Chapter Three: The Dream That Wouldn't Stay Dead

(Rhett's POV)

Rhett hit the ground hard.

At least, that’s what it felt like.

In the dream, he was sprinting through a forest far thicker than anything in Winsdale, trees twisted like they’d grown from nightmares instead of soil. His lungs burned. His legs shook. And behind him—gods, behind him—he could hear it again. That growl. That bone-deep snarl that sounded like a building collapsing, metal grinding, the earth itself groaning in fury.

His feet slammed against the forest floor as he ran. He couldn’t see the sky, only those towering black pines swallowing whatever light existed. A shadow barreled behind him—faster, bigger, angrier than any creature had a right to be.

He didn’t look back. He didn’t have to. He knew she was coming.

The silver-haired werewolf from the woods.

Her teeth flashed in the dark, her eyes bright, feral, glowing green like wildfire.

He stumbled. The world tilted. The beast lunged—he felt her claws skim his shoulder, felt hot breath on the back of his neck—

And then—

He died.

Or he should have.

Because that was the moment he jolted awake with a gasp so sharp it sliced his lungs.

Rhett sat upright instantly, heart punching against his ribs, chest rising and falling in fast, uneven breaths. Sweat clung to his skin despite the cold morning air drifting from the cracked window. For a second—just a second—he could still feel it: trees towering above him, claws reaching, breath burning.

Then the room came back into focus.

His room. His soft sheets. The faint yellow glow of sun slipping under the curtains.

And—

“Rhett?” a sleepy voice murmured beside him.

Ava pushed herself up on one elbow, hair messy, face soft and half-awake. She blinked at him through eyelids still heavy with sleep.

“Hey,” she whispered gently, “you okay? You woke up like you were fighting for your life.”

“I—” Rhett swallowed. His throat felt tight. “Just a nightmare.”

“About what? Your drone getting stolen again?” she teased.

He let out a breath. A real one this time. The tension broke enough for his mouth to curve into a small, tired smile.

“Yeah,” he said, exhaling. “Maybe something like that.”

Ava scooted closer and put her cool hand against his cheek. “Babe, you’re safe. No forest monsters are coming to snatch your precious drone. I mean, unless you’ve secretly angered the woodland community.”

He huffed a laugh. Just like that, the dream began dissolving—breaking apart, turning hazy.

Ava had that effect on him. She could take the worst nightmare and crush it under one joke.

“You’re ridiculous,” he murmured, brushing a strand of her hair back.

“And you’re sweaty,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “Gross. But I love you, so you get a pass.”

He laughed again and leaned forward, kissing her deeply. Long, slow, grounding.

She kissed back—then pulled away suddenly, poking his chest. “Okay but seriously, you haven’t brushed your teeth yet. Have some mercy.”

“You kissed me first,” he shot back.

“Because I love you, not because I love your morning breath.”

He lunged playfully.

Ava squealed and scrambled out of the bed. “Rhett! No! I’m serious!”

He chased her around the room anyway, half laughing, half pretending to be offended, until she darted behind the dresser like it offered her protection.

“Stay back, beast!” she shouted, brandishing a pillow.

“Oh please. You married the beast.”

“Engaged,” she corrected smugly. “And not if you keep attacking me with your unwashed mouth.”

He grinned widely—and that’s when his phone rang.

Ava peeked over the edge of the dresser. “Saved by the bell.”

Rhett grabbed the phone off the nightstand, glancing at the screen.

“Work,” he muttered.

“Ramos or the office?”

“The office.”

He answered. “Yeah?… You need me now?… Alright, alright, I’m coming.”

He ended the call and sighed.

Ava stepped out from behind the dresser. “Duty calls?”

“Apparently.”

“Well…” She stretched up and kissed his cheek. “Go be responsible. I’m proud of you.”

“You’re proud of me for going to work?”

“Yes. Because you’re usually allergic to responsibility.”

He laughed again, shook his head, and headed into the bathroom.

He brushed his teeth, splashed cold water onto his face, threw on clean clothes, and grabbed his keys. As he walked toward the door, Ava intercepted him.

“Hey,” she said quietly.

He paused.

She lifted onto her toes, cupped his face, and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “For luck.”

He kissed her back. “I’ll be back in a bit. Don’t go stealing any drones while I’m gone.”

“Oh please. I don’t even touch your gadgets. They look at me like I’m an intruder.”

