DARE TO DREAM by Jaffrina Joseph

I'm a teen... I'm in my 12th grade. It is May now, my summer vacation. I'm on my way to my pal's house, she's Ria. Gonna stay with her for a week. I love to travel and explore the world. She resides in Strag. My phone rang when I was closer to Strag. That was my mom. Spoke with her for sometime and said I'd call her after I reached. She wants me to be carefull. I reached her house by half past 10. Her house is not so big, but yes, it was big enough to accommodate me with them. She is a single kid, so we shared her room. Thank god, she was single..!! We are not going anywhere today, because today is the first day. We had a tasty dinner and went to bed. We had a long talk, many silly stories, and fun.... Then we offered each other a good night and sweet DREAMS...!! She was soon asleep. But I was awake for quite a long time because that was a new place for me. Ria and I were alone in the room. But another soul was with us. Someone black... Was sitting next to my leg and sobbing. I thought that was Ria's mother. But no, they slept before us. I felt uncomfortable. Ria was sleeping and the soul was sobbing and I woke up with a sudden jerk and so did Ria...! I asked her what was wrong. She didn't tell me a word. She stared around the room and slept again. But I couldn't, something kept disturbing me, I felt damn tired too but still slept. The next morning I woke up to brush my teeth and saw my eyes which were as red as cherry... Phew..!! I asked Ria why she woke up yesterday. She said she saw a black soul sitting next to my feet and sobbing. Good heavens..!! That's what I felt. Then she asked me because it was her turn to question me. She asked me why I was awake. I said I had the same dream. I found a strange look on her face and so did she in my face. We thought of going out that day inside the woods. The woods were actually awesome, with cool breeze and waterfalls and so and so... How pleasant they are. I had my camera with me to take a few snaps. Ria's Dad warned us not to get into the deep woods. But I said uncle I had a phone. All I got from him was a big bulb. He Said 'You won't find bars in your phone in deep forest kid'. Yes..!! He's was absolutely right, I don't have even a single bar in my mobile. Let me explain Nature now..

Years back,

Nature was beautiful

Nature was delightful

Nature was wonderful

Nature was helpful

Nature was peaceful

Nature was joyful,

But now,

Nature has become pity

Without any beauty

Peace is available very scarcely

Not due to 'My play city'

But due to human atrocity

Let's put an end to idioticity

And follow the policy of simplicity.

