DARK DREAMS
A Collection of Short Stories by David Dreher
Hello fellow horror fans, thanks for taking the time to read this small collection of some of my work. What follows is a sampling, a taste test if you will of some of my writing. Included are two very short stories, mere ideas really that have sprouted from my often muddled but always active mind and one longer, more complete piece that I’m hoping you will find yourself enjoying.
The Road Less Traveled
To say that New Mexico highway 103 was a lightly traveled road would be giving it way more credit then it was due. A two-lane ribbon of black top cutting a swath through the sand and heat of the New Mexico dessert it was a road taken mainly by locals and the occasional adventurous traveler.
Zeke was one such traveler. He thrived on always taking the off road, the road less traveled, and loved to spend family gatherings telling anyone who would listen about the quiet little restaurant he found in the woods of Vermont or the little old lady selling strawberries in Ohio or the amazing coffee he found in an out of the way town in North Dakota. This was his first visit to the desert southwest and he found it stark bareness to be as shocking as it was beautiful. The heat could make your skin feel like it was melting, whomever came up with the adage “it’s a dry heat” must had been part camel, as far as Zeke was concerned, it was just plain old hot.
Route 303 ran a crooked path right through the heart of New Mexico taking a scenic tour of duty “as the crow flies” like Zeke’s dad used to love to say. This particular Thursday started out like any other when Zeke was traveling, up early and a quick scout around town to find a quant diner or out of the way restaurant then a sampling of the local cuisine followed by a leisurely walk around the immediate area taking in the sights, sounds and smells of his surroundings.
Once happy that he has seen all the was to see it was back in the car for a day of driving and searching for the next out of the way location.
And that leads us to right now with Zeke lying face up in the sandy dirt, the sun beating down on his already reddening flesh. He couldn’t feel his legs – he knew there were there, he could sense their weight but he had no “sensation” of them still being attached. He opens his eyes only being able to manage s thin squint as the unforgiving sun all but blinds him. His confused mind struggles to make sense of the current situation but unlike his legs his mind does slowly begin to feel the memories of what has led to this.
He had forgotten rule 3 in his rules for traveling off the beaten path, rule 1 was always fuel up if there is a gas station in sight, rule 2 was always have at least 6 bottles of water in the car all the time and rule 3, the one he broke and has led to this was always use the bathroom before hitting the road, even if you didn’t feel like you had to, give it a shot because you never knew when you might find working plumbing. It was actually kind of surprising how much of the U.S. still didn’t have working plumbing.
As he was heading west on 303 he feels the first signs that a pit stop was going to have to occur, he was able to ignore it for about 30 miles but sooner or later Mother Nature always wins and he began looking for a spot with enough coverage that he could sneak behind a bush and do what needed done. He came to a clearing with wider berms then most and pulled off, a lot of small bush sized plants dotted the right hand side but nothing big enough to hide behind, he looks left, across the street and notices a row of higher tree-size growths that would much more suit his needs. A quick glance forward and back reveals no one is sight so Zeke pulls his white Chevy across to the other side of the street and exits, stretching as he stands. The urge is strong now so he leans back in, grabs his keys and steps into the sandy dirt in which he will soon be lying. It’s about 20 steps to the tree line and he steals a quick glance back to make sure that the road is still empty, it is. It has been for most of the day and as Zeke unzips to take car of business he thinks back and can only remember actually passing about half a dozen vehicles since turning down Route 303. He finishes and steps back to zip up and that’s when he remembers feeling the bite, right above the ankle at first just a slight sting but it quickly grows into a hot burning ember that rapidly shots up his leg. He tries to turn and run but only the right leg wants to listen, the left leg has left this world already and the burning sensation is beginning to spread across his backside. Fear strike and strikes hard, what the hell had bit him? A snake, a scorpion, he knew better then to wonder off the road into the wild, what was going on? The whole world spun once, quickly and then all was black until just a few minutes ago when he awoke.
If he lifted his head as far as he could manage he could see the very top of the roof of his ride over the top of ground, he could see the ribbons of heat rising off the metal. He listens intently for any sign of on coming traffic trying to derive a plan for dragging himself back to the car; he had to get out of this sun. If the bite didn’t kill him the sun was surely going too.
