The following is an account of a gathering of the VIV writing collective. All names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved.
Angie’s Dream
“I was in a field. It reminded me of my parents’ backyard, but it was so much bigger. It was like we were on the planet that was just my childhood home and this picturesque, bucolic vegetation all around it forever and ever. All of my family was there, the refrigerator was full and if you’re like me and grew up with a lot of siblings, a full refrigerator is like heaven. And it was full of good foods and snacks and drinks. My parents were always around doing parent things; my dad was grilling, or mowing the lawn, and my mom was tidying up the house or arranging food on tables. There were more tables than made sense for the space, and my mom was covering every one with dishes of the best things.
“I don’t think the sun ever went down. It was always the perfect time to be doing whatever it was we were doing. If we were playing hide and seek in the yard, the sun was out bright, with just enough cloud cover so the wind could cool the day. If we wanted to sit out at the firepit in the backyard, the sun was low, on the verge of setting, but it never went down.
“The neighbors visited. They didn’t come on a spaceship or anything like that. They walked over from their planet to ours and my mother had been worked up about the neighbors arriving at the right time to connect. I saw their planet moving closer in the sky, then their land stretched to blend into ours, like a land bridge from planet to planet I guess, and the neighbors walked over like normal. They were nice. I enjoyed playing with their son. He was nice, Ricky. He was the first boy I ever kissed.
“I was happy, I guess, on this planet. I was happy enough to be devastated that something threatened it. After the neighbors visit, I overheard my parents talking about this thing, I guess monster is the best way to describe it, that was finding its way onto family planets and corrupting or killing whole families. It was like a virus, maybe, but all I knew, what I understood, was that we needed to be very vigilant. It was possible to kill the thing, I remember that, and I was sure that if this thing came to our planet, we were going to be family that killed it.
“There was legitimately a training montage in my dream, and there was music. I remember distinctly, it wasn’t a song, just rock guitars as me and my family study karate and shoot guns at targets.
“Then, for the first time since I became aware in this dream, the sun sets, and I’m in this big backyard alone. There’s a far away moon, but it’s mostly just dark and this thing comes. It’s dark, black, impossible to see any real detail, but I feel it and I can see it’s outline. It moves like smoke and it growls like a tiger.
“I pulled out a mother fucking light saber, y’all, and it was all Return of the Jedi in this bitch, I was ready to go. I charged at it, but the light saber flew out of my hand and I stopped. The thing growled loudly and I was scared. I lost my light saber and I didn’t know what was in front of me.
“I fell to my knees and I screamed. I screamed for my family to help me. I screamed at the thing that seemed to be watching me, enjoying my fear.
“And eventually I woke up. It wasn’t an interruption situation either. Usually I feel jerked out of my dreams, like I’m enjoying it and then I wake up disappointed that I didn’t get to experience something. Not this dream. I screamed and that thing watched me. I was terrified, sure that I had met my end, and that thing was smiling.”
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