We returned home by 7:30. We freshened up ourselves and went to the dining room for dinner. We had nice phulkas and stew and filled our TUMMY. We showed our selfies and my snaps to uncle and aunts. They were really happy and so were we. We went to bed and thought of seeing our selfies and my snaps once more. And to our greatest surprise we saw an extra.... Black.... SOUL in all our selfies between us. We once again ran to the dining room and saw our selfies. The figure was missing. Phew..!! That made us sweat. We ran to the bed room again and there the SOUL was.. In all our selfies in between us. How strange..!! I spoke to my mom. But didn't slip a word about this to her. She'l definitely ask me to return. Said good night and just cut the phone. Was a little nervous and Ria was damn nervous. We hugged tight and close our eyes and said each other SWEET DREAMS. We DARED to open our eyes. The room was dark and there was pin drop silence ....till the wolves started to howl. That scared me. My uncle once said me that wolves howl only when they see strange things, especially like GHOSTS.... Phew..!! I started to sweat. That made me hug Ria even tighter. I had a damn good dream... Oops..!! Sorry.. I had a damn good sleep, till I had a dream. A black, dull, creepy creature.. no a soul was between us. What was that trying to do? Trying to push me off the bed? Not exactly, that was trying to separate Ria from me and me from Ria. I opened my eyes immediately, and found myself to be separated from Ria. I threw my hand over Ria. But, you know what? She pushed my away. I was almost at the tip of the bed. It was almost 4:00 am by then. I was not able to sleep anymore. The hell..!! I read my Bible and said my prayer and opened facebook. Absolutely, if facebook was a school I'l definitely get a full attendance award, which I never get in my school..!! Saw my cousin,Gideon online. I call him Giddy. He is my elder brother and I call him Giddy. He sent me a 'Hi'. I sent him a 'Hi' too. He is one of my trustworthy cousins. So, guess what? I said him everything crazy thing which were making me mad in Ria's house. All he did was... he sent me a smiley with the biggest kidding face. Such a waste of time it was... explaining him everything. Said him a bye after that and got off the bed. Just to brush my teeth and refresh. My eyes were so red. I never brush my teeth this much early. 'How good have I become?',I said myself. The sun just started to peep out and so did Ria.. peeped out of her blanket. "Such a lucky gal to have a sound sleep inspite of all the problems", I said myself. I hate scaring people as soon as they wake up. So I didn't slip a word to Ria. So we had our breakfast and jumped out of the house. Before I opened my mouth, Ria asked me why I pushed her off the bed yesterday. o_O This is how I exactly felt. She scolded me like something. I explained everything after she closed her mouth and I promised her that I'd get a plaster for her mouth before I left Strag. She just stared at me. "I thought of visiting Giddy today", I said Ria. She said she was pleased to meet Giddy. We reached his home by 10:00 am. Ria was good in making new friends. She very soon became close to Giddy,that is became Giddy's good friend. Ria said the same strange things to Giddy and off course Giddy believed her...! He asked us whether he could spare a night with us. With pleasure is what we said. Giddy packed his things. We went to a park and enjoyed thoroughly and went back home by 8:00 pm. Had a fantastic dinner, which included ice cream too..! "Time to sleep little ones", Mrs.Evelyn said. Oops I thought. Giddy was a good fellow, so he slept on a mat on the floor. Ria and I shared the bed as usual. I really had a DAMN good sleep and so did Ria, I suppose. How awesome it is to have a good sleep after such a long time...! We woke up in the morning.. We didn't.. actually Mrs.Evelyn woke us up with bed coffee. What a good creature she is to wake us up with bed coffee. My Mom will definitely slap me if I ask her for a bed coffee without brushing my teeth, which is the most horrible task on earth for me. We were planning to go for a movie. We had our breakfast and left. I found Giddy speechless for a long time and asked him whether he had any dream. "Absolutely", is what he said. He started to explain his dream. "In my dream....", he started.... "In my dream... I found the same black ,dull ,creepy soul. The soul was actually trying to kill Ria by tightening it's hold on her neck. I opened my eyes to see whether everything was alright, but found Ria chocking endlessly ans Sandra snoring endlessly. I went near Ria and touched her forehead and she stopped chocking just before I touched her. But you, Sandra you snored endlessly". Giddy actually has a good sense of humor. I never snore but I didn't bother about that, because it was absolutely to comfort Ria. Giddy returned home after that. Ria and I kept walking on the streets. Ria was a little scared because she was almost about to die the past night. She was saved by God's grace. We went to a shop called 'Happy burgers'. I had a little money. We had a burger each with some French fries and a cola bottle. We left home as stomach fulls. It was 7:00 pm when we reached home. Aunty said the dinner will be ready by 8:00 pm. We said our stomach was full. We didn't have dinner. We went and slept. We were sure someone will have a dream. As we thought Mrs. Evelyn knocked the door at 2:57. Ria and I opened the door together. We were damn afraid. But found Mrs. Evelyn outside to our greatest surprise 😱. Aunty asked us whether everything was alright. 