Drabble Dream 20: Test

I'm waiting to take a test. 

The test doesn't start for another four hours, but people are running around and screaming. I sit calmly. The proctors for the test has each of us go into separate rooms. There is only one desk. It's too small and the chair is too big to fit under it. The proctor says I have a certain amount of time to finish the test but refuses to tell me how much. The test has only one question:

What is the purpose of your life and why?

My answer is amazing.

But when I wake, the answer is forgotten.

Drabble Dream 19: Pilot

I was in a plane or a spaceship and getting ready to take off. I was a certified pilot and had been flying for years.

“Are you sure you can do this?” The voice was outside the plane or spaceship.

I rolled my eyes. “I’ve been doing this for years. I know what I’m doing.”

“But you’re blind!”

I was. But I had the controls memorized. I could do this! I could… crap. Did I just run into the side of the hanger?

“Abort! Abort!” I shouted.

“You’re not even out of the building!” The voice screamed. “You’re on FIRE!”

Drabble Dream 18: Telepathic Sleeper

Two unidentifiable figures in lab coats stand behind a plate of glass watching a sea of bodies on mattresses scattered throughout the room.

"What about that one?"

"Which one?"

"The one over there who has a bed all to herself and all that room around her."

"Have you ever tried sleeping with a telepath? Not having sex, that's great, but actually sleeping with. Without meaning to, they get into your head. Their dreams become entwined with yours and they wake up knowing all sorts of things about you. I saw one guy go absolutely insane because he slept with one."

Drabble Dream 17: Three Grown Men

The man behind the desk loosened his tie. “The drop will be at the bookstore in the kids section.” The two men standing in front him exchanged looks.

“Won’t that look suspicious? Grown men sitting in the kids section?”

The first man shook his head. “We’re not going to look like three grown men.”

“Do you see them?” I pointed to the kids section.

“Do you mean the man and his sons?” Marisol asked.

I shook my head. “No, the three men just sitting at the table down there.”

She squinted, but could only see the boys and the man.

Drabble Dream 15: On Kittens, Almost Drowning and a Rude Housemate

Kittens everywhere.

This unfamiliar house I live in is filling up with water.

I'm drowning.

A dog barks.

The water changes to foam.

I'm cleaning up the foam as my lazy housemate Thomas is lounging on the couch feeding the cats plates. I shout for him to stop. He starts throwing dishes at me. The cats try to catch them. “Stop it!” I shout.

He laughs, I punch him.

"Shut up, you blank!" He swings to slap me. I grab his wrist and throw him across the room.

The cats eat him.

I clean up the rest of the foam.

Drabble Dream 14: Campfire

Sitting by the campfire, I just catch a glimpse of someone at another campsite dancing around and throwing things into a fire. Something about the whole scene disturbs me; it's not right, there's something off. I get up to investigate. As I get closer, I can see that it's a woman and she's cackling. I can also hear a high pitched, horrible screaming. All around me, the screaming is echoed through the trees. I run. She turns, her hand held over her head, "they're vermin! They deserve to die!" she shouts as she throws the screaming squirrel into the fire. 

Drabble Dream 13: Water Magic

The tattoos are our armor. We use water magic to combat fire magic. But if the water was fierce, the tattoos could be damaged and possibly wash away.There were many tattoo artists, including my friend. After the swimming race, in which magic was used to slow the opponents, I came in third and was rushed to the tattooing tent. None of my tattoos had been touched, but they insisted so I insisted that I to be taken to my friend. They tied me face down and brought in a guy who started tattooing my back. I screamed; he sang.

Drabble Dream 12: Stingers

I was trapped in an old elevator with a door but no windows. It was locked in such a way that I could not get out. Inside the room was a swarm of wasp-like things that were very angry. They started stinging me all over. I held still, but they just kept stinging. After each sting, they'd drop dead. Soon the floor was littered with tiny corpses. I hurt and felt woozy and nauseous. I found some tweezers on the floor. The stingers were thick and as long as my longest finger. I kept pulling them out until I died.

Drabble Dream 11: Don't Lose The Message

My client hands me a cup, but when I try to drink, she insists it is a pitcher. I spill lemonade everywhere. I try to sop it up and stop it from getting on the penciled writing on the rolling cart.

She laughs, “don’t lose the message.”

I stop and look at my palm where I’d scrawled a note to myself. It’s smeared.

I’m chasing seven dogs, including a St Bernard, and a cat. People all around us are drinking and laughing. I keep dropping treats. I stop as they run into traffic.

I can hear laughter as I wake.

Drabble Dream 10: Blood Rain

He wears a flowered shirt. He is sitting on a bench on the other side of the street pretending to read. I can feel him looking at me, but when I look at him, he reads. He looks up and stares through me. I know him, but he cannot see me. The bitch I am walking barks, but there is no sound. The sun is shining rays that cut like glass. I drop the leash as I bleed. The pup runs over to the man. He picks her up and carries her away. Blood rain falls. I walk alone...

