Star Child. From Orion

1. Shadow

One nightmare would always haunt its way back to Stella. Sometimes only once a year, sometimes it would reappear weekly. The only thing Stella understood about this dream was that there was no escape from it.

Every single time it started at the same place. Soft twilight passed Stella's body as she stood on the shore of the wide and shallow river surrounded by willow trees. She looked down at a clear water and gentle waves rinsing her feet. It felt calm and warm.

But the peace never lasted long. Suddenly a wave of rushing faceless people filled the shore as they all hurried towards unknown directions. As if they were running away from someone or something evil. But when Stella was finally ready to follow the crowd, the garden covered itself in silence again. Too slow.

In a cold stillness, a firm grip wrapped her shoulders. Stella never saw who dragged her back home. But here she was again, warm, tucked in her bed and whole.

This morning was all different. Without knowing, she brought a guest home.

First, Stella realized that although she was awake already, she couldn't move. She tried to stretch her hand and reach the floor, but her body didn't respond. All Stella was able to do, without panicking, was to look straight forward at the white wall in front of her. But now a big dark figure stood there. It observed her without eyes, nose, mouth - no face at all –  just a big dark shape with a long black cloak and a hat on the top of the hairless head.

The figure hovered above her bed for a couple of minutes and Stella wasn't able to open her lips and shout for help. The only thing left to do was to observe each other. But the figure got bored first. Suddenly Stella felt a firm grip on her ankle. The rational part of her brain screamed that this is simply impossible. At the same time a paralyzing fear crippled down her spine and in the next moment the shadow dragged her out of the bed. A strong urge to flee pulsed somewhere deep in Stella's head as her face got buried under the blanket. But right before hitting the bedroom floor, she woke up. Again.

Stella quickly sat down. The white wall in front of her was empty. But her heart didn't let to convince itself so easily. It was still beating way too fast, while being trapped in a shivering body covered in a cold sweat. Stella rubbed her ankle and tried to persuade herself that it was just another nightmare. But a grip on her skin still felt too real. Stella sighed. At least now she was able to move. Her hand reached the floor and sank into a soft white fur.

''Morning, girl,'' Stella whispered.

Snowflake wasn't asleep anymore. Her coal-black round eyes curiously scanned the girl in front of her and she gracefully hopped on a bed. Despite being a a full grown Samoyed dog, Snowflake moved extremely gracefully.

''What was that,'' Stella complained to her dog and looked at their reflection in the mirror on the other side of the bedroom.

Snowflake, with her cotton white silky fur, looked like she came straight from a  real estate commercial where happy families let their even happier dogs freely run around them. The same reflection also revealed a pale girl who hunched over Snowflake covering  her side with long black unruly hair, glowing eyes and dark bags under them.

The equation of Monday morning and 7 AM meant that Stella had to start getting ready soon, so she wouldn't miss her driving lesson before school started. Somehow learning to drive was as scary as her recent nightmare which already started to fade away slowly.

Snowflake quickly turned her head where supposed to be quiet steps stopped right behind Stella's bedroom door. Was mom already awake? No, she had her night shift yesterday. But steps persisted followed by the sizzling noises.

A minute later, her bedroom door slowly opened allowing unexpected guests to finally come in.