Nightmare

A little girl sat restlessly in an uncomfortable chair. She didn't like her dress. She was drawing in a sketchbook, bored. She wasn't sure if she liked drawing but she drew anyway. That was the only thing she was allowed to do.
A man wearing an ill-fitting suit stood on the podium, speaking scary words. The girl wasn't paying attention. It was adult things.
"Shh", her Mother hushed when she coloured too hard. She tried to do it more silently.

The man should have stopped by now but he was still talking. The child's Mother poked at her to listen.
"And now", the man said. "This is what we know. The end is truly nigh. Today we must die to make it through."
The girl didn't understand why she had to listen.
A friend of her parents gave her something. It looked like candy, but the colour was sickeningly bright. She looked at it on her tiny palm.
It seemed everyone else was holding their breath. She didn't understand.

A countdown from ten.
She looked at her Mother. She had a glazed expression, a half-smile that wasn't exactly happy.
She looked over her shoulder at her Father. He looked troubled, he was holding a candy too, he stared at it as if it were a problem to be solved.
She looked around. Everyone, she'd ever known was staring transfixed at the man on the podium. He was looking at his watch.

"Now!"
Everyone around the girl raised their hands to their mouths and swallowed the too bright candy. She didn't want to. She raised her hand and tightened her little fist around the thing.

Her friend fell to the ground.
No one moved.

Her brother fell, arms flailing, foaming at the mouth. It looked like he was hurting.

One by one they all fell around her.
Her Mother, her Father, her Grandmother and Grandfather.
Her friends and cousins.
She couldn't decide if they looked more terrified or in pain.

She held the bright thing tightly.

They stopped moving.
Silence fell.
She screamed.
She ran.
She was still screaming and running when a bus driver pulled over to see why a small child was running on the highway on her own.



A little girl woke up, swallowing her sobs. Her Mother and Father were sleeping nearby. Her brother was muttering in his sleep.
Her Grandfather sneezed downstairs.
A puppy-dog came to her, licked the silent tears off her face and she hugged it's warm fur until she fell back to sleep.



Another night, another nightmare.


"Now!"
The order echoed in her little ears.
She swallowed the bright red pill without hesitation.
A moment later she couldn't breathe.
She tore at her collar, gasping for breath.
She fell and all went dark.


A teenager sat up sharply on the sofa where she had fallen asleep. She was covered in cold sweat and her heart was racing.
She got up and sneaked to her bed, quiet as a mouse.



Once more, with feeling.


"Now!"
"No!"
Her little voice echoed in the hall.
"We have to", her Mother said.
She could see her Father leaving his post.
He grabbed her in his arms and held tight. She tried to fight back but she was too weak.
"No, don't! It's bad, don't, please!" she shrieked with all her strength.
Her Mother looked at her Father, nodded, and covered her mouth with her hand.
She bit the hand, dying to live, while tears of terror streamed down her cheeks. She screamed a wordless scream as the unspeakable pain took over her body. Her Mother and Father still looking at each other, lovingly, as life escaped her.


A woman jumped up in a large bed, finally screaming, remembering all.
They were gone.
That wasn't how.
But they were all gone.
"Baby?", a soft, drowsy voice next to her asked, barely awake. "What is it?"
"Nothing", she answered. "Just an old nightmare."