Dark is Here: Keep Dreamin

Jayneice


-Keep Dreamin







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I'm in the wrong district. There are no cars in the streets and every traffic light is red. It's raining. There's nobody around. Something is about to happen. It's dark. It's a bad feeling to be wet in the dark. I start walking. I don't know where I'm going and I don't care, but I have to get out of this area fast. I walk about a half a block and I already see the first person. A tall man wearing a cache trench coat and a hat covering his face. He passes me but I barely catch glimpse of a curious look in his body language. I keep strait down the street and I don't look back. Before I notice there are several people headed in different directions on both sides of the street. None of them seem to notice me yet so I speed up my pace to a really fast walk. I've gone two blocks and now there are more people than before and everyone I look at looks right back at me at the same time. I break into a run. My feet pound the pulsating puddles of the pavement and cause eruptions in rebellion to the void of water beating down on me.



In no time the sidewalk is too crowded to run anymore. Everybody keeps moving in the direction they're going in with out talking or stopping. It's so jam-packed it's hard to breath now. And everyone is so much taller than me, I can't even see where I'm going anymore. I feel hands touching me constantly, feeling for pockets that I don't have because I'm wearing a nightgown. People's rough exteriors brush against me roughly and I almost loose my balance. Somebody pulls my ear. Someone else shoves me. I keep pushing my way in the direction I'm going. Finally it starts.



"Hey," Someone says. The voice of someone I passed a few seconds back. I act like I don't hear it and keep moving. But now the silent moving people have all started talking at once.



"I swear, I'm so sick of that girl." Says someone. "Nothing but a little whore!"



"I hate this generation."



"The police aught to come through here and up every last hooker in this district."



"Young girls these days ain't got no values."



"What if they went back to the old days and started stoning?"



"Wouldn't bother me, hope it teaches them a lesson!"



"Has anyone seen my husband?"



"Hey Girl, you're pretty. What's your name?"



"Hey wait she's too pretty!"



"What's she doing here?"



"Hey you!"



Somebody grabs my arm. I pull away and try to keep going. A man directly in front of me grabs my wrist tightly. I try to pull away, but now the rush of people has stopped and formed a circle around me. I try to break the man's grip but It can't



"Let go of me!" I say.



As soon as I open my mouth, I've done something wrong. The man's grip tightens. The crowds of people start shouting in his favor.



"I knew it! I knew it!"



"She's a prostitute!"



"She took my husband!"



"No I didn't!" I shout.



"Punish her!"



"Hit her!"



"Burn her!"



"Let me go!" I scream.



It's not use, now I can feel pain. The man is hurting me with his vice grip-like hands. The man pulls me to side of a wall and the crowd stays close. He raises up my arm.



"Who wants a piece of her?"



The crowd erupts with cheers and people come up to me. Some woman comes and puts her hands around my neck in a chokehold. I struggle to get free but soon five people are holding me up against the wall while others just come up to me and do random things like slap me in the face, pull my ears, squeeze my nose, yank my hair, and pinch my cheeks really hard. One kid even kicked me in my side.



"Hey let's stone her!"



"Yeah! Stone her!"

"Stone her! Stone her! Stone her!" The crowds chant.





I'm so scared when the crowd suddenly lets me go and backs away from me. I start to cry and I slide to the ground feeling exhausted. The crowd is still in a furry though. Thump! Something hard hits my arm and drops to the ground. I look down at it. It's a rock. Oh my God!



"Ahh! Stop! Don't hit me!" I beg. "Please!"



I raise my arms over my head and hide behind my legs. Rocks start to fly. Rocks hit me hard on my arms, shins, and hands. One rock bounces off the wall behind me and hits me in the back.





"Owww! Stop!" I scream. "Stop hitting me!"



"Jayneice!"



"Jayneice! Hey!"



Giant hands shake me hard. God what is it now?



"Jayneice, wake up!"



I awake sitting up, and feeling like I just got my head above water. Angel is standing next to me. She looks scared half to death.



"Jayneice? Are you alright gal?" Angel asks.



I notice that I'm breathing really hard. And I'm wet with sweat everywhere. I look at Angel to make sure she's real, then I try to calm myself down.



"Jayneice?" Angel says all worried. "Should I be takin' you to the hospital?"



"N-no…" I tell her



"Why are you breathin' like that?" She asks in a serious tone.



I look at her I guess sort of surprised, like she shouldn't have asked. But to tell you the truth, that's a really good question. The was really intense. I thought I was feeling pain.



"I'm…ok." I tell her. "I-it was a dream…"



"THAT was a dream?" She asks all wide-eyed and surprised. "God Jayneice, you really weren't kidding about those things huh?"



I nod slowly. I feel ashamed. Angel picks it up fast.



"Hey." She says putting her arm over my shoulders. "It's ok. Everybody has nightmares."



"But mine, never go away." I say. "…they, never stop..."



"Do you want to talk about it?" Angel offers.



"No." I say. "Their too exhausting."



"Well come on hon," She says pulling me up. "You need to get out of these clothes before you get sick."



I go to the closet and grab a towel, then I head into the bathroom to get a quick shower. Angel tells me she'll change the sheets for me. Once I'm in the bathroom, I take at the mirror. I'm surprised to see myself covered in so much sweat. I-I look like I'm covered in baby oil! Angel must have been really scared when she first saw me. I shake of the feeling of helplessness and turn the warm water on. I peel off my warm and dampened gown and step into the storm of relaxing and cleansing water.



I love to take showers. I'm not a three-a-day person, and I'm not obsessed with being clean. It just, helps me a lot. And I like to take my time and get as much as I can out of a healthy shower. The sound of the water calms me, and softens my senses. The warm water hits me, and every knot and tense muscle in my body melts back to normal. I lift my forehead to the force of the water and the energy relaxes my mind. The water brings all my troubled feelings deep from within me and leaves them at the surface of my skin to be washed away and sent sown the drain. I stoke myself with cloth and soap to separate myself from the dirt. Now I feel whole. Once I finish, I feel like a new spirit again. And I'm hungry.



I dry off with my towel, and then I put on a fluffy robe. God I feel so much better. I pick up my sweaty gown and head into the hall to throw it into the clothes bend.



"Hey Jayneice," Angel says. "Come and have some ice-cream."



Perfect.



"God if you don't know me by now Angel." I tell her.



"I got your favorite hon." She says.



"The green stuff." I say with a smile.



"The pasticcio." She says.



"The green stuff." I go again.



She laughs and slides me a bowl of fresh scoops. Green ice cream is my all-time favorite. I grab a spoon and take a scoop. I squint at the explosion in my mouth. This is the best-tasting ice cream in the whole world. Angel eats a couple scoops and stares at me. I stare back at her and cock and eyebrow.



"What?" I say finally.



"Tell me about your dreams." She says.



I look down at my bowl of ice cream. There's still a half-bowl left. I take my spoon and dig it into the side a mini-mountain of ice cream. Angel watches me patiently. After I swallow I look up at Angel.



"Well?" She goes.



"Angel…I don't want to talk about them." I tell her. "They make me tired."



"…Oh." She goes. "Alright. That's fine."



We both go back to eating ice cream. I take my time and finish off the rest of mine, and then I circle the bowl for remnants. I'm disappointed that I'm not satisfied though. I couldn't really enjoy the ice cream because I was too busy thinking about my dreams. I look up and see Angel is still eating hers. As I rest my head on my hand, I can't help but sigh.