A Dream Becomes A Nightmare

Lila was startled from sleep by a dream. In it she saw a man grab a women off the street and into the foyer of a building. It was very dark so she could not see his face, only an arm clad in a dark colored shirt with a gold cuff link in the sleeve and a large, hairy hand reaching from the pitch black of the doorway and pulling the woman into the darkness. She had watched the woman coming down the street in light from the streetlamps. She looked to be in her twenties with long copper colored hair and wearing a white blouse under a forest green suit. Her dream switched to a view of what must have been a basement. A dim overhead bulb lit the room but allowed shadows to surround the old fashioned wrought iron bed under it. Lila felt a chill run up her spine even though the bed was empty. The door opened and she saw the woman dragged into the room by a large figure dressed all in black down to leather boots. She could not see his face until he turned to place the unconscious woman on the bed. The face was like something out of a nightmare with scars and sharp pointed teeth.

Lila noticed something on the bed sheet she had not seen before that looked like dried blood then it changed to fresh blood dripping from the woman’s neck. When the ogre stepped away, Lila could see a jagged chunk had been ripped from the woman’s throat. The white blouse was no longer white but reds and pinks. She could see life still existed in the prone form by the slight up and down movement of the chest but the blood loss would soon take the weak hold on life away. The door opened and what she saw jerked her wide awake. 

Sitting on the edge of the bed crying and trembling kept Lila up for hours. She was afraid to go back to sleep in case the dream was not yet over. She did not want to see that poor woman suffer more. The tools the ogre brought into that room could only be used to dismember and slice her into pieces even before her soul left her body. 

Lila decided to go to the kitchen and fix a cup of chamomile tea to calm her and help her go back to sleep. While the water heated for the tea, she turned on the TV just to hear noise and try to forget her nightmare. The station she was watching interrupted the program with an urgent message. “A young woman has been reported missing ...” The description exactly matched the woman in her nightmare. 

“The woman was to be interviewed by the police about the disappearances after she called and said she had seen the latest abduction. Police went to her residence but she was not there. As of this broadcast, she is still missing. The police are investigating those disappearances but have uncovered no clues. An official warning was issued when tonight’s disappearance was reported. If anyone has any information on these disappearances, please call the police immediately. They are also requesting all young women to stay off the streets after dark unless escorted or in groups.”

Lila finished her tea, debating whether she should call and tell the police about her dream. She decided to just go back to bed hoping the dream would not return. She tossed and turned but eventually drifted back to sleep until the alarm woke her. While dressing, she heard a radio program interrupted with another special report. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we bring you the latest update on the mysterious disappearance of at least twenty-one women in our city. A witness has come forward who saw the abduction. She saw the woman being dragged into the entryway of an abandoned building on Fourth Avenue earlier this morning. Police searched the building but it was empty. If anyone can shed some light on this new threat, please call the city police. Now back to our regularly scheduled program.”

Now she had to call the police and tell them about her dream. As soon as she finished dressing, she picked up her phone and dialed the number for city police. She was put on hold when she said she had information on last night’s missing woman then she heard a man telling her he was Sargeant Simmons and asking for her name and address then telling her to come to the City Hall Police Headquarters to tell them her information. 

This was one time she wished she had a car instead of having to take the bus. It took a transfer to another route to reach the police station but at least it was daylight. She stopped at the reception desk and asked for Sargeant Simmons. They directed her to go up one floor and the office would be on her left. She went up the steps and quickly arrived on the second floor. As she opened the door, she saw the hall was filled with people. She didn’t realize a police station was so busy. She decided to wait in line out in the hall until she had to leave for work. She could not afford to lose her job over a dream. Then a commanding voice asked everyone to be quiet while he assigned everyone to a group. 

“Who is here to report a crime, please raise your hand. Okay, all of you will go across the hall to the second door and someone will take your report. Now who is here to dispute a traffic ticket or other summons, please raise your hand. Good, all of you go down the hall to the last door on your left and they will take care of you. Is anyone here to give testimony about the missing women? If so raise your hand. Fine, three of you please follow me and the rest of you need to go back downstairs and ask the receptionist which office you need.”

Our trio followed the policeman inside the door to a room abuzz with voices. Some were talking to a person at their desk while others were talking on the phone. The rest were talking among themselves. We were led to a bench along the front wall and told to sit down. I kept looking at my watch. I was already late for work and hoped I would not lose my job over this. I had worked too hard for my position to be forced to start over. A policewoman with a clipboard came to us and asked for each of our names. She wrote something on her clipboard and said she would send someone as quickly as she could. What seemed like an hour but was only about ten minutes before three policemen stood before us. One by one they called our names then asked us to follow them. Sargeant Simmons name was painted on the glass pane in his door. My escort motioned me into the room and told me to sit in the chair in front of the desk. 

I sat waiting and wishing I had never made that call this morning until a tall, ruggedly handsome policeman came in and sat in back of the desk. “So you are Lila Donahue. You said you had information on one of the missing women. Which one is it?”

“The woman who went missing last night.”

“Are you acquainted with her?”

“No sir.”

“Did you see her abduction?”

“Yes, in a way.”

“What do you mean, in a way.”

I saw her abduction in a dream last night. She was walking down Maple Lane then when a man’s hand came out of the darkness and pulled her in the dark doorway. He took her to the basement where he placed her on a bed. She was bleeding profusely from her throat that had been ripped opened and I saw her blood soaking into a mattress that had other dried blood stains on it. She was still alive because I could see her breathing but I knew she would not live much longer. He left the room and came back with knives and a power saw. That is when I woke up but I knew he intended to cut her to pieces just as a butcher does to a cow or pig.”

“I see. So you saw her walking down the street. Can you tell me what she was wearing?”

“Yes sir, she was wearing a white blouse and a forest green suit. She had long copper colored hair and she was very attractive. The man’s arm came out of the shadows when he grabbed her so all I saw then was a dark colored shirt with a cuff link in the cuff. Later when he took her into the basement room, I saw he wore black everything down to his boots. His face was horrible to look at with scars and his teeth were sharp points. It looked like he had ripped her throat with his teeth. Her white blouse was no longer white with the blood it had absorbed. That is when I woke up because I could not tolerate watching what he obviously intended to do.”

“So you actually did not see anything except in your dream, is that right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You know we searched that building and found nothing except mice, rats, insects and filth, don’t you?”

“I heard you had searched the building but did you search the basement for a hidden room?”

“We searched the basement and found nothing. You have given us nothing that helps us. I think your mind focused on last night’s news report and caused you to dream about what you heard. Thank you for coming in but you have given us nothing. Good day, Miss Donahue.”

I left and caught a bus to work wishing they had listened to me. When I reached the office where I worked I told my boss I had been held up at the police station reporting on last night’s abduction. He gave me a warning it was not to happen again or I would be fired. I went to my desk and caught up on my work while wishing the police had believed me. I stayed late to make up for the hours I lost that morning so it was dark when I left for home. When the bus stopped in front of my apartment building, I ran to get inside the door then to my apartment. After a quick dinner I showered and went to bed but did not dream.

The next day at work I still had some catching up to do so again I worked late. For some reason I was afraid to go home alone. I caught the bus just as it was getting dark. I decided to have dinner at a little restaurant a couple blocks from home. It wasn’t worth taking a bus for the short distance home so I walked. Suddenly a chill went through me then a hand grabbed me and pulled me into a building. That is when I realized I was wearing a white blouse and forest green suit that went well with my copper colored hair. Just before I blacked out, I realized I had foreseen my own death in the hidden room in my dream as my blood seeped onto the mattress on the old fashioned wrought iron bed.