He knows he shouldn’t but his body is telling him to rest and right now the body is winning the battle of wills, his mind says crawl, drag yourself, get out of the heat but his body is saying “no rest, just close your eyes for a few minutes.” The body wins and Zeke closes his eyes.
Out on the street the white Chevy sits, the ribbons of heat make it look like it’s a wavering surrender flag just waiting for someone to claim it.
ISeen It
Jeremy reaches into his right hand pants pocket to grab his IPhone, instead he grabs air. He withdraws his hand and pats the outside of his pocket as if maybe he was somehow missing the rather bulky item in that cramp little space. He proceeds to pat his other pockets, even his back pockets; his wallet is in place but no phone.
“Ugh!” he exclaims, he means it to be an internal expression but it comes out audible.
The pulsing lights stop their silent dance and Jeremy’s breath catches in his throat and he realizes he is holding it when he starts to get a little light headed. He slowly inhales through his nose. Had he dropped his phone? Was it somewhere nearby on the ground? Had he even picked it up when he left the house? He had no clue but he sure wished he could remember because nobody was going to believe this, they probably wouldn’t believe it even if he had pictures or a video.
The lights are still not moving; they haven’t since they sensed Jeremy but they were beginning to change colors, it was subtle at least at first but there was no denying that the light green color that had been lighting Jeremy and the nearby trees was slowly turning red and for some reason this concerned Jeremy, he feels fear begin to clutch his insides.
Everything in his body is telling him to get out of there, turn and run for the nearby trees but he doesn’t move, instead he stands transfixed by the lights which have now turned blood red and are beginning to once again pulse and dance. Jeremy takes a very slow, very cautious, very small step backwards moving in slow motion attempting to not call any attention to his presence. He stands completely still again first scanning around for the phone and then turning his attention back to the lights to see if they have changed in any way, still red, still dancing, no apparent change.
Jeremy repeats these steps inching ever closer to the tree line and what he hopes will be cover and safety. With each backwards step he spends a few seconds searching the ground for his phone. A quick look over his shoulder reveals the tree line to be less then five feet away and Jeremy again fights the urge to just dive for cover. The lights continue their beautiful, hypnotic dance and Jeremy continues his slow, methodic retreat. He lifts his right leg, small step backwards,
CRUNCH!!
The lights stop! Jeremy empties his bladder! Instinct tells him to hit the ground and he finds himself lying in his own dampness covering his head with his arms. The ground begins to vibrate and the air becomes electric. The same instinct that told him to hit the ground is now telling him to get up and get out. Jeremy moves his hands from his head and pushes off the ground hard, his left hand hits something and he realizes it’s his IPhone; he had stepped on his IPhone! He grabs it and runs. He thinks if he can just make it to the tress he might just make it out. As he runs he instinctively hits the camera button on his phone and as he makes it to the assumed safety of the trees he raises the camera phone above his head and the flash bounces off the vibrating leaves.
Dark Dreams
1.
George was no ones fool.
He was a smart man and not just book smart. He “had game” as the students at school would say. He wasn’t sure that he knew exactly what that meant but he took it to mean he was on the ball, ahead of the curve. He didn’t know the new “lingo” but he knew how to read people and that was what it seemed to mean.
He didn’t consider himself “stuffy” or “predictable” but if he was honest with himself, he was. Middle age had kind of snuck up on him and what had started out as just a few year gig as a substitute teacher has turned into a 30-year teaching career. Funny how time has that way of just slipping past.
As he sits in the front room of his rented townhouse he finds his mind wandering back to his childhood. He’s in his bedroom, he’s eight and mom and dad have tucked him in for the night. Sleep is heavy in his eyes and he is just about to drift off when he hears it, a slow but steady growl.
His eyes fly open wide and he sits bolt upright, he had dozed off and the room was beginning to grow dark with the oncoming night. Quickly George reaches over and flicks on the light on the stand next to the recliner. Light quickly chases away the threatening darkness.
It has been years since he had one of those dreams, what mom used to call the Dark Dreams he remembers.
Some folks call them Night Terrors or just plain old bad dreams but to George they had been all too real. It took years of special doctors and it cost his parents their marriage but suddenly in the summer of his tenth year the Dark Dreams had just stopped. Sitting there in the chair in his rented townhouse George realized that he hadn’t thought about them in decades and it troubled him that he was thinking about them now.
