Flash Fic Party, Day 9: Verdus!

Verdus is really racing along with NaNo so far. It's awesome to watch his word count climb; those rare times I catch up and get ahead of him while he's doing silly unnecessary things, like sleeping or going to work? Also awesome.

(Sorry, Verdus, you already got the long intro last week. Plus, my brains are fried. Would you like ketchup with that?)

Author: Verdus
Word count: 901
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I screamed as I woke up, sitting straight up in bed. My heart was beating so fast and I couldn't catch my breath no matter how hard I tried. For a second I thought I was gonna have a heart attack like Grandpa had, and that just scared me even more. After a minute or so, though, my heart started to calm down a little, even though I was still scared.

But what of? I couldn't remember! I knew I must have had a dream or something, seeing as how I was still in bed and all, but I couldn't remember anything about it. Running from something, maybe? Whatever I'd been doing in the dream, it must've been pretty tough, otherwise why would I be so drenched in sweat like I was? It was all soaked into my sleeping bag too, yuck. Probably all the way through to the mattress padding underneath, even.

That's when I noticed my mom standing in the doorway, staring at me. It was dark, but I could still see a little bit thanks to the starlight coming in through the cracks in the wall patches. I couldn't understand why she was just staring at me like that, with her mouth hanging open, looking so scared.
"Mom? What's wrong?" I asked her.

She stared at me for another second or two, then stuttered out, "N-Nothing, dear, it's fine. Go back to sleep, Brian." She still looked like she'd seen a ghost or something, though. Why was she lying to me? I tried to ask her again what was going on, but she just motioned for me to stay put, then swung the broken door closed. I was so confused, confused and scared. Was it my dream, was that what scared her? How could she know what it was about? I didn't even know!

I started hearing my mom and dad talk from their room down the hall, but I couldn't make out the words yet. Our house was one of the less-damaged ones in the village, but even it had plenty of cracks and holes in the walls to hear through. At least our roof was mostly intact, not like Jimmy and his parents next door.

They started talking louder then, I guess now that my dad was starting to wake up more. I still couldn't hear most of what they were saying, but he was definitely scared too. My dad wasn't scared of anything, though. What did I do?! I wanted so badly to run over there and ask them, but I was scared that I'd start to cry.

"...saw it, Gerald! It was... dream, I'm... right there!" I only got bits and pieces of what my mom was saying. I'd never heard her this scared before, and it sent shivers up my spine.

"This can't... only twelve for God's..." my dad answered sadly. The only time I'd ever heard him sound like that was when Uncle Ron had died.

After a few moments of quiet, my mom said, "What are... to do? ...remember what... to the Rylands..." If they said anything else after that, I didn't hear it. I knew then what they were talking about. Oh God, no, I'm sorry, no, please.

A long time ago, everyone in the village had gotten angry with Mrs. Ryland about some dream she'd had. Some of them wanted to run the Rylands out of town, but the rest of them were scared what would happen without Mr. Ryland around as a doctor.

Two nights later, everyone could hear screaming coming from their house. I wanted to go out and help them, but mom and dad wouldn't let me. They got me and my sister in their room, and we sat up and prayed all night. I don't even remember whether we were praying for them or us, I was so scared. The next morning, we all found their house melted. Not burned or smashed or blown up, but melted like a chocolate bar left out in the sun. Nobody would tell me where Mr and Mrs Ryland were. I was too young to know at the time, but they must've died in there, melted with the house maybe.

"Is that going to happen to me too?!" I thought. Was I going to melt my family and my house? All because I'd had a stupid dream, like Mrs. Ryland had? I didn't even know what I'd been dreaming about! No, I couldn't do that to them, I wouldn't!

Mom and dad were still in their room, and had changed from talking to arguing. They didn't hear me filling my backpack with my clothes and other stuff. No, I wouldn't hurt my family, not like that!

With my backpack stuffed full, I dashed out of my room, running headlong towards the front door. I thought I heard my dad call out and start to come after me, but I didn't listen. I'd take my chances with the wasteland and the monsters, I thought. Better that than turn my family to goo. Better this way. I kept telling myself that as I sprinted off into the night beyond the village, tears streaming down my face.