Dream Runners (ON HOLD)

Part 5

I was sitting in the living room, doing my homework. I knew this was a dream, but I took a deep breath and went with it-knowing that I'd have to hit the dreamscape tonight if I wanted any chance of avoiding it the next couple days. When I'd lived at home, I never worked in the living room unless dad was home-

"SANG!" The screech echoed though the nearly empty house, bouncing off the wooden walls and ringing in my ears. Closing my books, I tidied up, dreading going in that direction-she would punish me no matter how quickly I got there. The shadows moved, eyes glistening, fangs showing through the darkness-they were waiting to feed. They wanted my fear. I plowed on, not giving them any-but my chest still clenched. She called again, and I went to her room, standing in the doorway.

"Where were you? I've been calling for you all day." She was deceptively calm in her questioning. This only meant it would be worse. She hadn't been though, I'd been in the living room.

"Mother, if you'd called I would have heard you. I've been in the living room doing homework all day."

"No, you haven't! You lie to me! Why do you do this? Look what I have to put up with? I let you stay in my house, I teach you, I train you, but all you do is LIE!" She rose from the bed, her voice ending in a deafening screech. I waited, my hands shaking, eyes on the ground. No matter how many times I lived this, the memories still stirred up the old fear. She'd punished me until I was strong enough to fight back, then she'd continued to try to sneak up on me and sometimes she'd succeeded.... My shoes were a pair I'd worn when I was 12, my skirt had a hole in the hem, my shirt hung past my butt. I was slender, less muscle mass than I had now-it would make fighting hard. This between place, the place of dreams-it was the demons play ground. They chose what I had and what I didn't. They set the place, articulated the nightmare that led me to the Scapes. I was at their mercy.... For now.

Claws dug into my arm-mother needed to cut her nails-and she dragged me behind her to the kitchen, shoving me to my knees on a waiting pile of rice. I could hear the chuckles and hisses of the monsters, waiting for the fun to begin. Mother grabbed my hair, renching my head back and shoving a glass to my lip-I pushed her away with what strength this body had. The world shimmered, she shrieked at me-screaming about lies and how I was never good enough for her and how I never would be-I fought harder, focusing on my anger to push aside the fear. I kicked out, falling to my butt, and the world shimmered again-the demons hisses growing angry that I was seeing the fabric of their concoction so soon. I reached out, catching a fold of the world, but it slipped though my fingers. She came at me again, I tuned out her words, dodging her kicks and fists even as her spittle rained on my face. The glass fell to the floor and shattered, I shoved her back but she only staggered. I saw a fold in the world and grabbed once more, clinging on this time and able to get purchase with both hands, tearing into it-ripping it open so a vortex sucked it all away and the blackness took over. The demons screams faded behind me, and I fell to my knees, breathing hard. That was my least favorite part of every night.

The blackness-I didn't know what it was called-left me with options. From here, I could either wake up, stay here, or reach for light and pull myself into the scape. I hated the black though, it reminded me of the time mother locked me in a closet for two days. She'd done it more than once, but that was the longest-I didn't know if I was alive or dead I'd been there so long, until father opened the door and saw me, telling me to go to my room. Looking down at myself, I saw that I was decked out in my fight gear that I'd gone to sleep in, but something felt weird. The pants weren't fitting right..... reaching down to straighten them, I realized I was wearing panties. That was something I didn't like with these pants, they were to fitted for panties. The fact that I wore panties meant one thing-my period had begun. The only way to bring things into the dreamscapes with you is to bind them to you with blood and be touching them when you fall asleep-I'd learned these things the hard way. Fortunately when I was little there were few clothes I hadn't bled on, so I was generally clothed when I showed up there. It took a while for me to figure it out, but I did. The fact that my period started though.... The monsters were attracted to blood. They loved it as dessert to their dinner of fear, and they loved mine even more for some reason. Maybe it was that I was female, maybe it was that I was whatever I was, but they wanted it more than the males I'd been in company with previously, always diving for me first when they came across us during that time of month. With this in mind, I knew I had to wake up-I could try sleeping again, but I had to wake up to go back to the place before this and hope I just dealt with regular nightmares the rest of the night. I tried, concentrating like I normally did, but a feeling of utter exhaustion and weightiness fell on my shoulders, the black lightening to a dark grey, and it was like slogging through chest deep tar-and I wasn't going to make it. I tried harder, struggling, pulling myself to the surface-but I was dragged back into the blackness, unable to wake. I racked my brains, trying to think why I wouldn't wake up-I'd locked up my apartment and engaged the traps and alarms before I laid down, so someone hadn't broken in this soon. Feeling the tie I had to my body I wasn't injured, yet, and my arms were still bound all stitches in place so I wasn't bleeding out.... Sleeping pills. I'd never tried to wake up on sleeping pills before. Fuck. I sat down, thinking I could handle the blackness, fiddling with my arm guards, but my chest tightened-my throat closed and my breath came fast, choking me. All I could see was the slant of light under the closet, all I could feel was the binding that held me in place, keeping me from rising to open the door. I couldn't think, couldn't focus. I tried to think of my anger, tried to push passed it and wait for the pills to wear off, but I couldn't do it. I'd rather fight a hoard of demons than be stuck in my own head.