standing over her bed, watching her as she slept. Natalie could see him, and he stared right back into her sea-blue depths.

No, it wasn’t a person?

It was a monster! The creature that stood before Natalie seemed human but looked nothing like it. It had hideous, fiery red eyes and a faceless face… its body flowed seamlessly, like it was made from black gases.

Natalie tried to scream, she tried to thrash or fight at the very least, but it seemed she had been frozen –whether from fear or by a spell of some kind, she had no idea.

A tear slipped down her face, and she mentally recoiled in horror as the thing— no the monster pounced on her… its dark, cloudy, gown-like lower body morphing into blood sucking tentacles as it straddled her.

Natalie watched, eyes wide in horror. That was the only part of her body that was functioning as it should anyway, but try as she did, she couldn’t get it to shut tight for long. It seemed as though some force was commanding her… forcing her to do its bidding.

The teenager could see a small hole open up on the face of the monster,

Right where its mouth should have been.

The cavity gradually widened, a horde of tiny sharp teeth appearing as the creature leaned in, its foul breath stinging Natalie’s eyes, releasing a fresh bout of tears.

Apparently, her nose was functioning just as well.

The whole scenario reminded the silver-haired girl of that scene in Grimm where the monster stole a guy’s sleep, and she couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps, this one too wanted to do the same thing to her. She prayed desperately to anyone who cared to listen to wake her up from the nightmare she was in, but it was pretty obvious that everything was really happening.

Live and colored.

“You. Are. Mine, Nataleeee,” The creature growled, its makeshift mouth closing in on her neck as he breathed against her creamy skin. “All mineeee.”

The young woman felt the bite, short and very painful against her neck, and then she woke up with a start.

It was a dream.

It had all been a dream!

Natalie sat up on her bed, her heart still thumping from how realistic the horrifying nightmare had been. Her whole body ached, especially her neck and so the young woman reached out to massage the soft creamy skin.

A soft gasp escaped her lips.

Right across her neck were what looked like tiny bite marks!