A Nightmare to Remember -- flash fiction

"It starts with doors. Door after door after door. The lights are on inside, but it's dark all around me on the outside. Sometimes there are noises coming out of the doors."

"What kind of noises?"

"I don't know…. spooky noises, the kind that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up."

Dr. Wilson waited while Allison gathered her thoughts and then prompted her gently.

"Just take your time Miss Crisp, try to tell it all as simply as you can and just as you remember it."

"In the newest dream I realized I wasn't alone. But I can't seem to see the person I'm with. All I can see of myself are my feet dangling in the air and I don't have any shoes on. My head feels funny. Like there's something on it weighing it down, making it heavier than usual. I'm holding something heavy in my right hand and I'm sleepy and I cry a little bit because I want to go home."

"Where do you think you are?"

"I don't know. There are a lot of people milling around in the dark nearby, and I call to them to take me home but no one does. We keep going to door after door. Scary things happen when the doors open and I'm supposed to do something but I don't understand what's required of me. So I cry more."

Allison lay on the couch and looked at the ceiling feeling mounting frustration engulfing her mind and spirit. She'd barely slept in months. The dream had started haunting her in October and now it was well after the new year. So little sleep had left her with hollow eyes and a Swiss cheese memory. The dream was spilling over into her waking life. Her coworkers had even started noticing her symptoms.

"I just feel that if I could make sense of the dream it would go away."

"Miss Crisp, this is just a theory mind you, but have you ever considered that the dream is a memory?"

"A memory?"

"Yes, maybe something that happened in your childhood. Something that traumatized you at the time."

"But why would I be carried from door to door..…and all those horrible things in the darkness……" Allison trailed off as flashes of images swirled in her brain…….smells, sights, sounds all clamored for attention……

"M&M's….the smell of m&m's that was what set me off in October. They've always made me feel ill and Julie had a big bowl on her desk the day before Halloween……"

Allison started laughing hysterically and then slid from the sofa to the floor in a slow motion crumple.

Dr. Wilson applied smelling salts and then briskly rubbed Allison's wrists.

He helped her back onto the sofa while sadly shaking his head ……the things that people put their children through just for a little free candy……


Here's a link to this week's 47 #fridayflash stories at Mad Utopia