Strange Happenings
Midnight. They always came at midnight. The chimes from the old grandfather clock in the den jolted Daniel out of his restless dreams. It wasn't the chimes that woke him so much as the knowledge that They were coming. It was the same horrifying ritual, every single night.
The room was illuminated by an eerie pale green glow. Three figures in haz-mat suits stood around his bed. One of them held a large briefcase, another held a gun, and the third--the apparent leader, from the way he acted--was making entries into a large handheld computer. Daniel tried to escape, to run, to even move, but some unseen force held him in place, as immobile as the bed itself. The leader looked up from his computer and signaled to the one holding the briefcase, who set the case down and began to open it. Daniel strained to see its contents, but couldn't from his position. If only he could move...
The leader reached forward, grabbed the bedcovers and--
The shrill blast of Daniel's alarm clock filled the room. He'd had that dream again, the same one he'd been having every night for nearly a month. Except that it didn't feel like a normal dream. It felt more like a memory, but one that had been partially forgotten. Anyway, Dan had more important things to worry about, so he pushed whatever it was aside for the moment. Today was the last day of school, finally. All he had to do was survive his last few final exams, and he'd be home free. He wasn't about to let a creepy dream get him down.
***
Dr. DiCaoz glanced over his biology classroom. "Is anybody still working on the final?" he asked tiredly. He paused for a moment, then said, "If everybody is finished, you may talk quietly amongst yourselves for the remainder of the period." As the class erupted in chatter, he went back to nursing his hangover.
Daniel loved his biology class. It wasn't just that he was good at it, or that it was the last class of the day. By some bit of luck or fate, he happened to be in the same class as his four closest friends, Gassan, David, Pammy, and Jake. Gassan, David, and Pammy had become absurdly popular since coming to high school. Gassan was Lebanese and therefore "exotic," David was a star swimmer, and Pammy was a cheerleader. In retrospect, popularity was an inevitability. To the other popular kids, Jake an avid follower of the Furry subculture (he called it a craze, but nobody else did) and Daniel, the introspective writer, were social liabilities. Still, Gassan, David, and Pam never let their newfound "friends" keep them away from Jake and Dan. Privately, Daniel was grateful that he had managed to befriend the four people who appeared to be immune to high school drama.
"So, what'd you guys think?" Pammy whispered.
"I'm pretty sure Dr. Di is a nutcase," Gassan answered quickly. He was met with a chorus of approval from his companions.
"Anyway," Pam continued, "are we having our annual Thank-God-The-Schoolyear's-Over party tonight?"
"I can't go," Jake said, "I've got a convention."
"I can't go either," said David, "My dad's taking me camping. He's on a back-to-nature kick."
"I'm visiting my grandma," Gassan said. Pammy rolled her eyes.
"Alright," she sighed, "when do you guys get back?"
"Sunday"
"Sunday evening"
"Sunday, but it'll be late."
"So," Pammy continued, "is Monday night alright with everyone?"
***
The days passed quickly. By the time Monday arrived, he had gone an entire weekend without his mysterious dreams. He was mostly relieved, but part of him wished the visitors would come back so he could find out what they were up to.
The streets were charged with an eerie calm. A summer storm was coming. As Daniel reached Pam's door, he couldn't help but feel a strange foreboding. Something was decidedly wrong. He rang the bell.
"Come in," called Pammy. Dan opened the door and found friend sitting on the floor in a tidy circle. They were all staring at him, an unsettling hunger in their eyes. "We are playing Truth or Dare," Pammy intoned mechanically. "Please, join us. Truth or Dare?"
"Please choose Dare," Gassan said, in the same unearthly voice.
"The Truth is never any fun," agreed David, still in the same tone. Throughout the exchange, none of the four took their eyes off of Daniel.
"Is everything alright?" he asked. "You all seem...different."
Pammy answered in the same monotone as before: "We are collectively unnerved at a series of recurring dreams we have been having. Perhaps you too are experiencing these visions?"
"Yeah," Dan said, "but I'm not acting that weird about it."
"Perhaps," Pammy said, "All will be made more clear if you answer this simple question: Truth...or Dare?"
