Lucid Dreams pt.1

I remember the night my power manifested. I woke up in my living room as I have done countless times after I fell asleep in my bed. The familiar sounds of zombies moaning through ragged voice boxes, assaulted me from beyond my front door. It was the dream. One of a few that had haunted me since I was a child. Panic set in as my door began to give away. I took a step toward my room as I always do, but this time I stopped in my tracks. I had ran to my room every time I had this dream and it never ended well, so instead, I sprinted to my kitchen. Something was different.

The fluorescent lights over my kitchen island seemed to beckon me to something that laid under their glow. I slid to a stop on my tiled floor and there was a knife and a handgun resting there. I grabbed them both wondering how this was happening. I was aware I was dreaming and I had made a decision in my dream. I controlled my actions, something I had never been able to do before.

The door burst open from the pressure of the zombies pressing against it and terror stumbled into my foyer causing fear to stab its way into my mind. I thought fast, thinking of a course of action as they slowly dragged their damaged bodies and twisted limbs into my living room. I thought of Neo, from the Matrix and took aim. My hand shook and sweat slid down my forehead. I squeezed the trigger and the bullet erupted from the barrel. I missed. The zombies turned toward me, recognizing me, their dinner, was already conveniently in the kitchen. I took aim again. This time I met my mark. A bullet smacked square into the middle of the zombie’s forehead that was in the lead. I watched it fall dead and began shooting again. I smirked as every bullet hit its target. This dream was definitely different.

I quickly thought of every zombie movie I had watched in all twenty five years of my life. It seemed I instantaneously learned every move, shot, and thrust of a blade they made. Michonne from the Walking Dead came to mind and my knife transformed into a katana blade. This was going to be fun. I went into action, stabbing, chopping, and beheading every zombie that came near me until my living room was littered with decaying bodies. I walked to the door, realizing my nightmare had become an adventure and I was the protagonist. I could be like all the heroes I read about in countless books, or watched on countless television shows.

I ran out the door and into my yard, my gun reloaded and tucked in my pants, my katana blade gleaming in the moonlight. Zombies littered the streets, throwing my neighborhood in a frightful hysteria and I wouldn’t stand for it. I saved the woman that lived to my left, and then ran across the street and killed four more zombies trying to enter another house. The funny thing with dreams though is, if you find ways to alter them, they find a way to challenge you back. See how much imagination you can muster. Push you to your limits. The zombies began to move faster. It went from Dawn of the Dead to World War Z in an instant. Two of them suddenly turned and ran at me faster than I thought they could move. I wasn’t prepared for this and couldn’t adapt fast enough. 

They tackled me to the ground, one sinking it’s teeth into my arm. Pain that felt all too real, shot through me. I heard two gunshots and then a shadow stood over me. I looked up as I cradled my arm against me. Who I saw was the last person I expected to see in a dream like this. It was her. The woman that I worked with, who I never had the courage to speak to. The one that I knew did not even know I existed, even though I couldn’t keep her off my mind. Amanda, with the pretty amber eyes, that complimented her richly melanated skin.

“Hey, King, you good?” Amanda asked.

“You know my name?” I asked, standing up. “Wait, why are you in my dream?” 

“Your dream? Oh, so this is your first time here,” she smirked.

“First time where? What’s going on?”

“You’ve been bit?”

“Yea, but I can just make it go away. I can control my dreams tonight for some reason.”

“It doesn’t work like that here, honey. Welcome to Lucidala. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

She held her gun up and shot me in the head. I woke up in my bed, swimming in sweat drenched sheets and a dull throb in my forehead.