'Guess that's our question mom', said Ria. Mrs. Evelyn apologised for disturbing us and went back to her room. We had a good sleep after that. Not a single soul disturbed us. I woke up by 7:00 and hot dressed and stood outside the house in silence. Mrs. Evelyn saw me and came towards me. I asked Mrs. Evelyn whether she had any dream last night. She said ,'yes'. I asked whether I was allowed to know her dream. She started to narrate her dream. "I was having a damn good sleep till I heard a sound of scream. I heard it in your room 😧. I came to your room to check everything was alright. But I found the lights on in your room and heard some different voice. I knocked the door and as soon as I knocked the voice and the lights were off. I sweated very bad. But the lights were on once more. That's when you and Ria opened the door and said everything was fine. I didn't sleep well after that". Mrs. Evelyn described everything perfectly than I thought. I said everything will be alright and asked her whether I was allowed to have breakfast . She took me to the dining room. Ria was there too. Ria didn't care about Mrs. Evelyn's dream because she wanted to give me some sort of surprise, Giddy joined us too. She took me to the terminus, I thought she was going to send me back, but no. Someone closed my eyes, and when I opened my eyes I found my besties in front of me.The hand which closed my eyes hugged me. I turned around and gave her a big hug. They are my besties, Cathy, Christoble and Sarah. How awesome..! I got them their breakfast in a restaurant and took them home, off course Giddy was with us. Mrs.Evelyn was already waiting for their arrival. It was a surprise only for me. We were so happy when we were together. But I didn't expect them in Strag. Aunty made us a delicious lunch. We didn't tell them any of the same happenings. We went out for a movie. THE FAST AND FURIOUS 7...!! Giddy went back home after the movie. Five of us returned home after the movie. We had dinner by 9:00 pm and went to bed. Ria knew we would be happy if we were alone, so she left us alone and slept with her parents. We had a funny night. I was sure someone would get a dream. As I thought Cathy, the most scared one among us got it. None of us slept that night. Our eyes turned BLOOD red. She said what her dream was as soon she woke up. Such a goose she is. She is a perfect narrator and she narrated her dream perfectly ,to the core, I swear. She started like this "Everyone were sleeping, I was sleeping too. But something was creeping, a black figure 😱.It was creeping on the ceiling. It went near the fan. It got stuck in the fan and it's blood was all over the room. I woke up and found the fan off , but I found the switch on , I thought the current was off. But... No... I switched on the light and see it' still on. But the fan..!". Jesus...!! That made us sweat and as I said we didn't sleep after that neither did we touch the switch box 😅. We woke up the next morning and found Ria in the dining table before us. I thought she had a dream, so did the other three. But no, she didn't 😜. She asked us why our eyes were red, as if she didn't predict a thing. Cathy said Ria 'We were doing a project on ORANGUTANS 🐵 in ZIMBABWE'. Ria asked us what we found. Sarah replied. She said ' We found you don't survive there,Ria'. 'Oh.. Really funny', is what Ria said. Christoble and I kept quiet. None of us wanted to stay home. We left home as soon as possible. Giddy joined us. None of us had any plan for the day. We kept thinking and walking. We realised that everything that happened in the dream affected reality directly or indirectly. I asked Giddy whether he had any dream. No is what he said. I concluded that the evil one wants Ria. 'Absolutely', everyone except Ria said. Ria was shocked. She was not able to make head or tail out of it. I started to explain. "The first dream, the evil one was staring at me, tried to find out who I was. The second dream, the evil one separated me from Ria. The third dream, the evil one trying to kill Ria. The fourth one, fan was off because Ria was off. Got it?". Ria's face was like this 😵. We wanted to solve the mystery. I asked Ria whether any of her close ones passed away. 'I don't remember anyone, Sandra',she said. She squeezed her brain hard, which she never had 😜. Giddy went back to his home. We went back home. We had a fantastic supper and went to sleep. Ria was with us. I peeped a little to reach the switch. Ria screamed 'yes'. I asked her who that was. She said a poem.

