The screams were what woke her this time.  Usually she could go an entire night without fully waking up but this time the nightmare had been worse than ever.  In fact, it had not even just been a nightmare but a memory.  She sat up slowly and shut off the switch on her sleeping chamber.  Whatever happened she would not be going back to sleep anytime soon so she might as well conserve energy.  She reached for the bottle of water that she always had sitting by her resting area and took a few long gulps to soothe her scream ravaged vocal chords.  She looked at the opposite side of the room that she shared with her cousin and saw that thankfully she was still asleep and the scremas had not wakened her.

Standing up on still shaky legs, Karen decided that she would go into the living room and watch some tv for a while.  She needed to do something to get the bad thoughts out of her head.  She was glad that she was old enough to live on her own now and did not have to worry about waking up anyone except her roommate.  She closed the door to the bedroom softly behind her and walked over and switched the tv on.  She winced as the volume blared for a minute before she found the remote and lowered it considerably.  She idly flipped through several channels before finding an old episode of a sitcom to watch that would not take too much mental power and then sat down on the couch.  She wrapped the throw from the back of the couch around her legs and curled up as much as she could.  She found herself zoning out after a bit and the memories from her dream filling her head.  Tears ran down her cheeks as she lost herself in her own mind.  

[i]  She had come home late one night after a date, and sat down on the couch for a few minutes to relax before heading off to bed.  She had not meant to fall asleep but she had.  Soon she had started to dream and at first things had been fine.  It was a normal dream and such but it suddenly took a turn and then it became a nightmare.  She started to think about the killer from the movie she had watched and then she was being chased by him.  She managed to run and run and finally thought she was free when he smiled at her and started to fade out with a laugh and she woke with a start.  She heard the screaming then and knew that something was horribly wrong.  She ran towards the stairs and quickly went up them only to see something that could not be true.  Coming out of her parent's room was the killer from her dreams, holding a blade dripping with blood.  She gasped and felt herself grow pale and without thinking, started to move.  She dashed down the hallway, running past the killer and into her twin siblings' room only to find that they had been slaughtered as well.  The 6 year olds were lying half on the bed and half on the floor.  Their bodies had been brutalized and their clothes were in shreds with their throats slit and the fear they had felt in life still present in their dead eyes.  She turned around when she heard a sound behind her and saw the killer standing there with a grin on his hideous face.  He looked just like the killer from the movie, down to the burned and scarred face that made him more monster than man.  He whispered "Thank you for setting me free" before turning and exiting the room.  She did not know why he did not kill her as well.  She stayed frozen on the spot until she heard the front door slam and the sirens from the cop cars pulling up outside.  She heard gunshots and knew that her nightmare was dead but at too great a cost.  She was responsible for the murders of her family.  She was the one that had to live alone knowing it was all her fault.  She slowly sank to the floor and started to cry until the cops came up and found her.  That was when she found out that she carried the dreamer gene; the gene that let a dreamer bring their nightmares to life.  While not everyone had this gene, most people did.  Those who did not were called "Blanks" and were lucky.  They were saved from the consequences that being careless brought about.  They would never know how it felt to kill everyone they loved.  [/i]


Wiping a tear from her face angrily, Karen got to her feet and went into the kitchen.  She started some coffee brewing and tried to forget about everything.  She had been lucky that it was early on and the laws had not gone into effect yet that said that the creators of nightmares were responsible for any actions done by them.  She would be rotting in prison now if that was the case.  Since she had been 15 when the incident happened she had been sent to live with her aunt and uncle.  However, the hate, mistrust and fear that she saw on her aunts and uncles faces as well as the guilt that ate her up inside were something that was constantly with her to punish her worse than any prison ever could.


She sighed and walked back to the couch with her mug of java.  She was just lucky that her cousin had been a bit more tolerant and understanding.  In fact, if it was not for her cousin, Rachel, who as now her roommate, she would probably have killed herself before she graduated high school.  Rachel had been there for her even when no one else was.  When the stares of her classmates and the whispers assailed her and made her wish to disappear, she had been there to lend her strength and courage.  She sat back down on the couch and looked out the window.  She saw the sun starting to rise and felt a chill go down her spine.  While the rising of the sun meant that night was almost over, it did not make things better.  People would still be sleeping and dreaming and not everyone was able to afford the resting chambers that made nightmares only nightmares and not able to become a reality.  While her neighborhood was one of the lucky ones with everyone being able to afford them, only a few blocks away was the area called "The Forsaken" where the people not as lucky lived and where nightmares still came to life.  While they had patrols and fence that should keep them safe, Karen knew that even with these measures someone would die and another family would be destroyed.  She started to rock back and forth, clutching her mug as she stared out the window and waited to see where the sirens would come from this time.