Death From Above

Amelia was driving down the road, following her GPS. She was trying to find the place where this dreamcatchers meeting was taking place. She had to travel to the next town over, which was a town right beside a large military base. It was probably the reason Lieutenant Schwartz had a card from these people. Would that mean he will be there? She hoped not, because she would like to avoid any awkward moments with people she acted stuck up to. However, this was bigger than him or her. She had to get to the bottom of this.

She pulled into the small parking lot of a small building. It was in a part of town that didn’t have many people passing through. Either this meeting was a secret, or it was shady. She didn’t spend too much time trying to figure out which one, because she knew she’d talk herself out of this. She picks a place to park, and gets out of her car. The parking lot had a few cars scattered around, but wasn’t crowded. She takes a deep breath and begins walking towards the glass doors. Once she reached them she put her hand on the handle, and pushes one of them open.

Inside, she saw a big empty space with tile floors, a circle of chairs and a white board. The white board was covered in the strange symbols that she saw in her dreams. The same ones she would doodle on spare paper around the lab. There were people sitting in the circle of chairs. Of course she noticed that first, but the symbols drew in her attention. There was Lieutenant Aaron Schwartz, along with five other people sitting in the circle. There was, conveniently, one empty chair in the circle. Everyone stopped their quiet conversations to stare at her. Aaron was wearing a pleasant smile, while the others were trying to figure her out. She quickly, and nervously, walked to the empty chair and sat down in it.

Once she sat down, she was able to get a good look at everyone. She nervously waved and they awkwardly waved back. The silence was unnerving for the moment, while Aaron went over his notes. He then looked up, ready to address the group.

“Welcome back, everyone! As you can see, we have a newcomer. This is…” He stops then gestures towards Amelia. “Why don’t you introduce yourself? We can just stay on a first name basis here.”

“Hello.” She said still a bit nervous. “My name is Amelia.” She remembered that she never introduced herself to Aaron last time they met. She was too busy being rude.

“And, what do you do for a living, Amelia?” Aaron said with a smirk, almost teasingly, since he already knew.

“I work at the space monitoring lab, HSMA.” She said giving him a look, as if she was getting annoyed. Then she glanced around at everyone else, and they seemed impressed.

“How long have you had these dreams?” Aaron said, cutting right to the point of the meeting. “And, have you noticed any changes?”

“I started having them around two years ago.” Amelia replied. Her thoughts were running wild. They knew about the symbols, but they also knew about the dreams? Were they all having these dreams? Has it been two years already? Yes it had, it started right after her parents vanished. Her mind was scattered, but she had to act normal. “What do you mean, changes?

Aaron leans back in his seat, as if he was thinking about how to describe it. He looked around at the small group as they all looked back at him. The room was silent for just a few seconds, but it felt like a lifetime to Amelia. She just wanted to know what was going on.

“I think I’ll let the others introduce themselves to you, and share their experiences.” He finally ended up saying. “Then you’ll know what changes.” He gestures over to the guy next to him, on the left, in the circle.

The guy looked as if he was in his mid forties. His hairline was receding and thin. He was Caucasian and dressed rather poorly. He wore a sleeveless shirt and jeans, but the shirt looked a little too big, and his jeans were stained. He looked a little nervous to be going first, but he rubbed his hands together and looked up at Amelia.

“My name is Charlie.” He finally said after a few seconds of awkward silence. “I used to be an alcoholic. Probably after a year of having these crazy dreams, I stopped craving the drink. Eventually, I stopped even liking it.” He then tugs a bit at his loose shirt. “My beer belly is starting to tone up too. I don’t even exercise.” He shrugs a bit, not knowing what else to say. Amelia wasn’t sure how to feel about it, this was all new stuff to her. She remained quiet as Charlie gestured the next person in the circle.

“Hi, I’m Darius.” The next person said, almost eagerly. He looked to be in his twenties. He was African American, and looked very fit. He dressed as if he just finished working out, with his gym shorts and shirt. “I was a body builder, and was using a lot a steroids. I got huge, but after I started having them dreams, I stopped being addicted. The health problems I had with them began to vanish, and while I stayed muscular, it shrunk down to look more natural.” He finished sounding as if he was proud of what had happened to him. Amelia only gained more confusion, so far the only things that she has been told have been good things. She remained quiet still, as Darius gestures to the person between him and her.