😳Who' that..?😳

Everyday, of course every night,

We hear someone, weeping and screaming,

We see a guy, a guy's soul,

Who's that, we ask,

Who are you,he asks.

The soul comes near us

It comes near us and says,

'If you are bad, I am your dad'.

'Is that a guy?' we asked Ria. 'No it's a gal, used guy because, guy suited the poem well',Ria said. That was not funny is how we stared like ,at Ria.

On 05-Dec-2015 2:50 pm, "Jaffrina" wrote:

Years back,

Nature was beautiful

Nature was delightful

Nature was wonderful

Nature was helpful

Nature was peaceful

Nature was joyful,

But now,

Nature has become pity

Without any beauty

Peace is available very scarcely

Not due to 'My play city'

But due to human atrocity

Let's put an end to idioticity

And follow the policy of simplicity.

😳Who' that..?😳

Everyday, of course every night,

We hear someone, weeping and screaming,

We see a guy, a guy's soul,

Who's that, we ask,

Who are you,he asks.

The soul comes near us

It comes near us and says,

'If you are bad, I am your dad'.

'Is that a guy?' we asked Ria. 'No it's a gal, used guy because, guy suited the poem well',Ria said. That was not funny is how we stared like ,at Ria.

Sandra: What is her name

Ria: Amylin... Amylin Peterwoods

There was a gravy silence for a minute and the lights went off. The wind blew harder than ever before and that happened only in home and nowhere else. The windows were almost about to break. We thought it would. But luckily it didn't. We heard strange sounds too, sounds of foxy dog howls. Jesus... Save us, we thought. Soon everything turned back to be normal. Lights on, Windows normal and everything back to place... But.. But... There was blood.. B-L-O-O-D on Ria's cheek. How did that happened? We stuck to each other. We didn't even think of getting up. We were so damn damn afraid. Christoble and Sarah turned pale. Cathy was almost on me. Ria was..was, totally out of breath.

Sandra: Who is she for you, Ria?

Ria: My Aunt.

The strong wind had become a breeze then. No howls but only sweet song of the nightingale was heard. I just realised that I heard someone crying and found it to be Cathy. I had no guts to console her, I was afraid too. Christoble ,Sarah and Ria were on the bed. Cathy and I were on the floor, on the mat too. We all went to sleep as soon as we could, it was already midnight. I was damn sure that Christoble or Sarah would have a dream. As I thought Christoble had a dream. I knew nothing when I slept. I was into a sound sleep. We had to wake up by 5:00 AM but we continued till 10:00 AM. We knew it was so mean to wake up that late as a guest in someone else' Home. But we people had no other go. Christoble was such a good creature that she didn't wake me up at night. We brushed and bathed and then had our BRUNCH. Yeah, neither breakfast nor lunch, it was our BRUNCH. Christoble started to narrate her dream. But before that I started a conversation with Ria.

Sandra: Ria, is Amylin so special?

Ria: Well, Sandra, she was one of.. Um... No she was my dearest aunt. She was to give birth to a baby. So I was like... Um.. Sort of her daughter. She loved me to the core. She used to say that I was her first baby love...

Sandra: How sweet..!!

Ria: Yeah.. Sweet..

Sandra: How did she die then?

Ria: She actually met with an accident. A real serious one indeed.

Sandra: Oh, sad. Cathy...

Cathy: What? Don't talk to me.

Sandra: Sorry.

Cathy: Okie. 😊

Sandra: Christoble may now narrate her dream.

Christoble: Everyone of us were in a good sleep. It was the time in which every soul except an ant would be in deep sleep. But this time, I was awake with the ants. In my dream, four of us were on the bed. But I was very sure that only three were on. So I woke up to see who the third one was. I was away from Ria. There was a space in which another human could lie down. I moved near Ria. But something restricted me. My heart pounded. I heard my heart's sound, it was racing down the street.

Sarah: What the hell is happening here?

Christoble: Just chill out Sarah. Remember, I was lying with the evil one. And.. You were right Sandra, THE EVIL ONE WANTS RIA.

Ria: I have no words just like Cathy.

My phone rang and gave everyone GOOSEBUMPS.

Sandra: Well, I'm sorry. That's Lizzy on the phone.

Lizzy: Hello.. It's Lizzy here.

Sandra: Um.. Sandra here. What's up?

Lizzy: Rachel and I are coming to Strag.

Sandra: What? But when?

Lizzy: Tomorrow. I'll call u after we reach.

Sandra: Sure. Take care. Safe journey, bye.

Cathy: What's up Sandra?

Sandra: Rachel and Lizzy are coming.

Sarah: So cool. So, what are we gonna do? Tell them not to come or welcome them?

Sandra: Obviously WELCOME them.

Christoble: Are you sure?

Sandra: Yeah. Folks, we're extending our plan for two more days.

Cathy: What? Impossible. Leave me alone.

Sandra: Sure, you can be very well alone with us.

We returned home by 6:00 pm. With all hungry faces. We so badly needed some water, some snacks too. Aunts gave us some YUMMY cookies and apple juice. We all went to sleep by 8:00 pm itself. And.. It was Sarah's turn to DARE TO DREAM. She really dared that she was the first one to sleep. I was so damn excited to know the dream the next day. I woke up by 7:00 am the next morning and it was Lizzy who woke me. She said they were about to reach Starg. I woke up everyone. Sarah thought I had a dream and shouted telling, she had a dream too.

