Dreamscape
Prologue

May could still hear Lucas’s sister screaming. That THING had taken her! Connie was pulling Zora down the misty path by his jacket sleeve, and May was half-dragging Lucas. He was in hysterics.
“Run, Lucas!” May shouted.
“But, Allie! That thing has Allie! I can’t just leave her!”
“No!” Connie screamed behind her, “We have to get out of here! There has to be a police station or a road or something in this town! We need to find help!”
“Look! There’s a light up ahead,” Zora panted, “there’s gotta be someone who can help us.”
May looked up at the shrouded, dirt path surrounded by black trees. A faint light was illuminating the darkness, but the feeling of foreboding was stronger. As the four got closer, she could distinguish the outline of a large building, almost like a school, with lights in several of the windows.
The large iron sign that hung over the building was covered in rust, and May couldn’t make out the markings. She turned toward Lucas who, by this time, and checked out mentally, and scanned the path behind them for his sister. Zora approached quietly and led Lucas up the front steps. The girls huddled together, shaking, even though it was in the upper eighties. Zora knocked loudly and franticly enough for anyone in the building could hear  him. Suddenly, out of the darkness came a loud, chittering scream. Something not quite human, forcing the teens to huddle against the double doors of the building. May reached behind her, feeling the doorknob. –CLICK—the four of them nearly fell all over one another backward. When Connie stood up to help close the door, she started to panic. May looked down the path where Connie’s eyes were trained. A girl, no more than five, was walking toward him. She was covered in what looked like liquid fire, a walking red mass. She opened her mouth and let out the chittering scream.
“Oh my God, Connie. What the heck is that thing!” Lucas yelled, fervently trying to push the heavy steel doors closed.
“I don’t know Lucas, I don’t even know if that thing was supposed to be a part of this stuff. We need to find a safe place for a few minutes so I can look at the journal.”
Lucas advanced on Connie, pure anger in his motion. “You said this stupid book was nothing more than old urban legends. Now what? You end up reading from a book just like Ash from the EVIL DEAD series?! My sister is gone, and for all we know it was that beast you mentioned in that book. She could be dead!”
“I…I…I’m s-sorry Lucas. It’s all my fault. I made our little journey out here to be too irresistible. Now, Allie…I…I…oh God forgive me!” Connie burst into hysterics, throwing the book on the floor.
“Stop it Lucas,” Zora warned, “nothing happened with that book until we all agreed to participate in that game. That means that there’s a chance to get Allie back and find a way out of here. I’m just as much of a skeptic as you.”
May stared at Lucas, who nodded and apologized. They knew the next step was to find help, but they had to figure out what kind of building they were in. “Hey,” May pointed down the hall, “look. There’s a sign that says ADMINISTRATION up there.”
The four teens walked down the dimly hall toward a double door, and both Lucas and Zora had to push it open. “Looks like there’s people in there,” Lucas said, I can hear voices.”
“You don’t belong here.” A quiet voice crooned from behind them.
Four heads turned, and saw the red child they thought they had escaped from, standing patiently, an unnerving smile on her pale face.
“Allie is such a fun playmate,” she continued, “but I think she’s bored just playing with us…so… she asked us to come and get YOU.”
An alarm blared, May covered her ears as the mist closed in on her and her friends.

May slapped her alarm clock hard enough to knock it off the dresser. She stretched and lay back down on her bed for a moment. She hadn’t had a dream that frightening in some time. May was the type that had to be coerced into seeing a scary movie or reading scary stories. May preferred the logical approach, and as she stood in her bathroom braiding her autumn-colored hair, she knew that she was going to have to check out some source in the library about dream interpretation. Today was the last day of school after all, and she wasn’t going to miss this last opportunity to hook up with her friends and roam the halls of the high school one last time.
“Honey,” May’s mother yelled up the stairs, “I need you and Josh down here ASAP. Breakfast is getting cold.”
“Don’t let May-May eat all the pancakes mom!” Josh yelled while running toward the stairs, “She always eats the biggest ones!”
“Do so! I’m going to win!”
“Only after I win first!”
The two raced down the stairs one after the other, but something in the kitchen doorway stopped them short.
“Dad?” Josh whispered.
