Words can’t describe how freaked out I was after that dream. I paced around my room for hours. Even by one o’clock in the morning, I still hadn’t calmed down. What the hell was that? It felt so real. When that kid, Nick, talked to me, it seemed so incredibly real.
I didn’t know what to do. Matter of fact, there was nothing I could do. No matter how much I wanted to, I was useless. If that was really the future, I couldn’t stop it. Several times, I punched the wall in frustration. Just the thought of sleeping again made me sick. I didn’t want to have another dream like that. Ever.
I slumped down in my chair and stared at my blank computer screen. I looked at my reflection. It made me think. What was I? What was happening? If it was real, could I stop it? My eyes tried to communicate with my reflection, trying to tell it that everything would be okay. I rubbed my eyes and sighed. I was probably putting too much thought into this. Maybe the whole thing with Jacob was a coincidence. Maybe that was just a stupid dream. Then, I smelt something burning.
I flashed my eyes open and found myself in the middle of a burnt field. Ashes blew in the wind, running into dead, burnt trees. The dust made a fog-like substance out in the distance, making it almost impossible to see past it.
“Oh, God. Not again,” I said, looking around. I couldn’t move again. I was forced to stay there.
It was dead silent. The only thing I heard was the wind blowing. Just like the other dream. I tried calling out, but nothing happened. I couldn’t talk either.
“NICK!” The sudden shriek filled the whole, empty field in an instant. My heart jolted in surprise. That’s when a body came flying through the fog-like substance and landed a few yards ahead of me. Then came another, running to the other. This one looked familiar. It was the girl from the dream before.
“Oh, God... Nick?” she said as she knelt down next to him. She lifted his head up and I saw his face. It really was Nick, seeming more helpless than a human possibly could. A long, deep cut rode across his face, letting blood seep through. He had one black eye, and was covered in soot.
Out in the fog-like substance, a flash of blue light would appear every few seconds. The sound of electricity followed it. After a while, it stopped. Then it was silent.
The girl looked over her shoulder, breathing hard and sweating. The sweat would pick up some soot and have it flow down her face with it.
“Luke?” she sobbed out. No reply. “L… Luke!” The outline of a figure appeared, walking towards the girl and Nick. She got up and started to back away. More sobs started to come, sending tears down her face and trembles down her body. “Please... stay away.”
The outline of the figure stopped, watching the girl. Then it raised its hand and the girl grabbed for her neck, as if she was getting choked. Her feet started to flail, but she didn’t fall. Something was holding her up.
Then the sickening sound of her neck snapping echoed throughout the field and her body flinched, but stopped right after. Her body went limp, and she fell to the ground. The figure stepped out from the fog. He wore a hoodie, covering his face. The man pushed his hand out in front of him. The body of the girl went flying and disappeared in the fog.
“Oh, Nick,” the man said. “You could’ve stopped this. This didn’t have to happen.” He started walking over to Nick, but Nick didn’t react. He didn’t even move. The man kept walking until he got right at Nick’s feet. He reached down and grabbed Nick by the hair and lifted him up to his knees. Nick slowly looked up at him, weak and angry.
“This... this had to happen. No… no matter how much we didn’t want it to,” Nick said. The man let go of Nick’s hair. Nick looked down at the ground, as if he had given up.
The man pulled a pistol out from his pocket. Nick looked at it and gave a weak smile.
“You can’t kill me with that.”
“What? I can’t simply shoot you in the skull and kill you? You may be able to create fire out of thin-air, Nick. But you are not invincible.” The man rested the barrel of the gun on Nick’s forehead. Nick’s smile faded quickly, but he seemed to accept it. He just gave up.
“You can kill me. But, I know, people will stop you. People will see what you are." Nick started to tremble. The man laughed more.
“The people are too afraid to come for me! They just won't accept what their world is coming to. You'd really leave it up to them to stop me?"
Nick smirked and butted the barrel of the gun with his forehead.
“You betcha.”
The crack of the gun made my heart jolt as it sent a bullet into Nick’s head. Nick fell to the ground, lifeless and limp. Ash was sent into the air as his body landed.
I stared in awe. I had really just seen that. The man put the gun back in his pocket and stared at Nick for a few seconds. Then, he looked back. At me.
“You know, Joshua,” he said. “People like me can tell when you’re here.” He laughed as he walked in my direction. "Don't worry. I won't have to introduce myself to you. Fact is... we've already met."
Before I could even think of something, the man lifted his hand towards me and a huge force pushed me back. Before I knew it, I was flying back in the endless fog of ash. I landed on the ground with a huge thud. But I was now back on my bedroom floor. I jolted up in fear, feeling the sweat drip down my face. I was back to my life. But I knew it wouldn’t be that long until it all happened again.