After a tremendous dinner of frozen Salisbury Steak and box mashed potatoes George hit the shower and switched on the TV to watch the Thursday night ball game, Cleveland vs. Pittsburgh – don’t get a much better rivalry then that. Within a half hour he has completely forgotten about the return of the Dark Dreams.
Sleep came easily and morning came even quicker but George found getting into the daily grind to be the best medicine and the month of November wound up being a great one indeed. Not only did things at work go well but also unexpectedly George found himself a girlfriend. Much like many things in his life, it happened unexpectedly and rocked his world.
Janet was his complete opposite in just about every way. Outgoing, witty and full of life she lit up any situation she involved herself in. When he first sighted her across the sparsely furnished hotel ballroom he thought how she seemed to be emitting some kind of energy that was all but overpowering everything else around her.
The cliché is very overused but “love at first sight” are the only words that even remotely relate Georges’ emotion.
If someone had told him that a mere 5 weeks later he would not only be on a date but one a date with her, he would have laughed in their face but that didn’t change the fact that his life had taken an unexpected but very welcome turn into uncharted territories for him but he as forging ahead full steam and wasn’t going to take no for an answer. It was time that George Lambert got what was due him.
The next few weeks had been the best of his adult life. George had always known professional success; he was great at his job, one of the best teachers in the county and he knew it. He didn’t flaunt it though, he like to stay “under the radar”, wasn’t one to draw unwanted attention to himself. But this was something new; he had never really shared himself with anyone, not sexually, not emotionally, not at all.
Janet changed all that. Like a warm front that pushes away the last bit of winter’s chill Janet brought out a side of George that had always been there but for whatever reason he had just never let rise to the surface and he found that he liked “in love” George, he liked him just fine.
With the coming spring the weather outside was finally beginning to mirror the way that George felt. The wind carried the hint of things to come as the smell of grass and fresh young flowers and George started his day feeling much like a different person.
Tonight was going to be a special night, he couldn’t believe it but tonight was the night he was going to pop the question, he was going to ask Janet to be his better half and he was scared out of his mind.
He is standing in his bedroom, the very room in which he first found himself in the arms of Janet not quite believing what was happening yet relishing every second of their lovemaking. He stands there alone this time but every bit as naked as that first night they shared. He looks deep into the mirror and silently asks himself if he has just maybe lost his damn mind.
When the lights flashed off, he didn’t even flinch.
He stood motionless still staring at the mirror and he knew that one of two things had just happened.
Hoping for the best George sneaks a peek out of the bedroom window to see if the rest of the neighborhood is blanketed in the same darkness as he. He could see the neighbor’s TV flashing in the window not 35 feet from where he stood and a little further down the road Winebow Streets lone street lamp stood fighting off the pressing darkness. So much for the power outage theory, he thinks to himself.
Could only be one other thing then, he knew the power bill was up to date so it had to be a fuse. He had been meaning to complain to the landlord about the antiquated electric.
Who the hell uses fuses anymore? That settled, first thing Monday the call was going into the landlord but for now it looked like a trip the “the room” was in order.
That was his name for the spot, really nothing more than a cubby hole, that housed the townhouses water heater, small gas furnace and yes, the fuse boxes.
George went to the spot where he kept the flashlights, in the cupboard directly above the oven. Reaching blindly he grabs nothing but air.
“Shit, it never fails,” he says to himself.
Just like dad used to accuse him of, he never put anything back after he used it and once again it was going to bite him in the ass.
A quick check to the top of the fridge yielded a box of strike anywhere matches and a handful of pennies. He drops the pennies back to the fridge and fumbles a bit lighting one of the matches. The small bit of light it granted provided just enough illumination to keep him from walking into anything but not much else. It was going to have to do though; it was all he had to work with. It took four matches to work his way to “the room” and he was contemplating how he was going to hold a match and change a fuse at the same time when the cold hand reached out of the darkness and grabbed his wrist.
He waits to wake from what most surely be another dream yet the more he tries to force himself back to reality, the tighter the grip around his wrist becomes. He can now hear the low guttural growl that he remembers from his childhood.
“What are you? Why are you back? Why now?” he screams and the sound reverberates around the small concrete room startling him almost as much as the cold grasp around his wrist.
“What do you want from me?” he demands.
The grip is still tight and his head begins to swim a bit, partly from fear, mainly from the adrenaline. “Don’t pass out, don’t pass out!” he tell himself, “who knows what this thing will do to me if I’m unconscious.”
