I looked up at a gigantic tree, larger than any tree that has ever existed on earth. Its bark shone almost like diamonds with leaves in blue and turquoise colors, except now it was engulfed by flames, charring off the bark and leaves. All around me people were screaming and running for their lives as buildings surrounding us were hit by the flames, burning up and crumbling underneath their weight. It all sounded muffled, like I was in a bubble, standing there, watching it all happen in disbelief, frozen by fear.

A hand touched my shoulder, and they pulled me, so I spun around on my heels. In front of me stood what looked like a centaur, but not quite as their body wasn’t one of a horse but a deer. He had curly brown hair and small antlers, like a young deer buck. He was looking worried at me with his sky-blue eyes, and I could see his mouth moving, yet I couldn’t understand a word of what he said, as his voice wasn’t only muffled, but the language he spoke wasn’t one I understood. He grabbed my hand and started to drag me along with him as he ran, zigzagging in between people as we headed towards what looked like a dock, when suddenly, a loud crack sounded, and a shadow fell over us until everything turned black.

I opened my eyes and sat up abruptly, panting hard and trembling, as beads of sweat rolled down the side of my cheek. I blinked a couple of times as I tried to adjust to the darkness in my room, the flashes of an image, of a piece of a building with a hand sticking out from underneath it, kept appearing for a brief second with each blink. My heart ached though I had no idea why, almost as if I knew who that person was, and I felt sorrow.

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I looked around at my messy room, with dirty clothes, books and drawings scattered on the floor, something my mom had been telling me to clean up for some days now, and even though I had promised her I would, I have been procrastinating it, which has only made it worse.

I let out a big yawn and tried to stretch my tense muscles, in hopes of relaxing my body and calming my beating heart, before I reached for my phone from under the pillow. The bright screen made me squint my eyes as I struggled to turn down the brightness to a comfortable level, where I didn’t feel like I would go blind. It was just after five in the morning, the third time in a week that I had woken up this early, and again it was because of some dream. I dropped my phone onto my bed as I laid back down and looked at the ceiling. I could always try to fall asleep again, but the image kept appearing whenever I closed my eyes so that I couldn’t fall asleep. I glanced at my wall beside my bed and looked at the different drawings hanging there, and even though it was hard to see, I knew what they looked like.

Lately I had been drawing all kinds of things, most of them were inspired by my dreams. It was mostly drawings of elves, strange beasts, that seemed like they belonged to some fantasy game, and orcs. But there was one drawing which was mostly just silhouettes of a group of people, though whenever I tried to draw them, I just couldn’t get a clear image of what they looked like. It frustrated me which resulted in me keep drawing them, but each time without success. I turned my head to the other side and looked at the floor at the papers, all drawings of the same group, though not one drawing was the same, nor did they help me get a better understanding of what they looked like. It was almost as if something was stopping me.

I then looked at my bookcase, which contained all kinds of books, mostly fantasy stories, but there was also some about nature, like animals and plants, then books about mythical creatures or lore.

I grew up with my parents telling me stories, stories about dragons, fairies and elves, but unlike most kids, I didn’t believe them, and they didn’t interest me much. They were just made-up stories, stories people had created to entertain others, but as I grew older, I started to notice things that I had only heard about in those said stories. Things that happened but no one could explain how, like that one time when the mine collapsed and people were trapped in it, and there was no way for the rescuers to save them, all of a sudden, all of them appeared in the hospital, saying things like someone dug them out, yet there were no clue as to who or how, or things like when I was sure I saw out of the corner of my eye, but it wasn’t clear what I saw, just something that didn’t look natural, but when I looked in that direction, there was nothing there. It was as if it was just in my imagination, but at the same time, I had this strange feeling that it was more than that. When I tried to talk with my parents about it, they didn’t seem to take me seriously and brushed it off. 

It wasn’t until one day when I saw something in the woods that I couldn’t explain. It was a small bluish black circle, floating in the air. It wasn’t in the shape of a sphere, but it wasn’t flat either. It was like reality was warped around it, and when I tried to show it to my parents, they couldn’t see anything at all and started to get worried about me. When I realized that I was the only one who could see it, I decided to keep quiet. The last thing I wanted was to be seen as some crazy kid, who needed help. So, I kept an eye on it. It was around that time my dreams started.

I had been keeping an eye on it ever since. For months, it was just the same, it didn’t seem to grow or do anything special, then one snowy day early in December, after being dormant for three months, something happened. I had noticed a change in the orb, nothing big, but it had turned more purple in its color, which I found very strange. But nothing else felt different than its color, so I didn’t think much of it, besides making a mental note of it and decided to continue keeping an eye on it.

