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.
Day 3/Night 4
When Noah was done, Angie giggled delightfully.
“What the hell is this thing?” she asked. “How did it appear to you?” she asked Sabrina.
Sabrina smiled.
Sabrina’s Dream
“I’m not in the best shape, I’m a curvy girl and I like my body. I haven’t always but part of my maturity is accepting the body that I have and trying to be as healthy as I can be. It’s hard growing up a big girl and it’s easy to harm yourself chasing something that you can never achieve. I don’t want to look like Tyra Banks, but I do try to stay healthy. Health is my only body goal.
“All that said, I have to say I’m ashamed for getting up and eating in the middle of the night, or early morning. But Chief is a good cook and this is a vacation, so to hell with it.
“When I went to bed last night I didn’t dream about anything, I just woke up to pee and when I was on the toilet, I started feeling kinda peckish. I went down to grab something and I saw that cheesy bread. I went back to sleep really easily afterwards, but I didn’t realize I was asleep until I woke up. I remember getting back in bed, and I heard this sound, like something hit the floor and spilled liquid. It was coming from the kitchen and I got up because I thought maybe I left the fridge door open or something. When I made it downstairs, all of you were on your knees in front of the refrigerator and y’all were hypnotized by the light coming from it.
“I said everybody’s name, but no one answered me, no one even looked in my direction. Before I could touch anybody, I saw the black thing, the figure grew from a shadow behind the fridge door. It was mostly just black, but I swear it had a face, eyes and a mouth, and it seemed to be smirking at me.
“We were looking at each other for a while, then all of you stood up between us and it was like you were zombies. All of you started chasing me and I ran upstairs to my bed, got under the covers and then I woke up.”
Angie was still smiling when Sabrina finished her dream.
“It’s messing with us,” she said. “Doesn’t it seem like it’s messing with us. I wish this was a movie or something so we could all face it together. That’s the climax here guys.”
Everyone laughed with Angie, but part of me was sure that she was disappointed that we wouldn’t get a big group showdown.
“Do you guys really think this is all real?” I asked. “You think the rarebit made the black thing that’s moved through three of our dreams so far?”
Noah and Angie nodded at one another.
“I don’t know, Chief,” Sabrina said, “but it’s strange ain’t it?”
“What’s in that rabbit?” Hallie asked. “Why would it cause dreams anyway? It’s just bread and cheese?”
“And that crazy looking Welsh beer the Chief used in the cheese sauce,” Noah said. “Maybe that’s it, maybe it’s not the rarebit, it’s the obscure alcohol. You said you ordered it online didn’t you?”
I had, “but a lot of us have eaten it, Gabby ate it last night and she didn’t dream, me either.”
We all stared at each other and the energy was a strange mix of fear and excitement at the strange phenomenon that was unfolding.
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