1 Nightmares

Ashley opened her eyes abruptly. She was covered in sweat and was panting. The nightmares were becoming scarier each day. She never used to have nightmares but all of a sudden she started having them and they refused to let her go, they refused to stop.

She looked up at the time and saw that it was still four in the morning. Outside the tiny window of her room was still covered in darkness. When she calmed down a bit from the troubling dream she had, the sleep had already left her eyes, she couldn't sleep again.

Ashley lay back on her mattress and looked up at the ceiling, thinking about these dreams that have been haunting her since she clocked nineteen. She was going to be twenty one in five months time and she just didn't understand why the same nightmares would disturb and haunt someone for that long, it was almost two good years!

Or could there be a reason for the nightmares, could it be a message or warning something or someone is trying to pass to her? She had no idea.

Ashley sighed in frustration and wiped off her sweat.

She still had quite a while before she got up to get ready for work as it was a Monday. The sleep had completely left her and she just kept staring at the ceiling, now thinking about nothing in particular.

When it was almost six in the morning, that was when she started to doze off. She slept a little bit and just as she was starting to enjoy the sleep, her alarm rang startling her.

"Gosh, you could have at least waited." The frustrated Ashley grumbled and turned the thing off.

Ashley crawled out of her mattress and slid into the bathroom. She was lucky that this apartment she lived in at least had water supply, if not getting water would be super hard for her. The apartment she lived in only had a room and a bathroom with a small kitchen because that was what she could afford.

After she got out of the bathroom, she slid into a black gown, combed her black curly hair smoothly and put on her shoes. She picked her bag up afterwards and dashed out of the house when she saw that it was about fifteen minutes to seven. She was supposed to resume work by 7am and she knew she was going to be late again today.

Ashley worked at a restaurant in town where she earned a pretty good amount of money, that was even how she was able to get an apartment in the first place. She was at least grateful she had a job as good as that for now. How she survived before she got this job three years ago she couldn't explain, she just knows that she survived and is still surviving.

Ashley got to work a few minutes past seven as she had to walk down. It wasn't exactly so far from where she lived but she managed to be late again. When she got in, she met Natalie, her co worker and best friend. The lady had already done part of the cleaning and was dusting the chairs when Ashley got in.

"Good morning Natalie." Ashley greeted.

"Ashley, you know you're late right?" Natalie replied her with a slight frown on her face.

"I know, it's just… I didn't mean to be late." She said starting to wear her apron

"You're lucky madam isn't around." Natalie said.

Ashley just sighed and joined her in dusting the chairs.

Soon after, customers started trooping in and they got so busy for the day, serving meals here and there and clearing dishes. They hardly even had time to take a break. Ashley was already used to all the work, she just tried as much as possible to be nice to customers even though some customers could be so annoying. But there was something people be say; Customers are always right. So she tried as much as possible to be nice. So she wouldn't even lose her job. 

And she had also gotten used to the way they were. Sometimes it didn't even bother her when people started their blabbing. But the day had been going on well so far, all the customers seemed to be nice today. Ashley felt kind of relieved that she didn't have to deal with blabbermouths today.

It was in the evening when work had ended for the day that Ashley's boss Cassandra came in. The girls were clearing the dishes on some tables when someone walked in, they wanted to tell the person that they were closed for the day when they noticed it was their boss.

"Good evening ma'am," they greeted.

"Evening girls, any problems today?" Cassandra asked them both.

"No ma'am." Natalie answered.

"I see, well I'm glad. You may wash up and leave when you're done." Cassandra said walking away. The girls only nodded.

'What a boring day again' Ashley thought to herself after she had parted ways with Natalie and she walked to her house.

Now she was leaving a worked up and stressed day to go back to the nightmares that were already waiting for her. The thought of it made her hate sleep. When it was day, she wished it will never end but she always got disappointed. She had never opened up to anyone about these strange dreams that disturbed her, she felt they would only see her as something else so she kept it to herself. What else could she do?

While walking she thought she heard something, It was so faint but it sounded like a cry. She wasn't sure. She looked around and shook her head when she couldn't sight anything, she was probably mishearing.

God, what was even wrong with her?

She increased her walking pace but then she heard the sound again, a little bit louder this time and it sounded like a cry or a howl from an animal. Or maybe so she thought. Putting on her torch light she looked around her while walking. Ashley wasn't far away from her house now and after a while she got home safely. She felt relieved as she unlocked the door to her apartment and got in. 

She dropped her bag on the chair by the side and got out of her dress, she then freshened up and changed into pajamas. Then she settled on her mattress on the floor and laid down. She didn't feel like sleeping at all but there was nothing she could do. No matter how she tried the sleep would still get her and the usual will follow. Sometimes she tried reading a book to distract herself from the nightmares she usually would be thinking about but when she slept nothing changed.

Ashley sighed and got up then went over to the chair and sat down. She didn't even have a smartphone yet, even though she was planning on buying one, she would have used it as a distraction instead of reading the books all the time. All she had was some tiny button phone that was so out of date. Ashley stared out the window and looked at the moon that could be seen clearly. It was a full moon tonight and she couldn't help but wonder about the cry she heard on her way home. If it was an animal what animal could it even be? A wolf? A coyote? If those animals were around here then she had to be more careful.

Ashley felt so tired so she went back to the mattress and lay down then she closed her eyes to sleep. She couldn't resist the sleep any longer, she really needed it, even though she ended up waking up from the same sleep that she needed panting. This night again as usual the nightmares visited her.

Ashley found herself in a dark room standing alone. She looked around scared and then felt like she wasn't in the dark room alone before seeing someone standing in front of her. The body looked masculine and it seemed whoever was standing there had his back facing her. Ashley couldn't see the person clearly because he somehow blended with the darkness, as if no one was there and she couldn't help but wonder how that was even possible. There was also something so strange she felt about the person in the room with her. 

"Hello," Ashley called but got no reply.

She took a step forward like a force was pulling her towards the masculine figure standing there. She felt scared but took another step. If he was real did he not know someone was behind him, why was he just standing there like a dead man? She wondered.

Then she got to him and raised her hand to touch him. Ashley hesitated when her hand was almost on his shoulder. She should not just touch him, what if he was really a dead man? But she let go and touched him. Then ever so slowly, the man turned back and...

"Arrrrgghhh," Ashley screamed getting up, she was so scared that she trembled slightly. The face! This nightmare was a totally new and different one. She usually saw herself being chased by some creatures she couldn't describe and at the end they caught up with her. But this, this was new, and the face was something else.

Hmph!

Honestly she was fed up of all this. How long did this want to continue? She already had enough troubles why did nightmares have to be added and they refused to even stop. This night again it was even scarier. She hadn't even slept for long and she had this how did she want to spend the rest of the night?