“You are an intruder,” he said with a grin, backing toward the door.

“Love you!”

“Love you more.”

He shut the door behind him and headed out.

The nightmare was gone from his mind by the time he reached his car.

---

Rhett walked into the workshop with the same familiar hum of machines buzzing in the background. The scent of metal, fuel, and synthetic polymer hung in the air—home.

He waved at a few coworkers, exchanged quick greetings, and made his way to the back where Ramos was hunched over a half-opened engine.

“Morning, sunshine,” Ramos said without looking up.

“Morning.”

“You look like you got stomped by a buffalo,” Ramos added casually.

“Nightmares,” Rhett muttered.

“Oof. Too much whiskey again?”

Rhett paused.

Then sighed. “…Probably.”

Ramos finally glanced at him. “What’d you dream about? Little forest fairies coming to drag you away?”

“Something like that,” Rhett joked. “Anyway, forget it.”

Ramos shrugged and returned to tinkering with the engine. “So hey—how’d the drone test go last night? You get your fancy prototype back?”

Rhett leaned against the worktable. “Yeah… mostly. Some weird stuff happened, though.”

“Define weird.”

He hesitated.

For a moment, images flickered through his mind—the glowing eyes, the enormous shape moving between trees, the feeling of being watched.

But that wasn’t real. Right?

“It’s nothing,” he said. “Probably just me being drunk. Or tired. Or both.”

Ramos snorted. “I told you half your problems start with alcohol.”

“Shut up.”

Rhett reached into his pocket for his phone.

But what he pulled out wasn’t his phone.

It was a shard.

A jagged piece of crystal-like material, shimmering faintly even in the workshop’s dim lighting.

Rhett froze.

He definitely hadn’t put that there.

He held it up slowly. “What the hell…”

Ramos looked over. “What’s that? You stealing expensive rocks now?”

“I… don’t know,” Rhett said. “I don’t even remember grabbing this.”

“Dude, did Ava give it to you?”

“No.”

“Then maybe one of the guys—”

“No one at the shop has anything like this.”

“Maybe,” Ramos said with a shrug, “you’ve been drinking more than you realize.”

Rhett stared at the shard for a long second.

Something about it made his stomach tighten—not fear… but familiarity. A weird, prickling déjà vu he couldn’t place.

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “Maybe you’re right.”

He put the shard back in his pocket and forced himself to stop thinking about it.

The rest of the morning passed normally. Work, jokes, test runs, fixing faulty sensors. Enough normalcy to wipe away every trace of the strange feeling buzzing at the back of his skull.

If only it had stayed that way.

---

By late afternoon, Rhett hopped back into his car with a yawn, ready to get home to Ava, ready for a normal evening without weird dreams or mysterious glowing rocks.

He drove down Winsdale Road, humming along to a song on the radio.

Then he reached the familiar curve.

The one leading past the woods.

The same woods he’d gone into two nights ago.

The woods where everything strange had started.

As he drove past the tree line, he slowed down without meaning to. His eyes flicked toward the shadows between the trunks.

Nothing unusual.

Just forest.

But… something tugged at him. A whisper of something forgotten.

Before he could think it through, he pulled the car over.

“What am I doing?” he muttered.

He got out anyway.

The forest air was cold and damp as he stepped inside. The canopy swallowed the sunlight almost instantly. The deeper he walked, the more it felt like the world behind him vanished.

“Stupid,” he grumbled, stepping over a root. “This is the dumbest thing I’ve done in a while.”

He walked further in.

“You’re literally coming back to the place you had a nightmare about. Genius move, Rhett.”

He kicked a fallen branch out of his way. “Why am I even here…?”

Another twenty minutes passed—following no trail, no memory, just instinct.

Eventually, he stopped in the middle of a clearing. Birds whispered in the trees. Wind brushed the leaves. Nothing else.

He exhaled sharply. “Great. Waste of time.”

He turned around.

“Let’s leave before I get—”

A rustle.

Soft, but impossible to ignore.

Rhett’s body went rigid.

Slowly—very slowly—he turned his head.

His breath caught in his throat.

Because standing between the trees…

Just beyond the shadow line…

Was her.

Silver hair.

Green glowing eyes.

Unmistakable.

Unhuman.

“It wasn’t hard locating you.”

Rhett froze completely.

Disbelief washed over him, cold as ice.

The nightmare…

wasn’t a nightmare.

It was her.

She was real.

And she had found him.