Figment of Dreams
Chapter Twenty Two: the pool

Since I got evacuated from earth I did not have a single nightmare. A part of me figured that it had been related to earth somehow and that I might be rid of them forever. I was sad about Ethan, even though I knew he wasn’t real. Yet, the fact that I would probably never dream about him again made me a little bit upset.

Until the second month on Terra, when I’ve had a fairly normal day. It was my second week of college. I’ve had one displeasing occurrence with Melixes and Sebastian and a fighting lesson with Ash.

So nothing too out of the ordinary but there it was.

Every time I’ve had the pool dream it starts out differently. The only one who would never open up with the same opening credits as the ‘others’. To kind of throw me out of the loop I guess.

This time I was at the Skylar’s beach house. I turned the corner around the back dunes of the house and stumbled straight into the usual pool scene. A long rectangular, ordinary looking American pool. A couple of blue and white striped beach chairs to the side. Ethan lounging on one of them in his red swim trunks. Hair wet from taking a swim. A yellow pool ball floating on the surface, which the kid with blond hair had discarded in the pool.

The little boy was here every time and he has been the same age since the very first time I’ve had the pool dream. He would also die with me every time. It almost made me never want to have kids, seeing a little boy die right in front of you was traumatizing to say the least. Let alone having him die for thousands of times.

I would walk over to Ethan and we would talk. I would take a small sip from a water bottle before he would come. He would always be there in an instant and it always happened in the exact same way.

In other nightmares I could lucid dream and steer some of the direction in another path. Not in the pool dream. All I could do was walk towards Ethan, sit down and wait for his knife in my back.

And so I walked to Ethan and sat down. There was no use in prolonging it.

The only thing I could control was what I said. So I did.

‘I thought I would never see you again.’

Ethan sadly smiled. He also had control of what he said, if it wasn’t related to the why of these dreams.

‘I knew I’d see you again Jules.’ He answered.

The boy grabbed his yellow ball again. You might say, why don’t you try to help him out and get him away from the pool? I have tried a million times over the last fifteen years, but every scenario turns out the same. So all I can do now is watch.

‘A lot has happened.’ I sighed. ‘I wish we could talk about all of it.’ I took his hand. It felt warm to the touch as every other time I have touched him.

‘I wish I could see you.’ I knew what he meant with that. He was always talking about real life.

I laughed again. ’Yeah, stranger things have happened to me lately. I guess I could handle a real life you someday.’

‘My dad would never…-’ his sentence caught off again but it was more information he had ever disclosed.

‘Your dad is who exactly Ethan?’

Ethan’s eyes widened, he had realised it as well. He had giving me personal information.

‘Impossible!’ he added. ’Are you… not on earth anymore Juliette?’

And with those parting words the knife slammed into my back. I was hauled in the air and thrown in the pool.

The yellow ball bopping away, with the dead child face down drifting in the pool next to me. The pool now slowly turning red with my and his blood seeping into the water slowly as we were bleeding out.

As my body turned itself around from its own accord, I could only glance up and see his shadow covered face. Always the dark hood covering everything about the Dark Stalker that could maybe let me identify my killer. I wished one day, I could finally pull those curtains back.

Yet, today was different somehow. Not even taking into account the information Ethan had shared. Because the Dark Stalker had never talked. Not even once.

Today was different. Because today he said.

’Finally.’

And I couldn’t really help the goosebumps that covered my arms as I woke up. Because I had heard his voice before. It was at the tip of my tongue but I could not grasp it yet.

The Dark Stalker was someone I knew.