The Dream Catcher 😂🌃

---

---

He woke up with a start. Beads of sweat were rolling off his back, face and chest which was rising up and down in tune with his fast beating heart.
It was the same dream again, the dream that had troubled his sleep for 3 months running;

Being chased by a mob of monsters through a long tunnel. With each monster more devilish and scary looking than the next.
He ran for a while, entering the tunnel willingly in his haste to escape the beasts. After what seemed like hours of running, he still couldn't come out the other end of the tunnel.
The eyes of the tunnel both from the point where he entered and where he was meant to come out from had disappeared, leaving him in total darkness. The only seemingly good news was that the noise of the monsters had died down.
He sat in total darkness, wondering which way to go, yet just as he was about to make a decision, he heard the clattering of four legs running forward.
Before he could turn around and warn the people around him, the monster had burst through ones belly and-

Then he woke up. The dream was always fairly the same, minus some differing situations; like the tunnel that was here this night, yesterday night it was over a campfire when the one monster mauled him and the day before he was in a club then the light went out and came back on with everyone on the dancefloor dead, blood splashed everywhere and he was facing the lone wolf who killed them all.

The one thing to note is that the main defining settings of this dream is unparalleled thick darkness, a crowd to be massacred and the beast that'll do the massacring.
Now that Kevin had all this info he had steeled his mind on what he was going to do.
He ran to the house which he had the address memorized, cross checking and switching lanes, running past and around it twice, all in an effort to throw off any possible tails.

After almost thirty mins of walking through and setting diversions. Kevin finally knocked on the door of the house which masked The Secret Bureau of Dreams and Dreamfare.
"Password?", A voice behind the wooden looking reinforced solid iron door asked Kelvin.
The demand for an extra level of security from him annoyed him as he stood staring at the question while still breathing for air.
Surely they knew he was coming because he informed them and they would have seen him pass the house multiple times in his tail removal practice.
Yet Kelvin knew there was no need to argue with these people because without a password, even if he was the President, he wasn't going to be allowed in.

After a few more moments of silent war against the question, Kelvin relented. With a sigh of defeat, held his finger on the button and spoke the phrase into the Intercom System.
"Dreams do not die..." Then he paused for the responding phrase.
"...only fulfilled or..."
"Forgotten." Kelvin completed.
There was a series of clicks and clacks, sounds of numerous bolts and locks unlocking, then the clanking of chains and the steel bars being rolled aside before the steel door opened.
Kevin walked away from the residential frontage into a military base interior, the change of views was always disorientating, but this time he didn't even have the privilege to lean on the walls and get his bearings.
"I heard you've gotten the clues." Dr Casper said, running up to meet him from the lab.

Soon Kevin was strapped to a bed and ready to be put to sleep.
"This is wonderful, simply wonderful." Dr Casper said, poring over the brief note I made of my findings in the dream.
"Never has anybody been so detailed in their dreams before." He said with so much joy on his puffy face.
He motioned me over and asked about the drawing.
"I thought you said the monster changes shape at times?"
"It does." I answered, chills going through my body at the sheer thought of what I was about to do.
"Although the shape changes, its general size and depiction is the same, same with its eyes, a bright red." I explained.
"So it normally looks like this?" He asks, pointing at the image.
"Yes. A weird mix between a wolverine and a gargoyle; sharp teeth, strong jaws and bright red eyes. Sometimes there are wings."
"Terrifying." He exclaimed but his eyes and grin showed a different expression.
I paid it no mind, steadying my heart rate and stealing my mind for what was to come.

There was no end to the long line of people who had conquered their fears and taken the bull by the horns yet how was I supposed to conquer a dream?

I heard the door shut and soon I was alone in the room.
"Okay Kevin, we're about to start the simulation now." Dr Casper's voice sounded through the speaker in the airtight lab.
"The room is currently being filled with knockout gas and soon you'll be fast asleep." Truly, I was already feeling light headed, a symptom of sleep confirmed with a yawn.
"I need you to know, we're only putting you in a state where you can freely battle your dream. You'd take part in it but be a free player. Killing the monster is the only sure way of stopping the recurring nightmare." I nodded slightly, the gas already in my system and doing its work.
"The folks around here with some playful creativity in them call it Dream Catching, Goodluck Dream Catcher."

I opened my eyes and saw darkness.
A darkness so deep that I couldn't see my hand a few centimeters from my face.
A scream and ghastly roar made me quickly gather my bearings.
I was now in my dream, and since I wasn't running, it meant that I was free to act however.
The reality of it gave me a boost of confidence as I ran straight in the direction of the scream.
I soon came out of the tunnel and onto a clearing. The fact that I forcefully entered the dream this time must have made me more vulnerable to the sight I saw.
The bodies strewn about were no more than lumps of meat.
I screamed as I walked and something squished under my feet.
A stupid mistake on my part as the trees bristled then parted and the beast came out slowly.
Its size was what first told me something was wrong. Instead of a wolverine sized animal, I was looking at a mammoth size, with saber teeth, and a roar that made my ears pop.
Looking closer I noticed some oddities too; firstly there were never this many people in any of my dreams, nor was there ever a clearing like this.
Looking at the sky and my fears were confirmed.
Never was there any moon or stars, but now there was a crescent moon with a mouth and blood drooling down the sides of it.

The beast roared again and turned to jelly. This was just too much. Even when it was a wolverine sized beast, I had troubles thinking of how to beat it, plus I was meant to be sent back to an old dream.
Yet here I was, facing an entirely new monster, in an entirely new environment, in an entirely new dream.
My thoughts were a mess, my breathing was erratic, I tried stepping backwards but I slipped and landed on my bum.
A new thought came which silenced all others with its gravity and seriousness.

With all of these new variables, what would happen if I lose to this beast in this new dream.

It was a brief question asked by my mind, yet it seemed reality was urgently waiting to dish out the answer, because immediately I slipped, the beast attacked.

• _{This story was built using the Inkwell Weekly Fiction Prompt Dream Catcher and the @leo.tasks #inleo #aprilinleo monthly prompt for Day 14 Dreams}
• _{Image Created Using Canva}

_{My Instagram page.}

Posted Using InLeo Alpha