It's just a bad dream

There it was. That cry again.

It was more like a wailing than crying.

Ana wasn't able to point out what or who it was but it was so unnerving and bothering. But, she was helpless to do anything about it. 

She wasn't in a better position herself either. She was in a dark room, chained by her wrists and ankles. There was a huge shackle around her neck not letting her even take a step forward. Though she tried so hard to free herself up, she couldn't move and the more she tried, it only made things worse.

She rubbed her eyes again and again and tried to see what was in front of her, but all she found was a cloud of darkness shrouding everything in mystery. She felt alone there with nobody else but the darkness for company.

Nothing could escape that, especially Ana in that weakened state. She tried to shout so that whoever was crying could hear her and feel consoled that they were not alone in there. But she couldn't speak and more precisely she couldn't even feel her tongue. She slumped down in defeat and waited for whatever awaited.

That place was nothing new to her. She'd been trapped in there since childhood. Every single day after she went into a deep sleep, she dreamt of this place. The howls, wailing, the pungent smell.

The same thing every day, but the horror somehow felt different each day and made her cower in fear. Ana might feel strong when she was awake, but what happens during her nightmares were beyond her control and she felt like a small little kid hiding from a monster every time she was in there.

She felt trapped forever with no means of escape, she tried yanking on her chain with brutal force, trying to shout, moving around but nothing worked.

There was definitely someone else just like her who'd been down there and was crying incessantly. She wanted to find that out as soon as possible.

Suddenly, the wailing stopped and everything was very quiet.

Ana tilted her head in all directions trying to get a sense of what happened, but she could neither see nor hear anything. There was an eerie quietness now engulfing everything, making things more mysterious than it was.

Was that person taken somewhere else? Were they dead? What was happening?

She observed quietly for a few minutes. Someone was coming! She felt all the hair raising on the nape of her neck and a chill run down her spine. 

She heard faint footsteps coming from a distance along with a scrapping sound of a metal touching the surface of iron. Who was it? Were they coming to kill her too?

Ana was terrified and all her insides were churning in terror. She suddenly tasted salt on her lips and realized that she had been crying. This was too much to handle and she really wished she was dead instead.

Who were they? Why were they torturing her like this instead of just killing her?

The small little tap that vibrated and resonated throughout the place sounded very nearby now. She gulped in fear and felt her whole body go rigid at the sound of scrapping. She desperately wanted to escape from this monstrosity and pulled on her chains like a mad person but it didn't budge an inch. She was only getting more scratches on herself than doing herself any favour.

She heard a growl so strong and angry that it made her heart beat out of her ribs. What was that? An animal? 

She was more scared than ever and tried to bring some courage by convincing herself that all this was just a dream. But even she knew it felt too real for that and when she wanted to wake up she felt that her body was too anchored to the moment and rigid from panic to do anything.

The footsteps were very clear approaching nearby and a small click opened the door to where she was held. A sudden blast of light instantly blinded her and scorched her face when she started crying out in fear!

"Arrggghhhh!", Ana shouted and jolted awake, sitting upright on her couch, completely covered in sweat!

She was clutching her chest and felt a tightness spreading throughout her body. The wetness on her cheeks indicated that she was actually crying the whole time.

The same damn nightmare again!

She sat up properly on her couch and caught her breath for a while calming herself down and convincing that it was just a nightmare and none of it were true.

But even Ana knew she was only fooling herself.

The intensity of her nightmare increased as she grew up, and it never seemed to stop. She felt as if part of her was really locked up in a dark prison, feeling helpless, awaiting torture and death.

The horrible pain she felt in her body, the weird wailings that pierced her ears, the panic building inside her, every single thing felt too much true to be ignored. Her parents made her consult doctors, shamans, shrinks everyone since childhood, but nobody could provide a medication or a solution to her problem.

But fortunately or unfortunately she never knew what happened after the bright light, because she always bolted awake right after. This could well be just a dream, but how could she ignore it when it highjacked her sleep almost every day.

She wondered if she was reliving some horrible memory from childhood, but when confronted about it, her parents denied that she had never once been kidnapped or chained her entire life.

Not to deny, she also used her resources to find out if any such prisons existed, but even in the most dangerous prisons, they didn't put on shackles on someone's neck or cut their tongue. That was just too cruel.

She slowly dragged herself across the living room to the dining area, tiptoeing not to wake pepper, and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. Since the breakup, everything had been falling apart in her life. She was concerned that she might be getting broken inside day by day and wanted to get her life back on track as soon as possible.

Finally, after calming down for some time, she entered the restroom to wash her face. A very tired pair of pale blue eyes and dull face stared back at her through the mirror.

Her fair complexion of skin was faded and exhausted right at that moment. She took a handful of her blond hair and tucked it into a top bun and splashed cold water on her face, making herself feel alive.

She once again reassured herself that it was only just a dream and she shouldn't worry much about it. She cleaned her face and went to sleep in her bedroom.

It was already three in the morning. Since she had promised her friend, she must at least show up to work the next day. Otherwise, the entire pity party will be at her doorstep and she definitely didn't want that.

Ana decided to try and get some sleep for a couple of hours until the big day where she had to face real life which would be much more cruel than the nightmare.