Trespassers of Dreams

Sharah stood in the yard of her house, staring behind the white wooden fence facing the east side of the building. Spread across the pointy edges of the barrier was a massive green valley. Its green grass, as tall as one’s knees, drenched by the golden light of the bright sun standing proud in the middle of the noon sky. To the young woman, it felt as if time had stopped. Or better, time hadn’t existed at all. It was merely a scene, like a long-lost memory, lost in the vastness of time and space, wondering around galaxies distant and unknown.

“Sharah, hurry, the food is going to get cold,” shouted her mother from the front yard. Is it already lunch time? Sharah thought, making her way to the front of the house, where her mother’s voice came from.

To her surprise, reaching the front yard, she saw a long table full of grilled meat, salads, and sauces. Around the table, her sisters, aunties, and some cousins were having chats in small groups, talking loud about random things, and laughing to each other. Her mother, walking back from the grill with even more meat on a disk, gave her a warm smile before heading to the table to set down a load of steaks.

The most surprising of all, a huge strawberry and chocolate cake was sitting in the middle of the long table. It was a homemade recipe her mother always cooked for her birthday, as it was her favourite desert since she was still a child. On top of the cake, the candles of one and five were lit, forming together the number 15. It was Sharah’s 15th birthday party. How could she forget it?

She realised she was wearing her favourite white dress. Excited, she ran to the empty chair between her two older sisters, Laura, and Polly, in the middle of the long, loaded with food table. It was only when she sat down and tried to blow the candles, when the scenery became darker, and the sound of chats and laughs around her became a hollow din, made of indistinct chatter. The sun was now covered with black, eerie clouds. The green valley was now a dreary landscape of burnt ground that looks like charcoal, as if fire had just passed through the place.

She stood, and she turned to her sisters and mother. She tried to talk to them, but they acted as if they didn’t even notice she was there. No one else seemed to notice any of this, apart from Sharah. Everyone else at the table kept talking and laughing, their expressions unchanged. What the hell is going on? She screamed as loud as she could; she grabbed the cake and threw it on her cousins across the table. No one reacted. Everything remained the same.

Suddenly, she heard a long, eerie shriek coming from somewhere above. She looked at the ominous sky. Something that looked like a bird was making its way fast down towards the yard. Observing it closer as it approached, she noticed that this was not a bird. It was a human-like creature, with huge featherless wings. The beast came and stood on the table, facing Sharah, looking directly into her eyes. Fear petrified her. She couldn’t move. All she did was stand there, in front of this demon-like figure, looking back at it.

Its naked body resembled mostly the one of a human, but it didn’t bear any genitals. The feet were more like the ones of a bat, but bearing long fangs on the edge of the toes. Its bony body gave the impression that the creature had starved for a long time. One could clearly see the ribs exposed under a thin layer of skin. Skin full of scars and burn wounds all over the body. Its naked wings looked even more massive from this close, with more fangs sinisterly hovering on the edge of each feather. On its face, although akin to a human’s, there was no mouth, but the beast bore a long, darkish, and from the look of it worn out but still lethal, beak.

The demon bended forward from the table where he stood on. It was now facing Sharah from a one-foot distance. Maintaining eye contact, it screeched at her so loud that she thought her ears were going to bleed. Although she was still terrified, a realisation finally helped her gather the courage to face the creature. This can’t be real! I must be dreaming. Yes! It’s a stupid dream!

Once its beak was closed again, she quickly grabbed it and twisted it as hard as she could until she heard the creepy sound of something breaking. The beast instantly fell back with a longer and more disturbing screeching, moving feathers and legs uncontrollably, while everyone at the table still didn’t seem to take part in this odd spectacle. She walked to the space on the grass where the tormented beast was now trembling in fear. She stood above it, and she was getting ready to stamp on its face when her phone started ringing.

Sharah woke up.

After switching off the alarm, she unwillingly got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. She examined her face in the mirror. She was again the 23-year-old woman from Bristol, living at the studio flat she was renting on the 5th floor of a building in Central Croydon, not some foolish house on the prairie with demons flying around. What a dream! She washed off the cold sweat from her face with cold water. No more snacks before sleep, she thought, and walked to the bathroom door. Though when she opened the door, she realised she was far from awake.

She was now standing in the lantern room of a remote lighthouse, on the edge of a cliff. Returning to her current age, she opted for a casual outfit this time. She admired the vastness of the blue sea reflecting the sunlight on a clear day. The voice of the man talking to her from the other side of the room startled her. His voice, deep and clear, with a hint of southern-states accent. He wore a tuxedo and had a brown cowboy hat on his head. His face features harsh and manly. A golden, thick, perfectly trimmed beard covered half of his face. He was handsome. Sharah guessed he should be 30 to 35 years old.

“You gave my brother a really hard time earlier. He might look scary, and he can be awkward around humans, but he doesn’t mean bad,” he said, and he gave her a smile.

Sharah didn’t reply, though the confusion in her eyes and the enigmatic expression on her face, stated obvious that she needed answers. For she knew she was dreaming, though they knew this dream was not a dream like all the others. She was in the presence of something paranormal and otherworldly.

“I apologise for not introducing myself first,” continued the man. “My name is Utu, and I guess earlier you met my brother Hubal… you know… the handsome creature with the beak and the huge wings,” he explained with a smirk.

“Who are you and what do you want from me?” Sharah shouted, finding the inner strength to speak. She was still struggling to realise what was happening.

Utu continued, his face now turned to the majestic view, through the window of the lantern room. “You see, my brother and I, we have been here, in this world, since the beginning of time and the creation of stars. When you humans came into being, we soon realised that we should separate our world from yours, for you are…” he turned his face towards the confused young woman across the room. “…unstable.”

“What am I doing here? What do you want from me?” asked Sharah, trying to sound calm and stable.

Utu ignored her question and merely went on with his speech. “In order to protect ourselves from you, we created another dimension, where we could live peacefully, away from your …curiosity. Though your kin still accessed our world. For some of you possess the ability to control your dreams, and the dreamworld is a gateway to our world.”

“This doesn’t answer my question. I need you to tell me why the hell I’m here,” Sharah demanded, looking at him straight in the eyes. She wished she could wake up at once.

“You are here are one among those who can guide their dreams. You are a danger to us; hence, you must be silenced.”

“Silenced? What do you mean? What are you going to do to me?” screamed Sharah.

Utu took a few steps towards her without taking his eyes away from hers. Not even for one second.

“Your punishment for trespassing the realms of dreams… your punishment is…”

               “Sharah! WAKE UP! SHARAH!” It was her mother’s voice. But when Sharah finally woke up, her mother was nowhere around. Noooooo! NOOOOOOOO! I must go back to sleep. What’s the punishment? What’s going to happen to me? Please let me go back to sleep. Please! PLEASE! But no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn’t be able to sleep again that night. And the next one. And the next…

She finally slept again after she reached exhaustion, and her GP provided her with medication that helped her relax and get a few hours of good sleep. But she didn’t have any dreams. This happened 6 days after the night that she dreamed about the lighthouse and the man with the cowboy hat. She had lost weight, and dark circles appeared under her eyes. She had illusions through the day, and she couldn’t concentrate even on simple tasks.

When she finally had dreams again, they were brief and forgettable. Nothing significant. No demons, no lighthouses, no answers. The young woman would eventually plunge into madness, and, with the support of her family, she would seek help in mental institutions. She would ask for advice from doctors, and spiritualists, and places of religion. But she would never get her answer.