Nightmares to Keep

They say that dreams can be mysterious and haunting while other times they can be happy and full of adventure. I never did believe that dreams were anything more than just dreams, that was until about a year ago when weird stuff began to happen in my dreams.

My name is Frank Hawthorn. I am a thirty two year old blond haired man that lives in New York city and works at an accounting firm. My apartment is nothing special, it has a compact layout with a single bedroom with all the blessings of solidarity from the out side noise. I drive a pretty plain silver Honda civic ( nothing fancy) ,Yes, I guess one could say that I am just an ordinary guy trying to make it through life without making to many screw ups.

I have a very small social life out side of work, I kind of like keeping to my self ( boring, I know ) and I try not to get caught up in every day city life. In fact I don't believe I have ever invited any one over to my apartment for anything the whole time I have lived here in New York. Any way getting back to the dream thing. It all started about a year ago when I started dreaming the same dream over and over. I didn't think to much about it at first just thought it was annoying.

The dream was of a young boy around the age of ten drowning in a pond. There was no one around him except a shadow of what looked to be a bigger gentleman maybe around three hundred pounds at the lower left edge of the pond. The pond was surrounded with thickets and dead trees. This setting was in the middle of no where as I could only see the dead forest that surrounded the small pond. Each time that I would have this dream I would wake up just before the little boy gave up and drowned. It was quite annoying that my mind would keep this going night after night.

About two weeks of this same dream, the dream changed a little bit. The young boy with short brown hair had only his head above water. He was struggling to keep afloat as he turned and looked at me and said, "Help me Frank, please help me". I immediately woke up in a cold sweat, I was terrified because it was so real. I couldn't go back to sleep for the rest of the night and I remember I was so tiered the next day at work, I didn't think I would make it through the day. However I did make it and after I got off I went home and got on my computer and googled dreams. There were so many things that popped up but, nothing seemed to describe what I was going through. After searching for a couple of hours my eyes began to shut. After I took a shower and ate a short meal I then retired to my bed. I just laid there knowing that this dream would come back and haunt me again. Eventually I did go to sleep.

The boy was franticly trying to stay afloat paddling his hands and feet, he was loosing the battle slowly as it appeared something was weighing him down. The young child turned and looked me straight in my eyes and pleaded, "Help me Frank, please Help me"! After about five minutes of this, the young boy sunk and the only thig left was the rippling waters racing away from where he had been just a few short moment ago. Bubbles from the young lad's last breath then began to break atop the water.

All of the sudden the shadowy figure came in to complete focus as he began to run in the opposite direction of my view. The bushy haired man with no neck had a red and white flannel shirt on and blue jeans with what looked like black army boots that was stomping through the dead foliage that laid on the forest floor. I woke up in total fear and couldn't catch my breath for a few minutes. My bed was soaked with sweat, I could not believe this night mare was continuing night after night. Who was this little boy and who was this man, I thought to my self.

The next day I remember I was so tiered and drained as if it were I that had drowned in the pond. While at work I kept falling asleep at my desk and at one point a co-worked had to nudge me to wake me up. It was then I decided that I had to figure out what the hell was happening to me. These dreams were not only affecting my sleep but also my work.

Later that night I told myself that I would focus on every detail in the dream and write it down when I woke up. The only problem with that is I did not have any dreams at all that night. The next morning I woke up in relief and told myself that it was finally over.

After work I decided that I would celebrate the dreams finally being over by stopping by the supper market and get a big juicy stake for dinner. After eating a relaxing dinner that night and sipping on a couple of beers, I did my nightly routine and went to bed.

The screams where piercing through my head as the flames began to swallow the two story house. There was a little boy in blue pajamas at a top floor window screaming for help. No one was helping this little chap , there wasn't anyone around that I could see. Then out of the corner of my eye I could see that shadow again , it was the shadow of the fat man in a flannel shirt. For some reason I could only see his shadow again. I tried to scream at the boy to just jump but the words would not come out of my mouth, it was like I was not even there but somehow I was because I was witnessing this horror show. The young boy looked at me and pleaded "Help me Frank, please Help me"!

I woke up in total fear again. My sweat had soaked the linens and my pj's. I jumped up out of my bed and went and splashed some cold water on my face. "What the hell is going on"? I asked my self. I thought this dream thing was over. After freshening up and changing my pajamas I got a notebook out and wrote everything down about the dream that I could remember.

