This is a tale, in which you'll read a conversation of the experience of fear, shared with me by someone who lived it, felt it, and asked me to relay it to anyone whose dreams are burdened by the weight of reality.

"Late one night, after a few drinks with friends, I decided to head home. Intoxicated and unable to recall where I had placed my keys, I found that the door to my apartment was oddly ajar. My feet dragged me towards the bed, weighed down by the heaviness of inebriation. I stumbled over clothes thrown across the floor. Without a doubt, this was the drunkest I had ever been. Rain poured outside, accompanied by thunder that illuminated the room, much to my pleasure, as all my electrical devices were rendered useless due to unpaid bills. I took off my jacket while lying on the bed, struggling to remember how I had arrived home so swiftly. I looked aroung my cramped apartment, taking in the sparse furniture surrounding me: the TV, the desk with my laptop, and a small coffee table beside me. My bed, doubling as a couch, faced the attic door, a narrow entrance above the bathroom leading to a tiny space where I stashed many things, things I tended to forget over the years. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. The night breeze was gentle, carrying the pleasant scent of rain that drifted through my window. I fell asleep almost instantly, a dreamless night enveloping me, pressing me against the couch's small pillow, which hugged my head like a clam holding a pearl. My eyelids flickered, and my ears twitched at the sound of the attic door creaking open.

I tried to move, but it felt as if someone was pinning me down. I forced myself awake and glanced around. Three dark shadows held me in place, but I felt no fear, for something worse had captured my attention. Beneath the shadowy night and the eerie rain, a hand emerged from within the attic's door, effortlessly grasping the handle. Two small bells from a jester's hat appeared, followed by a carefully painted face: a large red nose, purple lips, a white face, and black eyes. The neck extended from the shadows and hung below the height of the door. Two hands gripped the walls, creating small cracks that reached the wooden floor and shifted the bed ever so slightly, frightening away the shadowy figures. The thunderclaps felt like screams in my ears as the creature crawled from the attic and moved towards the bathroom. It stopped for just a slight second to peer deep in my eyes and soul before prying the bathroom door open. As it left my gaze it laughed beneath its heavy breath which filled the room with smoke. My own screams tingled my mind, but no voice escaped my mouth. I shut my eyes, and my breath quickened. When I opened them again, I was in the bathroom, staring at the sink. A few drops of drool and toothpaste made me wonder. Was I sleepwalking again? My eyes trembled, still in shock. As I looked down, slightly raising my purple-painted hands, I gasped. My head turned upward slowly, and each breath felt like it lasted a thousand years.

In the mirror, my own reflection mocked me. My red nose, purple lips, and black eyes, with a face as pale as the moon. When I moved my lips my reflection smiled back at me and thunder lit my eyes green like glowing grass after rainfall. I took a hurried step backward, colliding with the washing machine and falling on the floor in fear. I touched my face, and sweat filled my palms. I quickly stood up to inspect myself again, but the dream had vanished, and my sun-kissed skin appeared normal once more. That night, I drank several glasses of water before lying back on my bed. My eyes shut quickly, as sleep was something I desperately needed. It was only a few seconds later that I opened them to witness the attic door closing, a black, shadowy tail trailing the creature that hid inside."

Never have I ever heard a more haunting dream from a friend. To him, I dedicate this tale with all my love, wishing for his jesters, clowns, and troubled mind to find rest without fear of what follows him in the darkest parts of his mind-what haunts him. For sometimes, dreams and reality are not that far apart... and sometimes, without warning, they merge, bringing forth from the darkness everything we've hidden for so long. Fear not, my friend, for this dream is over.