“All right. That was fast”, Lauren said to herself as she looked around the magnificent purple sky, standing all alone in the vast grassy planes. “And I’m still wearing my bathrobes. This dream really is boring”, she sighed. “Follow the fireflies, they are certainly a clue to what lies ahead”, Lauren heard Charlie say, his voice echoing from the skies. Lauren was taken by surprise on hearing his voice inside her dream, but, ignoring any weird ideas in her head, she decided to do what the voice asked her to do. “Thanks for the reminder, Charlie”, she said and walked in the direction where she had last seen the fireflies.
After walking for a while, Lauren reached an area where the grass was a little taller, and there, she found the fireflies placidly hovering over the area, blinking with the glow of their light. “Follow the fireflies and see where they take you. I’m certain that this entire area isn’t a homogeneous grassy plain. See, the grass is taller here!” an excited Charlie said through the skies. “No shit, Sherlock. But, how are you even in my head?” Lauren said, looking around. “Am I not always in your head? Don’t tell me that this feeling is something new to you”, the voice replied. Lauren flustered. “I’m glad he isn’t actually here in person!” she said to herself. “Maybe it’s another weird conjuring of this dream”, Lauren thought to herself. She was about to call out to Charlie again, when the fireflies started to move, and Lauren decided to save her questions for later.
The big patches of tall grass were soon being replaced by small green plants and some shrubs. The journey was very slow though, as the fireflies were in no hurry and were peacefully moving like a festive and merry procession, bathing in their own light every other second. Lauren wasn’t sure how long she had been inside the dream. She was surprised that she yawned in her dream. It was as if she just wanted to sleep in her own dream. The slow moving fireflies weren’t of much help either. A little while later, some trees came into view. “Finally something! Phew, I thought I was doomed to walk forever on a grassy treadmill”, Lauren said more to Charlie than to herself. “That’s one objective completed”, Charlie’s voice responded from the skies. “What should we do from here on, then?” Lauren asked. “Scout around, of course”, Charlie said matter-of-factly.
Lauren approached the trees and was a little surprised to see that the more she walked towards them, the larger they grew in number. It was as if an invisible fog was concealing everything behind itself. As she went deeper inside, she found herself suddenly inside a forest, the grassy plains a sight long forgotten. “Hmm… This is very interesting and strange at the same time”, Charlie’s voice ricocheted from tree to tree and reached Lauren. “I’m yet to see anything interesting, Charlie”, Lauren responded, not sure if her voice would reach him. “Keep searching until you find something useful then”, Charlie’s voice reached Lauren once again, echoing and bouncing from tree to tree. Just then, Lauren recalled that she had forgotten all about the fireflies, which were nowhere in sight. She wondered if they would return to her if she whistled to call them back, like Sally’s dog does. Then, shaking her head at her own stupid idea, she went forward in the direction she was walking. Although Lauren had nothing to fear in her own dream, she felt a little scared by the place. Her dream seemed pretty real after all. She looked around and saw nothing but trees. Trees as tall as fifty metres surrounded her now, and it seemed as if their height increased with each step she took. Following the fireflies was one thing, but roaming around endlessly left a vacuum in her mind, perfect for negative feelings to creep in.
Lauren stopped. She was tired from all the walking. In fact, she just wanted to wake up now. She didn’t know how long she had been inside her own head and wondered if the sun was up in the real world. Lauren lied down on the floor of the forest, under a large tree with a thick trunk. She closed her eyes and went to sleep.
—––
“Do you really think I’m going to let you go? After all the trouble I went through to finally catch you?” A man said as he slapped a woman, whose clothes were almost torn away from her body. He laughed like a vile animal as he tried to force himself onto the woman, whose screams were stifled by the gag placed on her mouth, a blend of tears and blood trickling down her cheeks. The woman’s body was probably colder with fear than the cold tiled floor she was being assaulted on. Just then, when the man had almost ripped her skirt off of her, she felt his hand retreat from her body. Her body was gripped with even more fear, thinking if the man had decided to beat her up even more before eventually consuming her. She was tired of all the struggling and her head was in a slight daze from the blow on her head. She had read somewhere that people die by biting their own tongues. She would’ve gladly tested the fact, had she not been gagged. Several seconds passed and she still felt no action from her assailant. She wondered if he had exited the room for something and she could escape in the meantime. Her body was in the grasp of fear, cramps, wounds, bruises and blood clots, but she had nothing more to lose anyway, and, slightly pushing away her fear, she turned around. Her senses were instantly paralyzed at what she saw and she let out her loudest scream through the gag.
——-
“You are not wasting my time, you dimwit, you are wasting yours. At least be useful in your final hours, if you don’t want them to be your final hours!” The blonde threatened the person speaking from the other side of the phone. Misty was lying naked and lifeless on the bed beside him, her skin paler than her original complexion. He got up and dressed himself. He was thinking hard about something. “I wonder if its too early for me to play my ultimate card”, he said as he went in front of the mirror to straighten up his tie. He stopped for a moment when he noticed that the insides of his fingernails were smeared with blood. “Lets see if they’ve caught the wind of it yet”, he said to himself. The sun was almost up. He turned on his laptop and checked the news. There it was. He read the article and smiled.
——-
Lauren was happy that she had finally reached the hospital on time. She had almost forgotten the feeling of ever arriving on time. What she missed more was the rejuvenated feeling coursing through her body. Her flaming red locks were neatly braided after a very long time. She saw Anna at the reception desk and smiled. Anna returned the smile back to her, but it was rather weak. “I think I don’t have to tell you if your trick worked”, Lauren said with a little dance, trying to cheer Anna up before asking her what was bothering her. “I’m happy that you benefited from it”, Anna said, her smile not even nearly as convincing as it should have been. “Come on, what’s the matter? Receptionists don’t look good when they’re sad”, Lauren said, placing a hand on Anna’s shoulder. “Did you check the news?” Anna asked Lauren, her red lipstick suddenly making her look very older. “No, I did not. What happened?” Lauren asked, her cheerful vibe dissipating. “A woman was kidnapped last night by a man, and was brutally beaten and assaulted by him at a farmhouse. He even attempted to rape her”, Anna said, her lips quivered a bit while speaking. Lauren felt sick. “Since when did these things started happening in this city? Wait, you said he attempted to rape her, does that mean the woman escaped?”, Lauren asked, bringing back a little bit of her cheery mood. “No, she didn’t escape”, Anna paused, “Then…?” Lauren couldn’t manage to add more words to her question. “The Feli-City Vampire killed her assailant in front of her” Anna said, finally meeting Lauren’s eyes.
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