The house was an older two story house painted a light green. There were four windows in the front of the the house, two on the top story and two on the bottom. There was some shrubbery that cased in the front of the house on each side of the side walk that led to the front door. The little boy was standing in the right hand window on the second story. The shadow figure had been standing on the right side of the house by the lower window as if he had just climbed out. The boy was a different boy than the first dream, but the man seemed to be the same large fellow that I seen running away from the pond where that poor little boy had drowned. Flames where dancing with the wind against the night sky.

The next morning I called in to work and took a sick day. I had to find out what was wrong with me. I scheduled an appointment with a local psychiatrist to see if I was just having stress dreams or if I was really going crazy.

It didn't take long for the doctor to tell me I was fine and that I just needed a little help getting to sleep even though I told him that I didn't need help getting to sleep, I just wanted answers on why I was having these nightmares. He prescribed me some heavy sleeping pills and promised that this would help.

Later that night I took two of the sleeping pills and dozed off right away like the doctor said I would. The only problem was that I still had the same dream of the burning house with the little boy on the top floor screaming for help but, this time I could not wake up to escape the dream.

The boy kept screaming "Help me Frank, please Help me"! I tried and I tried to scream back at him to just jump. The flames were growing more intense and by this time they began to swallow the window that the boy had been standing at. I was looking everywhere to try and see if I recognized any of the surroundings but the only thing that I did recognize was the fat man crawling out of the bottom story window , only this time he wasn't a shadow, I could see him as clear as day. His dark eyes seemed to notice me as he looked at me and shouted "What in the hell are you doing here again"?

I yelled back and said "Me , What the hell are you doing to that family"? I couldn't believe it , I was actually able to speak in this dream finally. The man was terrified of me for some reason. After I yelled at him he turned and ran off into the night. So here I was in this dream watching this two story house burn to the ground knowing that a young boy inside had to have had succumbed to the fire and I could not wake up! Why could I not run after the fat man? Why was I stuck in a position to where I couldn't even see my self? Why was this man killing these little boys? So many questions where going through my mind as I watched the inferno swallow the rest of the house.

I awoke to my alarm clock going off. I had slept through two hours of it ringing loudly, realizing I was late for work. I immediately called in and told them that I was sorry but I had over slept and needed to take one more day off because I still didn't feel good.

I knew that I couldn't keep going on like this and that I had to figure out how to get rid of these dreams. I poured myself a cup of coffee and decided to watch the morning news while I tried to get rid of the sleepiness hold that the pills still had on me.

I could not believe my eyes when I seen the green house that I had saw in my dreams on the news. It was reported that there were possible fatality's that perished with the house and that it appeared to be arson. I didn't know what to say or do so I just sat there in a daze.

After an hour had passed I decided to call the local authorities and ask if they had found a little boy that had drowned in a pond near here. Oh boy was that a mistake, within the next thirty minutes they had me down at the station asking me a million questions and after I told them that I saw the boy in the pond in a dream along with the little boy in the burning house they arrested me on the spot. They told me that there was no way that anyone but the killer would know that there was just one person that perished in the fire and that I especially knew it was a little boy. I begged and pleaded with them that I had nothing to do with any of the two boys murders. They didn't want to hear anything else I had to say , they just locked me up. I sat in that jail cell until well after dark. I finally decided to try and fall asleep. The next thing I know it was morning and that I did not have any night mares. "Oh great"! I thought to my self. Now that I really need to see inside these nightmares for any clues that might help me, I quit having them. The rest of the day would be nothing but more questions after questions. I could not convince the authorities that it all had just been dreams that I had.

Finally night had fallen and I was so tired from the intense questioning throughout the day that it did not take me long before I passed out.

The young boy was turning the corner on his bicycle in front of the SunSmart continence store , as he turned the corner the fat man's shadow figure knocked the young boy off of his bicycle. He then grabbed the boy and tried to shove him into a blue older model sedan. The boy was biting and kicking the shadowy figure but the shadow would not let go of him.

I tried not to wake up this time but the fear would not let me stay asleep. The guy was going to kill again and if I couldn't figure out where or when this was going to happen, another child would be killed.

