Sick Dreams

I haven't been feeling so good. It started last Friday and even a week later I don't think I'll be well for my birthday. My coughs are wet and ragged, my body is weak, my head feels heavier than bricks. Doctors called it a cold, but I'm not so sure.

The other night I had another dream. I was in a field, located somewhere in the middle of a forest. Before me was the most flawless pomegranate I've ever seen. I picked it up, and from it I heard the unmistakable sound of a human heartbeat. I carried the fruit closer to the middle of the meadow and, with my nail, pried it open effortlessly. Whether it was juice or blood that flowed from it, I didn't know, but I ate the tiny seeds regardless.

I can't remember the taste, only that I ate them like my life depended on it. It finished it in seconds, the rinds withering and decaying in that same time.

Catherine stood in front of me, wearing the clothes that her body was found in: worn denim jeans, a light purple top with a floral design on the front. Suddenly her neck opened wide as did her stomach.

Her guts spilled from the wound and she mouthed words I could not decipher. Blood pooled around her and drenched her clothes like an ancient dye.

And behind her were lines of people sized Venetian dolls, staring at me emotionlessly...so why do I get the feeling that they were smiling?

I woke up feeling nauseous and so full of sadness. The rain falls on my window, mocking me.

I need to find answers. I don't care if I'm the only one who will do it.

Gelid

The other day, when yet another snowstorm began to cover the ground, I heard Lunagirl shriek and hiss at something unseen. I've never heard her react that way, not even with other cats. I looked outside and saw her, with a white dusting on her black coat and ear in her little eyes. She meowed and ran off. I followed her immediately to try and calm her down.

The snow became heavier as I followed her and suddenly the fear I felt weeks ago returned. Even though I wanted to get back in the house, I knew I couldn't leave my cat behind, not in this weather, not when she needed help.

I suddenly felt a hot heaviness in my ribs and throat that knocked me to the ground. My head bowed and my hair falling around my face, three drops of blood fell from my nose onto the snow. Seconds later I coughed up more of the sticky substance.

My anxiety was choking me more than the blood was. I scrambled to my feet and called out for her, begging her to come back. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it again.

Standing there. Watching me struggle against nature.

Fear Dubh was as real as the sky was blue. Catherine wasn't crazy.

I couldn't run, not in this cold and the snow preventing me. I sobbed a bit, looking over my shoulder once or twice to see it still there, still watching. As if it were waiting for something.

I found Lunagirl under a tree, shaking with cold and fear. I grabbed and held her tightly to my chest as more blood flowed from my nose.

"Leave her be," I hissed out. Lunagirl cried into my arm and I snarled at the thing. I must have been crazy, with the snow and the blood and everything happening. I just wanted to protect my little girl more than anything.

It kept standing there, and I coughed up more blood.

I walked back as fast as I could, more scared than I've ever been as I begged Catherine to guide me back to the house safely. She must have heard me, my darling, because I did indeed get back there. Lunagirl wriggled from my arms and ran to my room as I went to the nearest mirror.

The blood coated my mouth in a sick parody of lipstick. I washed it off, threw away my nightshirt and cried long and hard. Lunagirl was safe with me and she made a nest for herself on my bed.

I took a nap then, but even still I felt it watching.