“Hey there, I’m Jeanette.” The next person said, as if she was just happy to be speaking. She looked like she was in her sixties, and she was also African American. She was small, both in height and weight. “I was a cancer patient, and after a few months of having those terrifying dreams, I went to the doctor. They told me my cancer was gone. Oh, I was so happy. On top of that, I am getting around better than I have for years.” Jeanette reflected on her fortune with lots of joy. Amelia was starting to be touched by these stories. It only made her wonder why whoever was doing this had to induce such unnerving dreams in order to do it.

“Hey, I’m Sara.” The girl on the other side of Amelia said, when she noticed Jeanette was done. She was Caucasian, and a little bit chubby. She looked to be in her thirties, and she dressed plainly with stained clothes. The stains were then explained by her next sentence. “I’m a mother of four kids. After having them, I became extremely overweight, and I had no energy to do anything. Now, though, I am suddenly much more energetic, and without having to diet or exercise, I’ve lost a lot of weight.” She then gives a big smile. “The kids enjoy playing with me more now.” Sara then offers to let the last person go, who sat between her and Aaron.

“My name is Miguel.” The person said. He looked like a Hispanic teenage boy. In his upper teens at least. He was skinny and dressed fairly nicely. “I was a paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident, when I was younger. And now? Well, watch this.” With that he stood from his chair, even went as far as to wiggle each leg around. “I’m all better!”

“Oh, wow…” Amelia couldn’t help but say, after being quiet this whole time. Miguel smiles and sits back down, while Aaron smiles at Amelia.

“So, now that you have met everyone, have you experienced any changes?” Aaron said to her, waiting to see what she had to say.

“Well…” She said trying to think everything over. “I mainly just lost a little weight, and my eyesight is improving.” She would then point to her glasses.

“On top of everything else, these dreams can also fix eyesight.” Aaron said, he was acting as if he just learned something. This made Amelia a bit relieved to learn they didn’t judge her for her change being less drastic. “Let’s get to the dreams themselves and the symbols.” Aaron would add. He gets up and walks over to the white board.

After, about an hour the meeting was over. From the sounds of things, everyone dreamed of the creepy man in a trench coat staring at them. It also seemed as though no one knew anything about what the symbols mean. It quickly turned into pointless discussion after that. Amelia watched everyone leave as she stayed to try and talk to Aaron.

“Need something?” Aaron asked curiously.

“I was just wondering, do you have these dreams too?” Amelia asked him.

“I do have them.” He replied simply.

“How do you get to hold these meetings?” She quickly asks, not breaking the momentum of her own curiosity.

“General Jackson wants me too, and that’s all I can say.” He laughed, while also being serious about his answer.

“Well…” Amelia would decide to move to her last question, and not push the military motive. “What changes have you had?”

“I haven’t had any changes.” He said with a simple flirty smile, as if he enjoyed that he didn’t have a satisfying answer for her. “Not that I’m aware of at least.”

“What? Are you saying you are already perfect?” Amelia said, with a bit of false attitude.

“Do you think I am?” Aaron asked her, slyly.

“I think I need to go.” Amelia was caught of guard with this, less than subtle flirt. She didn’t want to encourage him with an answer to his question.

“Maybe we can talk more at dinner, sometime?” Aaron snuck in, not letting her off the hook that easy.

“Maybe.” Amelia said simply and suddenly, before walking away. She had to admit, she found him handsome. However, now wasn’t the time to get involved with anyone. She had much more on her plate.

She didn’t bother looking back at him, and instead made her way out to her car. She got inside, and backed out of her parking space, before taking off out of the parking lot. She began driving up the road the way she came, heading back towards her hometown. Her mind was in a worse frenzy than before.

The meeting with the dreamcatchers didn’t go anything like she thought it would. She only left with more questions than she had before. These creatures that stood over her in that operating room, were actually helping these people. However, they induce a rather terrifying dream, while everyone sleeps. She could have sworn they were evil, but now she isn’t sure. All she can do now is wait, and see what the next few nights bring.

To be continued…