【ｔｈｅ ｈｏｕｓｅ ｉｎ ｏｕｒ ｄｒｅａｍｓ．】 (twd)

Electric Boogaloo

I DREAMT about my family. My mother, mostly. How wide and full of terror her eyes were in those last moments, how I could see she knew she was going to die. How she screamed my name over and over again, begging me to save her, the hurt on her face when I turned my back and ran, ignoring her and everyone's pleas for help. I don't why I did that, why I abandoned them. I was just so terrified, and I didn't want to die, so I made a decision and I chose to save myself and doom them to a gruesome end. It wasn't my fault, there was nothing i could have done. If I had gone back for them, I would have shared the same fate. But deep down inside, I knew I was lying to myself. I should have stayed, I should have died with them, rather than leave them behind and continue alone. I begged for my mother's forgiveness, watching those monstrosities tear and rip her apart, unfazed by her blood curdling screams. She couldn't hear me, she was dead.

Nightmares were supposed to wake you up. But I stayed asleep, all the way until morning came and the sun shined through the open window onto my face, accompanied by the sounds of children chattering loudly outside. I groaned, guilty that I slept so soundly after what I did, and pushed myself off the bed, shivering as my bare feet touched the cold tiled floor. I stayed on the bed for a while, thinking about the events of last night, as well as my dream. What if that happened again? What if I had to choose between these people and myself? It was simple, right, I had to save myself, that was the human thing right? But there were kids here, a lot of them. Could I really do something like that again?

"Hello?" I heard a voice at the door, followed by timid knocking. I stood up and quickly made my way over to the door, clearing my throat and swinging it open to reveal a young girl, one that I didn't recognize looking up at me. "Oh, you're up. Uh you missed breakfast...Aldo told me to wake you up before you missed lunch too..." She stammered, looking down suddenly.

"Crap. What time is it?" I asked, mentally slapping myself, wishing Mitch had woken me up, motioning towards the silver watch on her wrist. She held it up awkwardly so I could see the cracked glass and frozen hands.

"It's 11:40," She started, "This watch is broken, I'm only wearing it because it belonged to my friend, Riley, and it's all I have left of her and I just miss her a lot..." She paused, turning pink as she realized she had overshared. "I don't why I told you that, Riley's dead..." She put a hand over her mouth, trying to get herself to shut up. "But I'm here to wake you up...because you're not dead...I mean you're alive...which means you can listen to me babble...which will stop...right...now..." She stammered, stepping back from the door and taking a deep breath. "Okay, uh right...breakfast...I mean lunch...down the hall and to the right..." She explained, red as a tomato, before flipping away and speed walking away.

I watched her leave, blinking a few times, completely confused and baffled as to what exactly just happened. That was most probably the most awkward altercation I had ever had, and probably will ever have. I shut the door, and quickly changed out of my pyjamas, opting for a new pair of jeans and a grey sweatshirt, most likely belonging to Pierre. I smirked, wondering how he would react to me wearing his clothes and looking better in them, as I looked at myself in the body mirror. Then I left the room, following the girl's instructions to get some lunch.

"Hey..." I greeted awkwardly waving my hand as I walked into the kitchen, where Aldo stood at the oven and Lisa stood at the counter. They both turned to look at me, smiling pleasantly, before going back to their cooking.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty." Aldo chuckled, flipping the crisp omelette in the pan. "So Vic woke you up, huh?"

"Yeah. Nervous wreck, that one..." I said, hoping it didn't sound too offensive coming from a stranger, gratefully accepting a hot cup of coffee that Lisa offered me.