Now that I had woken up this early again, I couldn’t help but wonder if something had changed with it, like a gnawing feeling in the back of my mind, but it was too dark for me to go out yet, as the sun still hadn’t risen from the horizon. I let out a sigh as I rolled onto my side and looked at the floor, then I could hear the sound of someone sniffing and small scratches from the other side of my door, and I smiled. I got up from the bed and carefully did what I could to avoid stepping on top of my things as I made my way to my door. When I opened it, I was met with a goofy smile and a wagging tail as Cody, my Jack Russel Terrier, stood outside the door, happy to see me.

“Good morning Cody, I guess you heard me wake up?” I asked as I let him in. He hurriedly went over to my bed, not caring in the least that he was stepping all over my things on the floor, as he jumped up onto my bed. I sighed a little as I shook my head, smiling while closing the door behind me, then I walked over to him. As I sat down, he pushed his cold wet nose against my hand, demanding that I pet him, and I happily obliged.

We sat for five minutes, with me just petting him as he rested his head on my lap, the gray hair on his head getting clearer each day. He was getting close to 11 years old, and even though his fur was getting gray, he wasn’t showing any signs of being old. He was still very active and would happily go on long walks and play fetch, but I knew it was just a matter of time before that would change. For now, I am happy to still have my best friend here with me, especially at this time of the day.

“Say Cody, should I make a cup of coffee so we could go on an early morning walk?” I asked him and I knew the moment I said morning walk, I had his attention as he looked up at me, his tail wagging slightly uncertain, like he wasn’t sure I meant what I said, not until I got up and went to my door. He quickly went to follow me, his tongue hanging out of his mouth as he was panting happily, his tail wagging like crazy.

The house was quiet as I silently walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, and started to brew my coffee. The sound of the coffee machine gurgling as the coffee was brewing was the only sound filling the house, beside the clock hanging on the wall ticking away. I went back to my room to get dressed for the cold weather, taking on a thick knitted sweater, a pair of light blue jeans and my thick wool socks. When I returned to the kitchen, the coffee maker was done and I poured the coffee into a thermos, then grabbed Cody’s sweater and leash, which made his tail wag fast, and he did a small dance, tapping his front paws in excitement, but stood absolute still when I went to put it on him. I made sure to put on my beanie, a pair of gloves and a scarf before grabbing my thermos, heading to the front door.

“Soreen?” I heard someone say behind me which made me jump and almost drop my coffee.

“Jesus, mom! Don’t sneak in on me like that,” I cursed, as I exhaled a shaky breath.

“Sorry, but I heard movement from the kitchen,” she said and looked at me a bit confused. “Why are you up so early?” she asked as she crossed her arms, wrapping her night rope tighter around her, almost like she was freezing.

“I had a nightmare and I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to go on an early morning walk with Cody,” I explained and gave her a smile. She looked at me slightly concerned but nodded.

“Ok but be careful. It’s slippery outside with the ice and that, so don’t fall and break your neck or something,” she said in a semi worried voice and gave me one last look over, before she turned to head back to her bed.

“Night mom,” I said before I opened the front door and stepped out into the icy cold air.

The ground was covered in a thin layer of snow, which crunched with every step I took. Cody didn’t seem to mind the cold as he walked alongside me, sniffing here and there. The streets were illuminated by the streetlamps, giving off a faint yellow glow, but with the sun not yet up on the horizon, the streets were still dark and quiet as people were still asleep, with only a few houses here and there having light on in one of their windows. It could be viewed as eerily quiet, yet I found it surprisingly relaxing. It was just me and my thoughts, and Cody, as we went on a walk down the street, heading towards the forest. Had the sun been up, we would have taken a walk along the trail in the forest, heading towards the glowing orb thing, but since it was still dark, I decided to turn down a different street and walk in a large circle around the block.

By the time we came back home, half an hour had gone by, and I would have happily gone further if it wasn’t because I was worried about Cody freezing. My parents were still asleep by the time we came home, so I dried Cody and decided to pour myself another cup of coffee before we went to my room. Cody jumped up on my bed and buried himself under the covers as I went over to my writing desk, where several white pieces of paper were stacked. I took one and placed it in front of me, then I picked up a pencil and began to draw the image that just didn’t seem to want to leave my mind.

I had no problem drawing the piece of wall, the dock in the background, the surrounding buildings and the hand sticking out from underneath it, but when I went to draw a new drawing of the person who held my hand, I just couldn’t. I could make a faint silhouette of them, from their deer-like body to the antler on their head, but I couldn’t draw any significant features like their face, or what they were wearing. I looked at my drawing, frowning before crumbling it and throwing it over my shoulders. I then decided to draw the tree but even that proved difficult, so I gave up in the end and joined Cody under my covers, hoping to get at least a few more hours of sleep before I would start the weekend for real.