7 Night-mean!

"So you think you can just walk into my house, unannounced, after so many days?" The woman questioned. She retraced her footsteps after to put the hot bowl she was carrying onto the dining table just near the supposed kitchen. The table was already filled with various cutleries and dishes.

"Don't I have an unannounced access to this place anymore?"

The woman turned around to stare at the grinning man. "This isn't your house, remember?"

"Come off it mom, I've missed you a lot,"

"Young man, you've missed me yet you deliberately decided to cut all forms of communication, not even a text.... for three weeks?"

"It wasn't deliberate, I swear. My job really has been tedious these past weeks..."

The woman shook her head in a singsong manner. "There we go again... If it's not work, it's work again. I hope you realize you're no longer a kid, Ryan. It's time for you to settle down and start a family. For God's sake, you've turned thirty. Don't you want me to have a grandchild soon or is it when I'm all grey before that signals into your head?" she lamented.

Ryan face palmed himself. The usual 'go-get-married,-you're-getting-old' session was starting again. "Please, not today, mom."

"Then when? I'll keep saying this until you do the right thing,"

"Just so you know, I'm seeing someone already."

"The literal seeing or what?" she had to ask.

A sigh escaped his lips. "I'm in a relationship," he announced.

The woman heaved an apparent sigh of relief after hearing that. "I think I can now be assured of a grandchild,"

He bent to pick up the brown paper bag from the sofa, heading to where she was standing. His tall frame overshadowed her average height as he stood in front of her. While stretching his hand towards her with the paper bag in it, he said, "Have this mom,"

"What's in it?" the woman inquired.

"Your pills... I made a thorough calculation and realized you'll be out of them this week. With that, I decided to buy a new collection," he explained.

"Isn't that sweet of you? Remembering your dear old mother's health..." the woman let out sarcastically and turned her back towards him as she began heading back to the kitchen.

He immediately seized advantage of her motion and hugged her tightly from behind. "I'm sorry mon, do you want to stay angry at your sweet son forever?"

At first, the woman protested as she struggled to free herself from the embrace. But she later gave in to her annoying son's demand.

"Do you want me to choke me death, you silly boy?" In between the embrace, she let out and the man immediately freed his arms from her body.

"Gosh, mom, what recipes have you been spicing up lately? You've gained a lot of weight already!"

The woman finally revealed a smile for the first time. "Have I? I think that's great. By the way, how is the relationship with the new girl going?"

"We're good... Trying to make it work but truthfully, it's been good. It's been well over a month now we began the relationship,"

"That's good to hear," the woman replied and strolled into the kitchen with the man trailing behind her. "So, she got a name?"

"Yup... Lily," he told her as he took a glimpse of the dining room before getting into the kitchen. "Why do you have that much dishes on the table? You expecting someone else?" he asked the woman.

"As you can see, I am. It's the neighbors, I invited them over. Fortunately, I cooked in excess or else you wouldn't see anything to eat out of this," the woman took off the gloves from her hands then grabbed a dish and handed it over to the man who willingly accepted it.

She turned over to the man's direction, ready to leave the kitchen but the man simply stood in her path, briefly staring at her.

He looked at Helen Stones' semi-robust face which once harbored an epitome of beauty in her youth. Slight wrinkles were now mounting up on the brown skin but still managed to distinguish her from others in their fifties. Deep brown eyes, one he took after, were embodied atop a small nose and pink lips.

"Young man, will you please move from the way? I'm heading to my room for a bit," the woman said then stopped. Immediately, she snatched the brown paper bag from the man's hand. "I'll be taking this,"

.....

"RYAN!!!"

The man jolted up from his sleep in haste. Fear was visibly written on his face. He was sweating profusely to the extent that his light silk shirt was drenched... in this supposed cold season!?

Two days had passed, but he was having the same nightmare.... Again!

He was what? Dying? No, that can't be possible. That was just another, maybe a reprising nightmare. There shouldn't be any significance attached to it.

He shook his head repeatedly, probably to clear his mind off the nightmare. Taking the sheet off his body, he stood up from the bed in the dark room and headed for the light switch. After pressing the switch, the plain room became bright and he went back to his bed to sit.

"Okay," he sighed as he began muttering to himself. "Let's get this straight. This dream isn't just ordinary."

He thought and thought about it before picking up his phone from the bedside cabinet. A tap on the screen revealed a lakeshore wallpaper and the bold digital time with the date underneath it – Exactly 3:50 am.

Something popped up in his mind. Instantly, he swiped the screen to reveal another menu. He proceeded to hit the search button which was atop the screen and typed 'Significance of dying in your dream'. The first result came out. A certain article titled 'What do dreams about death mean?'. He clicked on the article and was directed to the page.

Scrolling through the contents, he began reading a certain part:

'First off, can you actually die in your dreams?

...I've heard the rumor that you can't actually die in your dreams, because that would mean a total loss of the ego...'

He skipped the remaining contents of that part and scrolled down.

'IASD states that:

"Many people have dreamed that they died or hit bottom in a fall and they have lived to tell the tale! You can explore the meaning of these kinds of images just as you would explore any others that might occur in your dreams." '

"Hmph," he seemed more interested in the article as he nodded his head and continued to scroll down to read the long detailed information.

'So what do dreams about your own death mean?

...dreams about death often indicate the symbolic ending of something, whether that's a phase, a job or a relationship. It does not, however, suggest that a person will actually die imminently.

To die in your dream symbolizes inner changes, transformation, self-discovery and positive development that is happening within you or your life. You are undergoing a transitional phase and are becoming more enlightened or spiritual... Dreams of experiencing your own death usually means that big changes are ahead for you. You are moving on to new beginnings and leaving the past behind. These changes does not necessarily imply a negative turn of events.'

Finally, he had gotten the points he needed, but he was left in a difficult state as he put the phone on the bed. He wanted answers but he got more questions.

If truly the dream was related to the article, then was he going through a new phase in his life? What new phase was he actually going through, spiritual or Enlightened? Was he moving to a new beginning? Truthfully, the thing didn't make much sense to him.

Having no other thing to think of, he decided to send a text to his jerk of a friend, maybe he had an idea about the whole thing. But he doubted if Matthew would. He decided to give it a try anyway.

``Matthew, what do you know about death in a dream?``

Soon as he sent the message, he put the phone on the cabinet so as to drift back to an hour minimum of sleep before the dawn starts to emit. He had just laid his head on the soft pillow when a chiming sound rang out from the phone. Picking up the phone, he checked the reason behind the sound on the bright screen. It was a message from Matthew.

``Who is this? The real Ryan or the ghost Ryan?``

"Gosh! Where did I get such a human as a friend from?" he groaned as he read the text. Typing into the phone, he sent a reply.

``What are you doing up at this time?``

After a minute, another message came in.

``What are you also doing up at this time?``

He exasperatingly replied.

``Just answer the d*mn question, Matthew!``

``You know what, let's talk about it at work. I can't start writing up a long text over the phone. There's a lot to say.``

``Fine.``

As he turned off the phone screen with the power button, his mind took him back to the initial thought of Matthew coming up with something tangible. Although Matthew might be smart, the idiot could just be pulling his legs again. But, it's worth a try, he deduced.

There was one point he was missing but he wasn't conscious of: He couldn't recollect the other contents of the dream!