Dreams or Reality?

Chapter 6: The Next One

CHAPTER 6: The Next One

A girl, running. All of a sudden she stopped. She was at the top of a cliff, looking down. What a long way down. I was standing next to the girl at the top of the cliff. I didn't realize I was still dreaming. What I did realize was that I was in control of my body and aware enough to do something. Whatever that something would be. The girl next to me looked down and looked thoroughly scared. I looked over the edge of the cliff too and immediately regretted it. It was too far. Looking down had given me vertigo and my stomach was churning uncomfortably. I looked at the girl next to me and was shocked. She had elbow length light brown hair, almost turquoise eyes, fair skin, high cheekbones, average height and looked 18 years old despite being 17. Sound familiar? I was looking at myself. I admit it, I really started panicking. I looked around myself and I. There were people in the distance. They almost seemed to be coming closer. My gaze shifted back to the other me. I tried shaking her shoulder but my hand moved through her. I tried yelling at her but she didn't seem to hear me. All of a sudden her foot moved forwards, it was hanging out in the air, nothing underneath it but a long drop. I knew she couldn't hear me, I knew it, but that didn't stop me from trying. All of a sudden there was a flash of rainbow light and I was back in my bed breathing hard.

The rain was running off my window and I saw a flash of lightning. 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi, then I heard the thunder rumble. 3 miles away. Not far at all. That was a trick my dad had taught me when I was about 7. Because light moves faster then sound, every second is a mile away from where the worst of the storm is. That dream shook me. My breaths were uneven and I had a feeling my eyes were wider then normal. What was that? Myself on a cliff, about to commit suicide and fall off. For some reason I turned on my lamp without fear.

I grabbed the sketch book next to my bed. I flipped past the drawing of the fighting men from my last dream. I started drawing again. I used up two pages trying to draw myself standing there. I've never really been able to draw them. They go away too quickly, or at least that's what I always say to myself as an excuse. I didn't see why this time should be any different which is why I was surprised to see that, on third page, I had drawn the other me's feet, one on the cliff, one hanging out over nothing. I let my hands wander as I thought about it all. There was all these unanswered questions and things I didn't know about.

The rain hit my window pain in relentless waves, occasionally lit up by lightning and punctuated by thunder. My little alarm clock read 3:09 but I'm pretty sure it was around 2:40 when I actually woke up. I kept thinking, letting my thoughts go around in circles without getting anywhere. Eventually I looked down at my sketchbook.

I was vaguely surprised to find a picture there. It was looking at the suicidal me with a foot in the air and then there was me next to her, clearly screaming and trying to grab the other myself while showing how insubstantial and ghost-like I had been. This one surprised me more then the other one. It looked so life like, it could of been a photo.That was odd. What is up with the suddenly life-like drawings? I've never been able to draw people like this. I wondered to myself if this dream would stay like the other one, the one with the screaming woman. Oh dear lord. Where did that drawing come from? What is causing the sudden increase in the feeling of reality in the dreams? I was truly scared now. What's happening now? Why do I remember the other dream? Why did this dream happen? Only an empty silence met my seemingly endless questions.