His little pep talk to himself does no good and he feels his knees beginning to give way beneath him. His last conscious thought is “Oh shit!” then the world goes silent.
2.
Ding-dong!
Silence.
Knock, knock, and knock.
Silence.
Ding-dong, Ding, dong, Ding-dong.
Crash.
These are the sounds that welcome George back to the world of light and sound. He senses movement, hears voices and as he comes around he sees the face of Janet, concerned and sad.
“George, George, can you hear me? What happened?” Her voice sings.
It is at this moment that George realizes he is bare ass naked; it’s a sudden realization and it comes at the same time he sees the men huddled around him. Confusion quickly dissolves into embarrassment and he drops his hands to hide his privates. The EMS technicians will have none of that and they grab his arms and place them at his side.
George remembers the icy grip in “the room.” He decides to keep this info to himself.
“Janet, what the hell is going on?” he mutters.
“Apparently you had some kind of…. episode.” She explains. “The neighbors called 911 said they heard you screaming like a madman.”
The whole fiasco was coming back. Slowly.
“How did you get here?” he asks, the confusion still clouding his mind.
“Baby, don’t you remember? We were going out tonight. I pulled up out side to pick you up right as the squad pulled up, scared the crap out of me.”
That’s right! He was getting dressed when the lights went out, he remembers looking at himself in the mirror. He considers asking who changed the fuse and how the hell did he get back into the bedroom but decides these are question he might be better off finding the answers to himself.
Instead he asks, “Did I hit my head or something?”
“Let the firemen look at you baby, they’ll figure out what happened.” Concern lines her face.
“Can I at least put some shorts on or something? I’m a little freaked out not having any clothes on.” He honestly states.
“I’m sorry baby, they don’t want you moving. Let me go grab a blanket or something.” She stands and leaves his field of vision. A few moments later he feels his the warmth of a blanket covering his nakedness. He relaxes a bit.
It feels like hours but in actuality it is only about 20 minutes or so till the EMS crew proclaims him fine. They ask if he would like to be transported to the ER and he refuses. They inform him he should make an appointment with his regular doctor, it’s not normal for a healthy man to just suddenly loss consciousness and he should be looked at.
George promises he will and Janet confirms that if he doesn’t, she will. He signs a few slips of paper and he and Janet are alone.
3.
She wasn’t going to let it go. He knew it but he also knew that the truth could end what had been some of the best weeks of his life. He hears her talking but the internal dialogue he is having with himself has his attention. He makes the decision that regardless of what she thinks he is not going to lie to her. Not now, not ever and so he begins explaining what had just occurred.
To her credit she listens without comment, he registers no shock in her expression, no fear in her gaze. She doesn’t get up and grab he purse and run out the door, nope none of that. She listens intently and when he finishes spilling his guts she leans in close and kisses his nose.
“Darling, sometimes peoples childhoods haunt them there whole lives, I could tell you tales of friends I had that would curl your hair. We all have our trials and tribulations and I am touched that you trust me enough to tell me about yours. It’s special.”
George wasn’t sure about it being special but he was relieved that Janet hadn’t laughed at him or worse yet just called him a kook and up and left.
Truth be told, he was scared.
What the hell had caused all this to start up again? It had been decades since the Dark Dreams had haunted his life. Why now, just when things were starting to come together?
He had no answers, only questions but he intended to approach things differently this time. No doctors, no tests. Whatever had stopped these attacks before had nothing to do with them or the medicines they had prescribed.
This time around he was going to arm himself with knowledge and when (if) the Dark Dreams ending this time they would be gone for good. He owed it to himself. The dreams had broke apart his family when he was young but he would be damned if they were going to threaten his chance at happiness as an adult.
“You want a cup of tea?” Janet asked, breaking the elongated silence.
“Janet, you know I love you, right? You know that you have changed my life and I can’t imagine going on without you beside me?” He raises himself on his elbow and looks Janet into his eyes.
Janet’s eyes have begun to tear and she reaches out and lightly touches his face.
“I’m going to need your help.” He continues, looking her straight in the eyes. “I want your help in stopping the Dark Dreams, that’s what my mother called them, Dark Dreams, and the only way I can beat them is if you’re with me.”
She doesn’t speak but instead pulls George close and he relishes in her warmth and confidence.
