Flash Fiction Anthology

Stephanie's dreams

Stephanie stretched under her covers, trying to shake off the remnants of her last dream. She opened her eyes warily, noticing that it was still early, so early that the world beyond the window was filled with the eeries silence and the pre-dawn blackness heralding a new day.

Despite the comfort of her bed, the warmth trapped under the covers caressing her limbs soothingly, she felt anxious... something was off. She was... small. Looking around into the semi-darkness reigning all around her only disturbed by a faint glow of a nightlight, Stephanie realised that she wasn't in her bedroom. This room was different and so was she-- she was a five-years-old girl hugging a huge teddy bear, like that first night when she saw one of them.

Stephanie rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat up, pushing her long, sleep-muddled hair away from her face. Her breath caught as she observed her tiny, bare feet dangling off the bed, her legs not reaching the floor. Her skin crawled into gooseflesh making her shiver as she forced herself to raise her eyes and look for the presence she could sense. Sure enough there was someone, a boy not much bigger than her five-years-old self standing at the foot of her bed.

Soaking wet and bluish with cold, he was a scary sight for Stephanie; she could only imagine how terrifying he must seem to the little girl he was looking for, the one he saw in her place... His dark hair was stuck to his head and face, the same way the wet clothes clung to his body. A large puddle formed at his feet, drop after a loud drop, the sound of water hitting the wooden floor reverberating off the walls of the silent room.

By now, the adult Stephanie knew well that her visitors didn't mean to scare or harm her, they simply needed help... But while she slept, while the voice of her conscious mind was muffled by her dreams, the fear caused by their sudden presence always escalated fast into a full-blown panic.

So, even as the boy asked,  "Are you excited about today, sister? It is our birthday," Stephanie the child screamed. She screamed for her parents  because she didn't have a brother.

Even before her scream died down completely, Jared shook her awake, gently, bringing her back to reality, giving her time to realise where she was and calm down, holding her in his arms while she wiped her tears into the blanket.

Only once she smiled at him in the first light of the day seeping into the room through the curtains concealing the window panes like a thick layer of fog, he asked, "Who is it this time?"

This was only the third time that Jared stayed over, the first time when he experienced one of her dreams. He knew about them of course, they all did-- Stephanie's unusual gift helped them resolve many cases over the last three years, since she was accepted as a psychic detective of their team.

Jared could only imagine what she went through each time when she had one of her dreams. He admired her-- she learned to cope with them and he knew that when she joined her colleagues in the station later today, Stephanie would be her usual, composed self, a clever and conscientious detective, the only female and thus the most popular part of their six member team.

Still, seeing her at this moment, so... scared, suffering, crying her eyes out, was breaking his heart.

Banishing his emotions, sensing that she would not welcome them, Jared took a deep breath and tried to look unaffected as he repeated, pushing a stray strand of her hair behind her ear, "Tell me, who is it now?"

"A little boy, no older than six. He... must have drowned." She sighed deeply, the sound morphing into a sob. "He is looking for his twin sister. Gosh... if she sees him like I did, she must be frightened..."

"Do you think he's strong enough to show himself to others but you?" Jared asked.

He was fascinated by Stephanie's visions. He did not quite understand them but he knew that some spectres were stronger than others.

Stephanie nodded, burying her head into his chest, letting him draw her closer. "Yes. He seems to be very attached to her, I could see her perfectly through his eyes... And he doesn't realise that he has passed away yet."

"All right. Let me go then." Jared said, waiting for her to meet his eyes. He kissed her then, deeply, reassuringly, before he got out of the bed.

"I'll start the research," he said, exiting the bathroom minutes later, while Stephanie helped him with the last buttons of his shirt. "I hope to have something for you when you come."

Driving to work together was out of the question. Not only because their relationship was not old enough to become the subject of gossip of their colleagues and neither of them was ready to brave their inevitable comments and teasing remarks. Jared knew well that Stephanie needed some alone time now to get through the emotional roller coaster caused by her dream.

"I won't be long." Stephanie promised, accompanying Jared to the door, then pulling him down by his tie for another kiss.

When she entered Jared's office an hour later, a tray full of take-away cappuccinos from the next door coffee shop in her hand, she found her five colleagues gathered around Jared's computer.

They all turned towards her, smiling and greeting her, then one by one came to take their cups and after a few exchanged words strolled towards their own offices.

Stephanie brought the two remaining cups to Jared's desk.

"Any news?" She asked, shrugging out of her coat as she sat down next to him.

Jared sighed, "Yes... Are you ready?"

She nodded mutely, her eyes not leaving his while she brought her cup to her lips with a shaking hand.

Jared wished he could take away that hopelessness he saw in her eyes, but there was nothing to do about it. Stephanie knew that they would never find the missing boy alive.

"Harry Jones has been missing for twenty four hours now. Apparently, his mother called last night. Lucas is on the case," Jared said, enlarging the picture of the boy from her dream. "I spoke to the Captain, he said that if you... sense anything, we can take it from Lucas and go to talk to the boy's parents whenever you feel like it."

"Does he have a sister?" Stephanie asked, realising how much the boy in the picture resembled the little girl from her vision, their likeness more pronounced now, than when his hair had been wet...

"Yes. A twin sister. It is their birthday today..." Jared said, voice breaking with emotion as he wiped a lone tear rolling down Stephanie's cheek with the back of his hand.

**************
This story was written for Imagine this... Writing workshop, prompt n. 27:

Stephanie stretched and sat up in bed. She was excited about today, because it was her birthday. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and opened them to see him standing at the foot of her bed.

"Are you excited about our birthday sister?" He asked.

She screamed for her parents because she had no brother.

Use the words unaffected, pronounced, coaster, conscientious, full-blown in your story.