Sandra: Stupid.. Lizzy and Rachel are about to reach. Wake up and dress yourself.

Sarah: Oops 😅 sorry.

We all rushed to the bus stop. There came the bus from Caris. We helped Lizzy and Rachel with their luggage. It was not that big though. We had breakfast on the way. We took a selfie too. I'm a selfie craze 😝. We didn't talk about Sarah's dream in front of them. We went home so that the guest's would freshen themselves. We went to a restaurant for lunch with Ria and her parents. I wanted my mom to join us. But erased the thought as soon as the strange thoughts struck my mind. We went out to the restaurant. I asked Lizzy and Rachel to go for a hand wash. That included Ria's parents too. So that we could talk about Sarah's dream.

Sandra: Go ahead Sarah.

Sarah: How do I start? Ok, let me not beat about the bush. In my dream, Ria was talking.

Ria: Talking to?

Sarah: The EVIL ONE.

Christoble: Didn't you wake up to see the real world?

Sarah: Of course I did. I found Ria sitting erect. I got up and Ria lied down. She didn't, actually.. Uh.. Somebody or something made her lie down. I lied down too... No one made me lie, I could help me myself. 😜

Sandra: Alright, just chill out. They are coming.

We turned out to be normal. Pretending as is everything was cool. We ordered some food and stayed waiting for sometime. We loved the food. I actually paid the bill. That was my treat for publishing a new book. We had stomach full. We were so good in eating together that we don't even behave ourselves, lol😂. But still we call ourselves the BEST. We went home so that we could we could give ourselves some rest. It was fun real fun. We played some games that evening. We even went out into the woods and went out for fishing too. We got back home by 8:00 pm. 8:00 pm is not too late. But it seemed to be like 12:00 am in the woods. We had dinner and slept by 9:27 pm.

Sandra: Lizzy and Rachel, don't wake me up at night. No matter what on earth goes wrong. Okay?

All I got for that was a strange look as if I was weird. They'l understand whatever my words meant tonight.

I hit the sack very soon. No sooner than that Lizzy woke me, only me.. 😁 I was on pins and needles to be honest.

Sandra: I warned you.

Lizzy: I'm sorry. But.. But.. I had to.

Sandra: What was you're dream?

Lizzy: How do you know I had a dream?

Sandra: Being elder than me, I don't think you' lined me company to the rest room, do you?

Lizzy: Uh.. So that was a guess huh?

Sandra: Well,tell me what it is. I feel sleepy.

Lizzy: I'll tell u tomorrow.

Sandra: You.... Good night.

I hit my own sac immediately. I.. No, we woke up by 8:00 am the next morning. We had breakfast and left the house as soon as we could.

Sandra: Tell us you're dream now Lizzy.

Lizzy: Ria woke up and stood in front of the house talking to someone. It was sharp 2:37:19 am by then. I woke up and saw the time. It was exactly 2:37:19 am and I found Ria missing. I peered through the window and found her out. But.. There was no one standing. But she kept waving her hand and suddenly turned to the window. That made my squat down. Then is when I woke you up, Sandra.

Sandra: Okay Lizzy. Rachel and you may stay home.

Lizzy refused at first, but soon agreed.

I started.

Sandra: Listen Sarah, Christoble, Cathy and Ria. We gotten get back home tomorrow. But, before that we got a solve the mystery. What do you people think?

Cathy: I'll be with you.

Sandra: (Astonished) Cool, who else?

Christoble: Me too.

Sarah: Me too.

Ria: I have to be.

Sandra: Alright, that's really cool. We got a visit the grave yard first.

We marched our way to the graveyard. Started to hunt in search of Amylin's grave. But, we found none. We asked the graveyard keeper for the register. We found out something strange. We found Evelin Peterwoods, instead of AMYLIN PETERWOODS. Holy crap we thought. Because EVELIN PETERWOODS was Ria's mom. Then who is in there as Ria's mother? It must be Amylin Cathy said. What do we do now.