I banged on the cell door to try and get a guard to come. Finally after ten minuets one came and asked what the hell I wanted. I told the guard that I needed to talk to one of the detectives as soon as possible and that there was going to be another murder.

About an hour after asking to talk to a detective the guard came back to my cell and escorted me to a interrogation room where a short heavy set black haired man that the guard referred to as detective John Harder, had been awaiting arrival.

" So you know of another murder"? the detective asked me as if he was going to pin another murder on me. I told him no but, I did have another dream of the same guy attacking another young boy. It took quite awhile to get the detective to just listen to what I had to say. I explained to him that it seems I always have the same dream for a few days until the fat man follows through with killing his victims. Its like the man is stalking his victims and dreaming of how he is going to kill them, and somehow I am getting in his dreams to witness these atrocities. The detective just looked at me like I was a crazy fool. I begged him to stake out the SunSmart Convince store where I had seen the man attack the boy in my dream. He basically told me that I was wasting his time and then he called the guard to take me back to my cell.

As I sat on my bunk in the cell I started to question my self. Did I kill these kids? Am I the monster that I see in my dreams? How am I doing these terrible things and not realizing that I am actually doing them?

I laid down trying to forget this whole situation. My stomach was turning and my nerves were shot.

The boy tuned the corner by the SunSmart , as he made the turn on his bike the fat man shoved him off . I screamed at the fat man to leave him alone. The fat man was no longer a shadow so I thought this must be the real thing. Leave him alone I screamed again. The fat man turned his attention to me and the boy bit the mans arm causing the fat man to let him go. The fat man looked at me and asked me why was I here again.

The next thing I know the guard woke me up telling me that detective John Harder needed to see me right now.

As the guard led me in to the interrogation room the detective just stared at me as if I were a ghost. He then asked me to describe the boy on the bike. I told him the boy was maybe ten and that he had shorts and a red tank top on. I couldn't really see the boys face but he did have brown hair.

The detective went on to tell me that an incident like the one I described in my dream happened at the SunSmart store this evening. I asked him if the boy was still alive and he replied that the boy was shaken up and has a few scratches and bruises but he is just fine.

I told the detective that when the fat man is no longer a shadow is when the murder actually takes place. I also told the detective that before the guard had came and got me, I had seen the fat man in my dream trying to capture a young boy and that the man was no longer a shadow.

The detective ask me if I could describe the fat man in detail, I told him yes. So the next morning a guard brought me into the interrogation room once more. This time the detective had me look at some known pedophile pictures that lived in the area. It didn't take very long before I pointed to a very large man and said that is him, that is the creep that has been in my dreams for quite a while now.

I was finally released after they went and questioned the man that I had picked out. Not only did the boy that was attacked pick him out of a line up, the fat man had a bite mark on his left forearm that matched the young boys teeth.

Fast forward to a year later, Yes I still have night mares but now I know how to use them so they don't frighten me as much as they did back then. I did get a chance to talk to the murdering fat man and he said that he did see me in his dreams but didn't realize that I also seen him in real life. He just kept asking how I got in to his dreams. He went on to say that he would stalk his victims and would dream of killing them for a few nights before he would follow through.

It might be hard to believe for someone that don't understand about the dream thing but, in the past year working with detective John Harder we have solved thirty two nightmare dreams before they were tuned in to murder cases.

My most up to date nightmare is a taunting one and I am racing time to help catch the evil soul before they kill again. I meet with detective John Harder nightly at a local pub just down the street from my apartment. I explained my night mare from last night to John and we are both baffled as to where this might be taking place.

There were six young children standing in a circle holding hands going around, they where in front of a building that was similar to a sanitarium, they were singing;

"ring around the rosy pocket full of posies, ashes ashes we all fall down"

As soon as they said down, all six children fell to the ground and turned into dust. The spooky thing was that just before they fell down a little girl about seven years old that had long curly red hair and a pink dress on turned and looked at me and said, " Help us Frank, please Help us"!

There was a shadow of what looked like a tall women in a nurses uniform and nurses hat, she turned to me as if she could see me and started laughing in a evil high pitched laugh.

I told detective John Harder that we had to find this nurse before her shadow changes, the innocent are depending on us...

PART ONE- [THE END]