The She Wolf and the Lamb

Chapter 3: The She Wolf and the Lamb

In the night, as soon as she let the soft blanket and mattress envelope her, April Rose had fallen quickly into deep slumber. It was indeed a long and exhausting day, and even though her head's still caught up about having a nightmare on her first night at the academy, a small part of her consciousness managed to convince herself that she wouldn't be having one; however, it would only take a few hours before she experienced another episode.

In her dream, April Rose woke up inside a cabin in the middle of the woods. It was the exact same cabin she's been finding herself in ever since she began having these dreams. The cabin had no doors except for a single window, which served as the only means of escape. She propped herself up to discover a round table right before her. At first, it was just an empty table, but as soon as she blinked her eyes, something popped up on top of it. April Rose moved to take a closer look and was swiftly mortified to see a tiny lamb dripping in blood. She thought the lamb was already dead, but then it began to twitch until eventually it made a crying sound. Startled by the lamb's cry, April Rose jumped out of bed, and then she heard a low growling noise coming from the shadows.

"Time for your dinner, oh, sweet child!"The deep voice said hoarsely.

"Who's there? Who are you?" April Rose inquired, turning around and trying to check where did the voice came from.

Emerging from the shadows was a towering seven-foot monster drooling with seemingly sticky saliva. April Rose was already frightened, but this time, as the towering, bipedal, bovid-like monster revealed itself, the feeling of fear felt mighty real. Before the monster could even approach April Rose, she had already set her sights on the window for escape.

Jumping out of the window, April Rose found herself running barefoot through the darkened woods. The moon hung ominously in the night sky, casting eerie shadows that seemed to dance around her, mocking her desperate flight to escape. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest, and for a while, it felt like she'd been running for ages, yet she could still hear something following her. The heavy clopping hooves and the guttural snarls of the creature pursuing her reverberated through the woods.

April Rose pushed herself to run as fast as she could until, eventually, she saw a bright light towards the very end. A sliver of hope powered through her veins and made it possible for her shorter limbs to cover more ground than ever before. Reaching the light, she later found a group of people all wearing the same red robe, and it seemed like they were having a delightful campfire. This was certainly something she hadn't seen before in her dreams.

"HELP! HELP!!"She yelled at the top of her lungs, eventually throwing herself towards the nearest person.

"Why? What's wrong?"The person inquired, catching her by the arm.

"Please help me! Something's following me!"

For some reason, April Rose couldn't see the person's face; it was just a shadow, but that doesn't matter; all she could think of was escaping the creature following her. For a while, she felt safe until more people got close to where she was, all of them wearing the same shadowy face.

"But why would you run from our Lord? "

Suddenly, the safety she thought she had found never truly existed, and the next thing she knew, she was being held tight and carried towards the fire pit.

"Put me down!" She cried loudly, but it seemed like nobody could hear her wailing like the hopeless woman that she is. She tried to struggle, but she doesn't possess enough strength to break free. She felt totally powerless inside her dreams. Terror gripped her as she realized there was no escape. Eventually, she found herself tied up to a pole, and as she looked down at her feet, fire was already creeping up. "No, no, no!"She screamed once again. She then noticed all of the people in red robes huddled up right in front of her, they were chanting what seemed to be phrases in a language she couldn't understand.

April Rose screamed and wailed at the top of her lungs, but for some reason, her voice seemed to be a muffled sound. The chanting became louder and faster. Eventually, with a blood-curdling scream, she woke up trembling in horror and sweating profusely. It took her a moment to realize everything was just a product of another nightmare and that she was safe. She knew it was a nightmare, but it was the exact same nightmare that she's been having, with the exception of the people clad in red robes in the final moments. She quickly looked around, and she was surprised that she was still inside her new room with her vampire roommate still cozily in her very own slumber. Everything seemed normal. This was the first time she did not wake up in the middle of the woods after having had an episode of a nightmare.

She jumped out of bed and was momentarily startled to feel the coldness of the floor. It felt like a huge change in comparison to the feeling of the hard and earthy ground of the forest floor on her bare feet.

Maybe this was going to be the start of a change, she thought. Perhaps being in a different environment would mean her nightmares would eventually go away as the days passed. And if the horrific nightmares don't go away, then at least they shouldn't be the same thing over and over again.

April Rose went on her toes and quietly walked out of the room, hoping to find some fresh air for herself. She needed to breathe. She needed to distract her mind. She needed to let the memory of her nightmare fade away, even though she knew she wouldn't forget it.