“Daddy? You’re home?” May choked back a sob.
“Wow,” Adam smiled, “you guys have gotten so big. Maybe we don’t need all these pancakes.”
“DADDY!!!” Two happy children threw themselves at their father whom hadn’t been seen since his tour of duty in Afghanistan seven months ago.
“Dad’s rotation is over for now, and as an extra surprise, he gets to spend all summer long at home, and even through Christmas before he deploys again.
“I wish I didn’t have school today,” May pouted.
“None of that, Princess,” Adam gently scolded, “It’s your last day before Graduation for you to hang out with your friends. Besides, you’ll be sick of me before too long.”
“Not a chance Daddy,” May kissed his cheek,” do you think you can drop me at school?”
“That’s the plan Princess.”
May smiled and sat down at the breakfast table. As she chewed slowly watching her family smile and trade silly remarks, the anxiety of her dream faded, allowing room for contentment she had missed for far too long.
Lucas, Zora, Allie and Connie were all waiting near the front steps of her high school when a black Escapade showed up. May filed out of the passenger side, and her father stepped out from behind the wheel. “Mr. Sukimo!” They all shouted, and sprinted toward the car.
“Same rag-tag bunch I see,” Adam chuckled, “I do wonder that will happen to the world when school hours no longer bind you.”
“I still have a year left.” Allie scowled.
“That needed to happen because once these four are out, someone needs to keep the peace. Lucky for you they chose the most responsible one to keep here.” Adam gently rapped Allie on the nose.
“We’re glad your back, sir,” Zora extended his hand.
“Sir, huh, are you trying to date my daughter?”
“Um, well, if she would let me, sir.” Zora replied nervously.
May looked up to the bright, cloudless, sky, “Nope, no flying pigs today, Zora, but if it helps I can sit by you at lunch time.”
“May,” Adam scolded, “be nice.”
Zora and May grinned at each other, and May gave her father a hug goodbye. All five of them watched as the Escalade left the school and then they headed into the building.
“Hey guys, I had the freakiest dream last night, and I wanted to hit the library to check out some stuff on dream interpretation. You guys wanna join me?” May asked.
“Zora and I have weight training this morning,” Lucas smiled and puffed up his chest, “can’t keep those lovely ladies across the wall in Home Ec. Waiting to see our hot bods one last time.”
“Here,” Connie said, reaching into her purse, “applying to be a medic has its perks.” She pulled out some smelling salts. “These are just in case you make too much of a good impression.”
May clapped a hand over her mouth, “Ouch. Connie, be nice. You and Allie can come with me. You’re in to that spiritual stuff.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll be nice. Besides I wanted to show you something I picked up at WIEDER’S RARE BOOKS yesterday.
The group parted ways, and found a large table near the computer station. May switched the monitor on and began to google ‘dream interpretation’. Pages and pages of possible information popped up. She briefly read through some of the content, and still couldn’t quiet her anxiety about the dream. She told both Connie and Allie about what had happened, and Allie tried to lighten the mood by dramatically groaning and saying ‘of course I’m the one that gets dragged off by some monster.’
“I’m serious, Allie. It gave me more than the creeps. It was like a thick sense of dread. I really need to figure out a way to get over my fears, and deal with things properly.” May sighed.
Connie wrapped an understanding arm around her friend, “We’ve got your back, May, we can help you through it and be there anytime you need us.”
“Thanks, Connie,” May smiled and perked up, “so, about this book.”
“Oh yeah, I almost forgot,” Connie opened her knapsack and pulled a thick, brown, hardcover journal out, plunking it on the table. The book was latched together with a large brass symbol. The relief bas was elegantly decorated, and the book itself gave off a strange feeling of being valued or cared for. “I found it in one of the back rooms of the store. The said it was part of a new shipment that had arrived after an estate sale for a family two towns over. Cool, huh.”
May stared at the book, feeling all the color drain from her face. She could feel her heart beating so hard in her ears. This had to be a mistake, she couldn’t really be looking at what she was looking at.
“May? You ok?” Allie asked, “You look like your gonna puke.”
May tore her eyes away from the book and looked at Connie.
“You were carrying this journal in my dream, Connie. This was the book that caused the nightmare.”