Finally.

Shooting in the rain - homeless photographer Paul Hedlund

Drabble Dream 9: Graveyard Shadows

She stands statue still behind a tree, masked and wearing black, unblinking.

"Is she death?" My sister's child asks, pulling at my sleeve.

I take his hand, watch his eyes and smile sweet. "No dear. She is human, like us. We all respond to death in unique ways. This is just her way."

He nods. He will ask no more, but he does not believe me. He watches the woman throughout the burial. When it is all done, I see him march over to her. I let him go, but stay close. He will soon learn what I already know.

Drabble Dreams 8: The Warehouse

I'm on a date with a guy named Jimmy. He lures me to a warehouse. There are corpses posed to imitate life. The mechanic is "fixing" a car... the prostitute is on her back in a bed with her legs splayed... the cook is mixing something in a bowl... the nurse holds a dead infant... one man is attached to a rope dressed like Tarzan.

"He was a stunt man," Jimmy explains.

We come to a desk with pen and paper.

"How cliché." I sigh. "None are original. And I never write at a desk."

He sputters and I run.

Drabble Dreams 7: Sentient Elevator

I fear elevators, but my new job was on the 50th floor. They have an elevator named Alish. We become friends. Alish tells me of a plot to kill me. We plan to kill the killers. Once I do, Alish confesses that they were there to dismantle her.

"They say I've become too sentient."

"Why didn't you trust me? I would've helped! Now I'm a fugitive. They'll send others!"

Alish wails, "I can see your soul! You wouldn't have killed for me! You will die with me!"

We fall.

I close my eyes, "I love you," is all I say.

Drabble Dreams 6: Yellow

I’m in a closet. The yellow paint creeps up the wall. My legs are mangled. A woman laughs. As I crawl out of the closet, a hammer appears in my hand. I smash the woman’s legs. She keeps laughing. I wake in my bed. I reach to turn on a light but my arm doesn’t work. I scream. I pull myself out of bed, my legs are still broken and useless. I fall down the stairs, followed by the creeping yellow. I call for help; I’m more and more in pain. I’m becoming yellow. 
I scream. 
The house is empty.

Drabble Dreams 5: Image

The girl in the oval mirror stares back at her like she always does. She blinks when Penny blinks and turns her body the same way. For twelve years Penny thought the girl was her reflection; that they were the same. But the change Penny knows is happening to her, isn't evident in the mirror.

"Lupenia, ahora!" Her mother shouts.

"Un momento!" Penny shouts back.

She wraps her long black hair around her left hand and twists her body. Nothing looks wrong in the mirror. But when she reaches back to touch her shoulder, the blade slices her hand.

Drabble Dreams 4: Magic Walk

He is old and feeble, but he takes on step and he is fifty yards down the road. Another step, another fifty yards.

I try it. Looking to a spot many yards away, I focus on it as I lift my leg and step. Suddenly, I’m there.

He looks over. “How did you learn to do that?”

“By watching you.”

“Let’s see it.”

I notice the key hanging off his belt. I visualize it in my hand. Smiling, I unlock his front door, go into his house and lock him out.

From inside his house, I watch him melt.

Drabble Dreams 3: The Collectors

    The satchel I carry is full and pulsing. The contents ooze through the burlap making it sticky to touch. I set it carefully in the trunk of the car beside several other bags as full as this one. They all glow a pale red. I take an empty satchel from the back seat.

    The first house I come to has boards over the windows. But I can hear people moving about inside. My companion, her sack is as empty as mine, comes around the corner shaking her head.

    “There are no hearts to steal here. They have all been stolen.”

Drabble Dreams 2: Ouija

“There is important work to do.” She hands me my Ouija board.

I take it with ginger care. “I thought you hated these things.”

She shrugs. “If you use anything of power, it could be bad.” She then looks deep into my eyes. “But you must be careful. Always cast a circle... set up protections... be wise.”

I nod. “I will.”

I am alone. I cast a circle and set the board in the center. Without touching it, the little planchette with the window moves. I grab pen and paper and write.

“Hand of Fatima.”

Outside, a dog howls.

Drabble Dreams 1: Masks

All around are my judges. They wear masks. This is usual. I wear a mask too. This is unusual.
A crow with a pig snout for a mask caws, "We must remove the mask!"
A lavender eyed woman wearing a veil mask takes my mask. Under it is another mask. She removes it, but there's another.
A lizard with a cat mask claws off that mask, the next, the next and the next until rivers of blood flow from my cheeks. The lizard cat screeches!
A hyena with a hyena mask rips my face off revealing there is nothing there.
I laugh.