Brema Sonaj quickly jerked up sweat soaking her through. Breathing heavily she got out of her bed shakily and made her way into the bathroom across the hall. She had had that dream again, the one with him. She shook her head and pushed back her dirty blonde bangs peering at her spring green eyes. Her pupils slowly went back to normal. She breathed deeply and went back into her room. Sitting on the bed she put her head in her hands and took a couple more deep breaths. Once she was calm she dared to glance at the clock. 6:30a.m. it read. ‘Oh well’ she thought. ‘Might as well get up…’

As she made her way downstairs she could smell Mom’s morning coffee. She never got up early enough to see her mom in the morning before she left for work. It was nice for a chance, even if it was because of that dream.

“Brema, you’re up early!” Mom remarked.

“Yeah…” she replied.

“You didn’t have that dream again did you?”

Brema shifted around uncomfortably.

“You DID have that dream! Brema! Maybe you SHOULD go to bed earlier.”

“Mom, it’s not that, I don’t know WHY I’m having that dream it just keeps happening.”

“Well I don’t like it.” Mom replied, “I don’t like it one bit! You’re always tired just look at those dark circles under your eyes! Do we need to go to the doctor?”

“Mom, I AM FINE, it’s just a dream, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” Brema tried.

“How can I NOT worry? You’re my daughter Brema and I worry about you no matter what. Especially if you’re having these dreams, you know, I HAD almost the exact same dream when I was your age.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that before?”

“Before? Oh, you mean when you had this dream for the first time when you were four? You were too young, and it scared me to see you have the dream so often. Starting younger than even I did, now that you’re seventeen I think you’re ready to know.”

“Ready to know WHAT Mom, that you had ALMOST the same dream as me? Wow, I guess I couldn’t have known that at four it would’ve been too much!” Brema remarked sarcastically.

“No Brema.” Mom said sounded annoyed. “I mean what the dream caused, what happens because of the dream…”

“OK Mom maybe it is too early, even for you.” Brema joked.

“Brema, I’m serious, I think you need to know.” Mom replied.

“OK Mom, go for it I’m all ears.” Brema stifled a laugh. Maybe she was still dreaming…

“Well first, I’m going to tell you the dream.”

“Mom,” Brema groaned. “I think I know the dream.”

“Brema, it is all important so I’m going to need you to be patient and listen.”

“Fine…” Brema sighed. “I better sit down for this.” She moved to the small kitchen breakfast table and sat in the cream painted chair.

“As you know when you fall asleep the first thing that you notice is you’re in your own bed, at home, just like normal. But something doesn’t feel quite right. Something is different. Then, you realize, it’s the colors. Your bed set is normally purple here it’s yellow, your walls were white, now they’re black. The blue curtain over your window is now orange. Every color is the opposite of what it is in reality. That’s when you think ‘I must be dreaming’ Well that I’ll tell you now is wrong. You are NOT dreaming.”

At this point Brema stopped her. “What do you MEAN I’m not dreaming, Mom you’re nuts of COURSE I’m dreaming. Why else would all the colors be opposite, why else would HE be there why else…”

Mom stopped her. “All of this is what I’m trying to explain to you if you would just be patient. Now then,” she continued.

“The next thing you do is you slowly get out of bed because you think ‘this is a dream, so anything could come up’ you carefully turn your bedroom door handle and make your way down the hall. Now, here is a question for you, Brema. Have you ever looked in a mirror in your dream?”

“Only once,” Brema said shivering at the memory. “And after that never again.”

Mom thought on it a moment. “Yes I suppose for you it would be disturbing… with all the colors opposite mine wasn’t so bad. My hair was pure white and my eyes were a rich orange. For you I suppose you saw yourself with purple hair and red eyes. Yeah, if I were you I wouldn’t have looked in the mirror again either.

“Anyways, you make your way downstairs, and for some reason outside. Onto red grass under an orange sky, sometimes dotted with black clouds. And there is a man there, he turns towards you and his eyes are white inside of black his lips are a rich blue, his hair a bright green.”

Brema shivered at the memory this was the part she hated most.

“He pulls you towards him with those eyes the first time you have the dream he says “Ah, I’ve been waiting for you…” And after that he always remarks, “Back again are we?” You seem to drown in his eyes and then you bolt awake covered in sweat and breathing hard. This is not a dream Brema. I wondered if it would be passed down from me to you. I was uncertain I thought perhaps it was only my own nightmare. However, I chose to ignore the task, so now it seems it has been passed down to you.

“You alone can stop the dreams from coming. Stop him from bringing you to his world. It’s not a dream Brema, but the world that you think is your reality is”

Brema Sonaj quickly jerked up sweat soaking her through. Her sheets were yellow, the walls were black and this was her reality.