Dreamweaver

Chapter 4

I woke groggily to a night sky. Fighting the dizziness that threatened to pull me back into unconsciousness, I climbed unsteadily to my feet. What I saw almost knocked me right back down again. I was standing on the edge of a lake. The lake.

The same lake that had haunted my dreams stood menacingly before me, and the same mist that had swirled around my subconscious mind twined around my ankles. Resisting the urge to scream, I edged back from the familiar and dreaded black waters, backing slowly, slowly away as if trying not to wake some monstrous beast. Then came the voice. Again, it was the same voice from the dream, the same powerful, horrible, irresistible voice. I put my hands over my ears, tried to run, tried to hide, but the voice was inside my head, there was no escape.

“Nicholas”

"No” I gasped, stumbling farther away from the waters

“Nicholas, you promised” The voice said in a sing-song tone

“Please, leave me alone” I screamed, trying to control my treacherous legs.

“You wouldn’t want to break a promise, would you?”

With that my body completely stopped cooperating. I stood paralyzed on the spot, only able to blink and breathe.

“That’s better”

Now my feet moved again, but with a will of their own. It's a horrible feeling, loosing power over your own body. I felt violated, suddenly powerless and trapped in my own flesh and blood.

I was walking slowly but inexorably towards the water, and I could see, near the opposite shore, a shaded figure. I could just make out the silhoute as female, and, much as I wanted to deny it, hold on to any desperate hope, I knew without true doubt that it was the demon from my dreams, but unless this was just another extremely realistic nighttime vision, she offered a far greater threat than she ever had before.

Now I’m usually a macho guy, you know, a your-crap-doesn’t-scare-me kind of dude. But at that moment, I really, really wanted my mommy.

“I don’t want to kill you Nicholas”

With those words a tiny ray of hope fought its way through the clouds of horror buffeting my mind. “Don’t, please don’t, I don’t want to die” I thought desperately, still unable to control my mouth.

The voice laughed, the same manic, terrifying laugh empty of any form of mirth or joy.

“I will kill you, if you don’t fulfill your promise”

Again I had reached the edge of the lake, and my unruly legs began to wade me in. “What do I have to do?” I thought, praying she, it, whatever it was could hear me.

“A simple incantation, and a little kiss.”

I gulped, then realized I had stopped wading. I realized with unending relief that I'd gained control over most of my body again, though my feet were still glued to the sandy ground. Then a lone word appeared inside my head. I could see it as clear as day in my mind’s eye, but oddly enough, I was not forced to say it. It was a choice that shocked me, because it was at odds with my nightmares. The word was followed by another, and another, as if an invisible pen was scrawling across my eyelids. I decided to recite the short poem that now spelled across my mental view, anything to end the horror around me. Little did I know that it was to be only the beginning.

Gods of ages, now and past
Set this demon free at last
Pandora’s sin still rages free
Now hope there will no longer be

Once I had stated the first word, I couldn’t stop. As I recited, the figure on the water moved towards me, far faster than it ever had in my dreams. She did not stop or sink, but kept moving until she was mere yards from me.

The terrifying contrasts I had seen before had vanished. Instead I saw a beautiful Indian girl of maybe eighteen stepping out of the still waters, not floating above them. She had the same black hair and mahogany skin, but she seemed different somehow, no longer frightening. My terror vanished completely as she approached. She was slight and thin, glowing with health yet at the same time appearing fragile, delicate. How could anything so beautiful and innocent mean any harm? My feet came free of the lake’s bottom, but I didn’t run, I didn't want to anymore.

She approached me tenuously, looking at the water, then glancing up and smiling shyly before returning to gazing at the water. In a few moments she was inches from my face. She was a little shorter than me, so she looked up to speak to me. “Kiss me?” she said in a voice so unlike the one that had earlier invaded my head, at once gentle and shy, warm, and welcoming. She came closer yet, reached up to touch my face...