Most of last night’s dream was in the presence of [a dream walker that doesn’t have her own nickname for my writing yet and I’m making this annoying as fuck redaction to remind me to ask her later]. I was helping her move things, and we were discussing the dream of a verdant lady.
Driving home (in my All Business black sedan) I had to cross a desert. Not surprising. There is a desert in the Waking between me and her. It’s a beautiful place, I don’t mind. Coming out of one of the mountain pass choke points, I come around the bend and find a road block. Law enforcement officials are everywhere. Almost all of them have their backs to the road. Many have binoculars.
One looks at the car, his face brightening in recognition of the style, then falling to see the driver is just me. “Be careful, ma’am. A dangerous criminal is on the loose.” I nod and slowly start to pull forward.
“The road is closed! No one allowed in until we catch that bastard!” A high ranking official yells from the far end of the roadblock. Looks like I’m here for a while. I’m directed to where I can park and start to head that way.
I verbally note that everyone is watching Out, but no one is watching In. “Big ass surveillance hole.”, I mutter.
I suddenly feel tired. Drained. Like something was pulling my energy out. Like that something was in the back seat. “Yes, it is, isn’t it.” Dark hands reach from behind me and grip my waist. “I can’t enter you? Oh, you’ll be fun to play with later. But first, you’re going to drive me out of here. Turn around and go the way you came.”
I can’t change form. I can’t call my cloak. I can’t jump worlds. I’m fixed in this form as long as the shadow thing is holding on to me.
“Drive, Bitch!” I can hear the promise of flesh rending teeth in its voice. I shake my head. It digs into my waist. Suddenly sharp claws dig into my skin painfully. I wonder if I’m going to be eviscerated and start to chuckle at the thought.
The intruder spawns more shadow hands and grips my neck. “I will tear you apart in here, and you will never be put back together!” I wanted to tell him the joke is on him. That I’m already in scattered pieces. That I haven’t been in one piece since before I could remember. That the worst he can do to me is devour me.
It’s not like he can unmake me. And I know it.
Weakly I reach for the steering wheel. The intruder is draining me just by proximity. I know the moment I am back around the bend and out of sight, I’m done for. Bastard going to carjack me? Fucker. I can always wake up. I put the car in Neutral and slap the Hazards button. clickclackclickclackclickclack The lights flash brightly inside and outside the car.
“I will eat you alive, you fucking bitch!” Claws start trying to rip flesh off my face, arms, and torso. I used the last of my strength to turn on the lights. I slump forward against the horn, sounding it. Locked into this form, I feel myself trembling in the jitters that precede a seizure.
“Ma’am? Is every… HE’S HERE! HE’S HERE!” I hear the trooper draw his weapon and command the thing behind me to release me. It is still trying to possess me, but no amount of clawing can pierce my form. But he is still devouring my energy.
I see him reaching for the controls but he passes through them. He can’t touch the car, he can only touch me. In desperation he is trying to drain me completely, trying to take on my presence so the car will recognize him. I wonder if I’ll wake up. My body feels so distant.
The door opens. The seatbelt is released. A hand grabs me by my shirt and wrenches me out the seat. As I’m dragged away from the car, someone yells, “She’s clear! Move in! He’s trapped in the car!”
I see we are surrounded by hundreds of law enforcement officials. At least two thirds of them change shape into something like wolves. The wolves charge forward, but he has managed to slip out the car and is running towards the pass.
About thirty feet away from the car, the wolves catch up with him. I hear an angry shout from him. Then a scream. Then a gurgle. Then the sound of something wetly ripped.
“What can we do for her?” “Nothing. He almost [do not remember] her.” “That would have been bad. She’s a Dreamer. She would have taken him into the Waking with her.” “Yea.” I feel my body again. Pins-n-needles, all over, from scalp to feet. The sensation is overwhelming and I start to fit again. “Once her dream ends, she’ll be okay.” “Until then?” “Make her comfortable.” I’m lifted onto a makeshift pallet of the collected coats of those still in human form. It’s softer than the bare dirt.
I guess they’ve reopened the road. I hear vehicles go by at speed. A damp cloth wipes my face. I don’t know when I lost sight. “Her car…” “Yea. I know.” “And it’s her car?” “Yup. Imprinted even.” “He couldn’t break her skin, could only bruise her. But he devoured her [word I could not understand]. What is she?”
“Gone.” I had stopped breathing. But I knew I wasn’t dying. I was waking up and being released from the dream.
I opened my eyes to find sunlight in my room. I ache from head to toe, with mystery bruises in my face and chest. Well, at least I don’t get to be teased about spilling my guts again.
Time for coffee.