Written by Zodiac on 31 May 2008
Dreams
Normally people wake up from falling in dreams, right?
Daniel contemplated that thought while watching the island approaching below. It was his only real sense of motion. This land mass rapidly taking up his vision seemed to be afloat in a black void of nothingness. Daniel could not even feel air rushing against his body. Something that usually came with terminal velocity.
He had little time to question the capacity to breath for that matter. Daniel barely missed a cluster of palm trees as he shot past. The ground remained only a few moments away from embracing Daniel.
It took a few more moments for Daniel to realize he was not going to go splat. There had been no jerking stop of motion, or even a sense of deceleration. It was almost like the island had been moving to match up with him.
Assuming being left suspended four inches in the air was synchronisation. Daniel sighed, working up the courage to try kicking the air. That surprisingly worked, sending him in a slight spin before settling both feet on sandy ground. Gravity finally took hold then to keep him from leaping back off into space or something.
The island surrounding Daniel looked fairly nice, if a bit void of sensations. He could not even feel the bark of the tropical trees when touched one. Definitely the signs of a dream at least.
Especially when Daniel saw them again, as expected. Technically he could not see-see them. Daniel just had that gut feeling after putting up with this for so long. As far back as he remembered they always came without fail every night. The forms might tend to change sometimes but he was sure the shadows peeking out behind the trees were for him. Shapes only lingered outside the corner of Daniel's eyes, vanishing the second he turned to face them.
"What is it this time!?" He tried to cry to the void. Great, not even sound registered to his senses in this place.
Written by DesmondFallout on 03 July 2018
Bonk
BONK!
Apparently someone could hear him, unless random electronics falling from the sky was a regular occurence. Not to mention pain was something dream rules seemed to have conveniently forgotten. Once Daniel was done rubbing his head uttering every curse he knew, he stooped to pick up what had fallen. It was a pretty small, plastic toy that fit easily into his hand. The face had a very simple eight-bit screen and several buttons around it. There was even a belt clip attached to the top.
Did they seriously just throw a childrens toy at him?
*
They were not about to elaborate on their intentions with this device either, just continuing to hide behind trees like Daniel was unaware of their presence. Daniel was fine with that. The times when they were a lot more up close and intrusive were the really disturbing dreams. This was almost a relaxing change of pace.
Until he started randomly pushing buttons. Each one gave off a short beep that caused the little screen to flash a different color. Blue, red, yellow, purple, pink, Daniel found himself starting to get fascinated with the different color combinations he could make out of this. It was not like he had anything else to do.
BZZZTTTTTTTT!!
Written by DesmondFallout on 13 July 2018
Awake
He almost dropped the device when after one random combination cause the device to vibrate violently. The beeping became replaced by a shrill static noise, not unlike a classic dial-up signal.
It was probably that signal which opened an ominous swirling portals in front of Daniel. His jaw dropped in wonder at this strange twist to an already surreal dream. But that surprise was nothing compared to the black silhouette that began to take shape.
Whoever, whatever, this form was certainly flaunted its hourglass figure well. Large womanly hip bumped hard with each slow step it took towards him. Equally large breasts could be seen shifting along in the portals bright backdrop. But it was the sight of large pointed ears and a thick tail that told Daniel she was far from human.
Unfortunately the perspective of directly facing the portal made it hard for Daniel to discern her exact distance to him. Not until she stopped to reach out for his face. Her hand horrified Daniel with its monstrous three fingers. Sharp claws flashed in the light bearing down on his eyes.
Daniel promptly shot up in bed in a cold sweat. His chest puffed rapidly to his labored pants, slowing as he took in the familiar comforts of his own room. It was just another dream. Another awkward incident of 'them' tormenting everything about his existence. These stupid visits would be a lot less stressful if it was ever clear what they wanted with an average joe.
Moving to wipe perspiration from his forehead almost knocked Daniel back out. He had been so lost in his thoughts that it never registered the strange plastic device was still gripped tightly in his hand.
A hand that was composed of only three thick fingers, coated in white fur and tipped with sharp claws.
Written by DesmondFallout on 17 July 2018