Chapter Six :ECHOES OF NIGHTMARES

LILA POV

“What are you trying to say, Mom?” Elara screamed.

“Noooooooo!” her scream sliced the air, more throaty and deep.

My heart started thudding. I woke up in a panic. I glanced at Elara’s bed. She wiggled her arms under the covers and her forehead was dotted with beads of sweat and she trapped tufts of hair in her cheeks.

“Elara!” I called, my voice hoarse. She didn’t move. She reached for the air with both hands as if she was pushing something away.

“No… please… don’t…” she panted breathlessly.

“Was she dreaming? I rubbed my eyes to shake away sleep but Elara’s wide-eyed panicked face snapped me fully awake.

“Elara, wake up!” I reached across and grabbed her shoulder. I shook her a little. “It’s a dream. You’re safe. Wake up!”

I told Elara to wake up and I exhaled and flopped back in my bed. I was almost swallowed by blackness as my eyelids felt heavy. I was half asleep again when I heard Elara screaming. Her screams were more desperate and urgent than the previous ones that night.

“No! Get away from me!” her voice was breaking.

I was awake. The thump of Elara’s screams reverberated through my brain and thumped against my ribs. I removed the blankets and clumsily crawled toward her bed. Her legs struck motion as moonlight danced across her perspiration-drenched skin.

“Ahhhh,” I started laughing with my voice cracking. “This has to be a joke,” I wheezed, but I stuttered on the words when I saw her face scrunch up in terror. She swallowed hard and her eyes remained tightly shut and tears slid down her face.

“Elara!” I shouted, pulling her shoulders and shaking her a little. “Elara, wake up! It’s me—wake up!”

“No! Let me go! Please!” she screamed again. Her voice was hoarse.

“Elara!” I shouted even louder this time and my own voice cracked. “You’re dreaming! Wake up! Elara!”

I shook Elara as hard as I dared with my hands gripping her shoulders. “Elara! Wake up!” I shouted.

She cracked her eyes open wide without blinking and she gasped for breath like a drowning person coming up for air. She sat up straight in the bed as if she was ready to launch off it and almost knocked me over in the process.

“Elara, what’s wrong?” I asked quietly, careful with my voice as I hunkered down next to her bed.

She didn’t respond to me. At the bed's edge she twirled her fingers through her hair while shuddering as her surroundings started to swim. She made an effort to concentrate yet her visual perception remained blank.

"Ar… ar… ar…" she cried, each word forced out in a ragged breath. Beading sweat fell from her chin and dropped to the ground with a light plop.

I placed my hand on her back as I pleaded, "Elara, talk to me.” “What did you see? What happened?”

She shook her head and her eyes became glossy with tears that broke free and flowed down her cheeks. Her voice cracked and rough as she managed to speak “I saw him.” “He was here… he was here in the room…”

My footsteps carried me toward Elara as I felt the bed groan beneath my weight when I sat down. I massaged her back in expanding circles which grew more rapid her body reacted with shivering tremors.

“It’s okay,” I whispered, voice low and soothing. “You’re safe now. I’m here.”

Quick, uneven breaths escaped her mouth as she rapidly searched dark corners around the room for hidden threats.

“Do you want some water?”I murmured and swept a damp curl of hair from her brow.

A rapid spasm of her neck served as her only reply because she couldn't speak but clamped her teeth on her lip instead.

“Okay, okay. Hold on,” I said, springing up out of the bed. My bare feet received stinging bites from icy tiles as I raced through them across the floor to grab a cup and retrieve water from the fridge. Water sloshed inside the cup when I spun around while my quivering hands caused some of it to leak onto the floor.

“Elara this is for you,” I said quietly while presenting the cup in my hand before resettling next to her. “Sip it, little sips.”

The trembling hand she extended made the cup shake as she lifted it toward her mouth.

“Thank you…” She moaned, after swallowing, voice hoarse.

“Do you want to tell me what you saw?” I asked quietly, staring into her pale face.

Elara didn’t answer. With trembling fingers she handed back the water cup while her eyes stayed unfocused and glassy. She got up from bed silently and crawled to her own bed while curling up as if she were a frightened child. She drifted back into sleep with her breathing pattern becoming slow and regular.

My fingers gripped the half-filled water cup as an eerie quiet crept through the room for several seconds. My head moved side to side as I attempted to accept what had just occurred in complete disbelief.

“Was that really just a nightmare?” I mumbled, casting one last look at Elara’s peaceful face.

I placed the water cup on the nightstand before getting back into bed and pulling the blanket up to my chin. All I could do after all those questions and the bizarre nature of everything was close my eyes in sleep because exhaustion overwhelmed me.

Or so it seemed.

The instant I shut my eyes to sleep the quiet room erupted with noise:

“Awoooooooo…”

A shadow in the distance outside made a long, mournful howl. A deep hollow sound carried ancient untamed energy that made my neck hairs stand up. The sound echoed through the trees outside of our dormitory while trembling silence surrounded the air.

I gasped, eyes flinging open as my heart thudded in my chest. “What the hell was that?” I hissed, voice shaking.

I quickly sat up in bed with my ears listening attentively to the quiet space and waiting for the sound to return. The night had been eerily quiet. Too quiet. I bolted out of my bed and stepped out onto the cold floor tiles, moving closer to the window.

I breathed out "This has never happened here… not in this dorm," my voice trembling with incredulity.

I opened the window latch before forcing it open. A draft from outdoors brought in the clean scents of pine and wet soil at the window. Leaves rustled quietly – then ceased all movement.

“Awooooo…”

The second howl lacked volume yet the proximity suggested something was stealthily moving through the nearby trees.

“Elara… did you hear that?” I called back over my shoulder, my voice low but intense.

She did not move. Under her blanket Elara curled up with deep breaths while remaining oblivious to the night's bone-chilling howl.

I moved away from the window as my racing heart persisted and crawled beneath the blanket. Under the blanket my body was tense as I quickly scanned the ceiling while shadows moved under the faint moonlight.

With the howl gone silent and the wind motionless, the room became filled with a suffocating quietude that made hearing my heartbeat seem almost possible.

I knew I was awake. This was happening.

"Kkk," A soft knock broke the silence.

A terrifying thought flashed through my mind and I felt my breath catch. I got scared immediately.

“What if whatever made that howl… is already inside?