Nightmares

Suddenly, there I was. Sitting shotgun. It was eerily silent despite the radio being on. Where we were, I couldn’t have guessed. A park? A neighborhood? The country? Your guess is as good as mine.

I remember it being you, though. You were driving, relaxed like you always have been. One hand on the steering wheel and the other idling nearby. You were nodding your head and keeping your eyes forward. There was no surprise I was there, at least not from you.

It was pitch black out. The leather seats made a low squeak as I leaned over to see how far I could lookout. Maybe only a few yards from the road. Your headlights produced more light than anything out there. I started calming down, realizing that whatever was going on was fine. I needn’t worry. All is well.

Some time went by and we were just driving. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Until it showed up. A hole. Not just any pothole that you find out in the middle of nowhere, a huge man-made one. It spanned the entire road and then some. With nearby equipment scattered around, it only piqued our interest.

You got out. You stood tall over the crater, peering inside. To my surprise, you started talking. You weren’t talking to yourself, but to someone else. I tuned in, adjusting my hearing to see if I could overhear you. That was one of my specialties, what could only feel like superhuman hearing in my mind. I couldn’t help be feel a foreboding pain in my chest as you knelt down.

You helped a man up. Then another man. They were comically opposite of each other. One tall, slender, and not as tall as you. He had this ruggedness that eluded the other. You weren’t quite there, but soon after, you’d hold the same air of apathy. While accompanying him was a rather short and stouter man. His skin, tight from his robustness. He didn’t talk much, looking around in the middle of the dark. Some could describe him as a meathead.

Questions raced in the back of my mind. Why were they out here? What were they doing? Did they dig this hole? Why? When will come back and take us away from these men? I wish you could’ve told me what was happening.

You started to climb down. Once the top of your head slid past their feet, my heart crumbled down into my stomach. The twisting and turning of my stomach squished and squashed everything in my chest. The vacantness of my exasperated inhale stunned me with queasy nausea.

The two men failed to follow you except for their eyes. I sat on the edge of my seat, hoping, praying, that they would go down with you. The knot in my stomach grew slowly and worsened in its power. They were whispering to each other, plotting, planning. They stayed there, illuminated by the headlights. Framing them in spotlights. Where did you go?

They grabbed a shovel from a pile of displaced items on the side of the road. One by one, they took turns shoveling dirt into the hole. They had this look of determination painted on their face. The adrenaline has started to fade away from my body, and everything started to just feel light. A deer in headlights, watching monsters work under spotlights.

I couldn't move. They just kept shoveling. Then you were never seen again.

Jolting up, tears streaming down my face, what was that? Out of breath, sweat beading on top of my skin. Warmth and life rushed back into my body.

A dream?

A nightmare?