Sandra: Ria, you gotta talk to Amylin in your home. Come, let's go. It's time to end her play.

We ran all through our way. Like lions running for their prey we ran all through our way. We reached home. Ria went in to have a personal conversation with Amylin. It took a couple of hours for Ria to come out. With eyes buried with tears she came out. We took her out and consoled her first.

Sandra: What is the bottom line Ria?

Ria: My mother, Evelin was killed. Burnt live.

Cathy: What the ****?

Christoble: Cathy.. Shut up.

Cathy: I'm sorry.

Sarah: But why?

Sandra: I told you right? Amylin is unfit to give birth to a baby. She wanted me to be her's. Being my mom's twin sister it was even more easy for her to pretend like EVELIN.

Cathy: Shit. What do we do now? It is Evelin's soul which is threatening us.

Sandra: You gotta decide Ria. Be with Amylin in the morning and night or being with Amylin in the morning and with Evelin in the night?

Ria: I don't know. How about visiting the PRIEST? Maybe he can give us some solution..

Christoble: Great idea. So what are we waiting for? Come let's us run and play to end the game.

We started our run again. But to a different place this time. We ran so fast that we reached the Chapel in just 20 minutes. What made us run like that? Nothing but fear. Fear haunted us.. Completely haunted by fear we ran. We ran as if we were running for our lives.. We were, but not for our lives, but for Ria's.Thank God. Priest was there in the Chapel. We said him all about what happens in Ria's home. He said he' dome home and pray someday. But we wanted him to come home that day.

Ria: Sir, please. My friends are leaving tomorrow. We gotta stop this today. Please help us.

Priest: Alright. Come children. Let's go.

We went all the way home with the Priest. With the Priest, in his car. He was kind enough to take us with him in his car. Amylin's face didn't seem to welcome the Priest. But still, she had to pretend like welcoming. She welcomed him. The Priest walked with us to the bedroom. He started to PRAY. None of us dared to open our eyes. We closed our eyes as if our eyelids stuck to our eyeball.

Priest: Our father, PRINCE OF PEACE, God of Abraham, God of the living and the dead. We, your children stand before you,today, Pleading to save us from an impending danger. Tell us oh Lord. Whatever demonic spirit it may be, save us. Surround us with your Holy Spirit. Be with us and guide us. Let your angels surround this home and be with the children. Bless them. Do not lead them into temptation but deliver them form evil. Amen.

And the next words that he uttered were.... "THE EVIL ONE WANTS RIA"

Sandra: What do we do now sir?

Priest: Nothing to fear kid. Evelin loves Ria so much. Night is the only time when Evelin stays with Ria. She was unable to do that when you people came in here. So she stared at you in the beginning and it went on to be strange. That's all. Everything will be fine as soon as you ALL leave home.

Sandra: Let us all leave tonight.

Cathy: What? Are you crazy?

Sandra: No, just a weirdo. We are going.

The Priest left us and asked us to call him if there was any problem. All of us called our parents and informed them that we were coming home that night.

Sandra: People.. We are leaving by 8:00 pm.

Sarah: That ,sans we'l reach Drake by 4:00 am.

Christoble: Exactly.

Cathy: It is already 7:30 pm. Time to leave. Pack up.

Sandra: Ria, listen. We'll go home and call you. You may sleep in peace. Tell us if you had any problem. Is that okay?

Ria: Fine, so fine. Thanks for coming home and thanks for giving me some good time.

Cathy: Pleasure.

Christoble: Uncle and aunt.. We're leaving. Bye. Thanks for everything that you gave us here. Will join you people soon.

We waved our hands and left. We reached our homes by 4:00 am as expected. Our parents were waiting. But before leaving I called Ria. We spoke to her. She said everything way fine. We left home with our parents. They were delighted to see us. So were we. ON CLOUD NINE...!

I reached home in 10 minutes and I hit my sac in a couple of minutes. I didn't even change my dress. I slept in a couple of minutes and I woke up in 15 minutes. But why? That was because..... I HAD A DREAM 😮

Wanna know the dream? Watch out for the next Daring series. Don't you DARE to wait for the next one.....

DARE TO DREAM

DARE TO DREAM

Dare To Dream