I woke to screaming and I was upright in my bed in a second. My room was pitch black and all was silent.

     Who screamed? Was it Chiyoko? I listened for the tell-tale sound of Chiyoko’s snoring and I sighed with relief when I heard her from across the hall.

    Than who screamed? I wondered to myself as I laid back down onto the futon. I guess it was me who screamed. I thought to myself, as I remembered back to the dream I had had before I was woken up. It had been the same nightmare I’ve had for the past three weeks; but instead of being a girl running for her life it was a middle-aged man, who was blubbering and crying for his life. This is the first time the nightmare had been different. I wonder why?

     I rolled myself to face the wall, but still sleep didn’t come to me. My eye lids didn’t feel heavy or anything, I felt wide awake. With a sigh, I rolled over to face the digital clock by my bedside and I groaned at the time, it was about three O’clock in the morning. Pushing myself up from my futon and flicked on the lights; I squinted against the harsh light. When my eyes adjusted to the light, I popped open the door and walked out into the hall. The hall was dark and I softly tip-toed passed Chiyoko’s room and down the stair, careful not to step on any of the floor boards that I know to creak and crack.

     The Lucky Cat was silent and dark.

I moved passed the giant dragon to the front door. I stopped to glance back at the dragon, whose eyes stared at me with disapproval. I glared at the dragon, before pulling off a Luck Cat apron from the coat rack before throwing it over the statue’s head, promising myself to pick it up when I get back.

    The streets were dark and I regretted not bring a jacket with me before I left. Surprisingly there were no cars driving by on the streets. I observed the buildings around me with awe and shock, it was such a huge city. I shrived against the cool breeze as it blew through the buildings. The moon was barely visible through the cold gray clouds. I jumped when I heard something scuffled behind me; I whipped around, half expecting there to be something behind me.

   Nothing was there.

I warily turned back around and continued my walk.

   Crash! My heart climbed its way up my throat as a trashcan was knocked over.

    What was that? My eyes scanned my surroundings, looking for what had pushed over the trashcan.

     “Where are my legs? Have you’ve seen them?”

Cold dread filled my heart at the sound of a female voice behind me.

     This is a dream! I have to wake up! I turned slowly to see who might have spoken to me. Fear pulsed through my veins at what I saw before; standing at the end of the street was only half of a lady, her hands were the only thing propping her up.

     “Have you’ve seen my legs?” she hissed, taking a step towards me.

I couldn’t speak, I didn’t want too. We both stayed quiet, each studying the other. My mind screamed at me to run, to flee, to get away from the creature in front of me. I spun around on my heels before taking off in the opposite direction, I heard the creature screech and it gave chase.

    I sprinted around buildings in a flurry as I attempted to get away from the half-woman. She screamed after me, she kept asking if I’ve see her legs.

     This is a dream! It’s got to be a dream! My mind screamed at me, trying to rationalize what I was being chased by. I felt my foot connect with an up-turned piece of the sidewalk and I was knocked off my feet and my knees connected with the pavement. I sucked in a deep breath as pain soared through my legs.

    “Have you’ve seen my legs!” The half-woman screeched at me, her hand grabbed one of my legs.

I screamed at her to leave me alone and I kicked out at her; my foot connected with her face. She screamed, but her grip on my leg tightened, her nails dug deep into my leg.

     “If you haven’t seen my legs, then I’ll just take yours!” just like in my dream, she pulled out a sharp – crescent shaped object. My heart thumped painfully against my chest, I couldn’t even bring myself to scream.

I lashed out at her again, giving her a swift kick right in her sternum, she didn’t even seem to feel it. I closed my eyes, expecting the pain to come, but instead of feeling my legs be paused, her eyes, dark and evil, scanned the area around us.

    Her head whipped forward in my direction, but she wasn’t looking at me, she was looking at something behind me. For a split second, I saw something like fear pass through her eyes and the grip on my leg loosened. She took a “step” back, her eyes were wide with fear. I watched as she scurried away from me before disappearing down an alleyway.

    Someone moved behind me slowly and I forced myself to face the person who was scary enough to scare off the half-woman. Behind me was a young man, his eyes were a startling gold and silver, they seemed to glow in the darkness. He walked right up to me, his eyes glared down at me with disapproval.

    “Who – who are you?” I stuttered out, I stared at him wide-eyed, my heart still beating against my chest and I could have sworn that he heard it. The young man didn’t say anything, just watched me with glowing eyes. I scooted away from him, trying to put as much distance as I could from him and I. I just wanted to go back to the Lucky Cat, I didn’t want any more trouble with weird creatures.

    Almost like I had blinked, the young man was gone from his original spot and he was right next to me and I gasped in surprise. I tried to push myself to my feet but his hand reached out and grabbed my face and yanked it back to him. We were now eye level with each other, his eyes were gold with flecks of silver, they reminded me of a snake.

    “What do you want from me?” I whispered, my eyes didn’t leave his own.

He paused for moment, “You’ve seem to have gotten yourself into a load of trouble, haven’t you Edith?”

     “How do you know my name?” I whimpered out, fear flooded my body.

    “Sleep, Edith.” With those words, I was out like a light. My vision fogged and I could feel myself falling back against the pavement. The young man was the last thing I saw before slipped into unconsciousness.