“It was just a dream” thought Talia, letting out shaky pants , but somehow even that thought wasn’t enough reassurance for her, it wasn’t making her feel safe, in fact the more she thought about it, the more uncertain she was. “It…was… just… a dream…” she cringed at how raspy, how choked her voice was, as if someone grabbed her by the throat and choked her, hard, to the point where her vocal chords burst and broke down. Her hands immediately rushed to her throat, thankfully she didn’t feel anything out of place, but in her panic, didn’t notice the tiny sigh of relief escape her lips. The concerned hands finally left her neck and landed on her lap as she went though the events of that bizarre dream she had.


It started off a bit strange, instead of being in a grassy meadow surrounded by all types of flora or on the fluffy carpet of her living room or watching her two dogs Rody and Mamon play with each other, Talia was in a dark void. She couldn’t see. “It must be an weird dream with no topic” she thought to herself” still, there was an pang of uneasiness in a corner of her head but she pushed that uneasiness back as far as her mind would allow her, and continued on with the dream, or what she was certain was a dream.


She heard the sound of glass shattering.


 Eyes wide open,Talia jumped out of the bed in fright. She cautiously opened up the door to peer in the pitch dark hallway.


 “Is anyone there?” She asked.


No answer.


Talia felt a chill go up her spine, for some reason she knew that she should be afraid of whoever, or- whatever was in the darkness.

Voice trembling, she added “L-L-Leave b-b-before I-I c-ca-lll the p-p-polic-e” and as if her words were an trigger to whatever was lurking in the hallway, there was an set of footsteps that came at an rapid pace and before Talia even had an chance to react , the thing tackled her to the ground, its hands clamped tightly around her throat.

Talia was horrified, she tried to put up a fight , struggling and flailing, but her attacker was simply too strong , she tried to scream, but when she did, the hands around her throat would squeeze tighter in retaliation. She couldn’t even see this persons face, since her little night lamp had shattered during the struggle . Soon after a while of this, her eyesight started to become blurrier and blurrier “ so this is how I die, is it?” She thought to herself, tears welling in her eyes. Soon she simply didn’t have the energy to struggle anymore, exhausted and out of breath as her eyes slowly drooped and shut themselves closed.

Her ears picked out the sound of an robin singing its song, jolting her back to her senses.After finally calming herself, she slowly got out of bed, deciding that she should wash up first before going to a friend’s house to recount the events of her ridiculously real-ish dream to her friends.


All untill her foot hit something 


 She looked down, and found the little nightlight broken, at her feet.


The same nightlight she knocked over during the struggle with the unknown assailant in her dream last night.


“No, no this can’t be real, it can’t be real” she thought to herself “It just can’t” but then she remembered something. The shattered glass. The attacker broke glass in her dream, if she could just prove to herself that it was all a scary, ridiculous dream. That’s what she kept telling herself as she rushed through the halls and into the living room, but was met by the sight of Rody and Mamon lying next to the window closest to the hallway,panting as they finally saw their owner.


Lying next to a shattered window,with glass scattered around the floor, looking like a sea of diamonds the way the sunlight shone on them, but Talia didn’t notice its beauty.


Instead, felt like puking. 


Her legs gave up on her and she crashed to her knees.


Impossible.


It can’t be true,


If it were, how am I still alive right now?


It just can’t be true 


It was just a dream.


It WAS just a dream.


It WAS just a DREAM.


IT WAS JUST A DREAM.


…


It was just a dream.


…Right?