Try Again and Again

Ashlyn was suddenly standing on the sidewalk in front of her apartment building, with the full moon shining high in the sky. She had no memory of how she got there, or how long she had been standing there. Ashlyn was just there, standing in the slightly chilly air, and she wasn’t alone. A man was sitting alone on a bench several feet away, his eyes facing downward and with his hands folded in his lap. Chances were high that he didn’t know Ashlyn was there. No, she knew that he didn’t know that she was there.

She knew that because he jumped out of his skin when she approached him in the dream last night.

Ashlyn had always been a lucid dreamer. She would have one almost every night, and generally, they were pretty harmless. When Ashlyn was a kid, she would often change her dreams when they weren’t going her way or just to have more fun in the dream. Now that she was an adult, she was pretty content to let the dreams just happen, only using her lucid dream powers when she was about to die in a nightmare.

Which was why was she confused about this dream. Not only did Ashlyn have this exact same dream last night, but she also had it the night before that. And it was a dream, she couldn't feel the roughness of the jeans beneath her fingers, she could never feel textures when she was dreaming.

Never before had Ashlyn experienced a recurring dream. And she honestly didn’t know what to make of it.

The first time she had this dream, Ashlyn had just ignored the man and went back into her apartment building, only glancing at the man when she arrived in her bedroom and looked through the window.

The second time this dream happened, or last night, Ashlyn had been, to say the least, surprised. But that time, instead of going back to her apartment, Ashlyn decided to walk up to the man and sit down next to him. Seeing that he was clearly sad, she asked him what was wrong and if there was anything she could do to help. However, he only shook his head and quickly left. She woke up shortly after that.

And now she was having this dream for the third time. Just what was going on here? Why was she having this dream three times in a row? What was she supposed to do?

Ashlyn didn’t know, nor did she have any inkling of the answers to these questions. But…

But the third time’s the charm. Right?

Ashlyn took a deep breath as she walked towards the man, the loose bits of cement crunching beneath her shoes. When she arrived, the man, who seemed at most only a decade older than her, didn’t react to her.

Remembering how he jumped when she greeted him with a hello last night, Ashlyn decided to just make a small noise, like she was clearing her throat.

His eyes widened before he turned to look at her, but he didn’t jump out of his skin. An improvement.

“I...I couldn’t sleep either. May I sit down next to you?” The man didn’t speak, but after a moment, he nodded. He even shuffled to the side so that Ashlyn would have plenty of room. After she sat down, Ashlyn stayed there, silent, for what seemed like several minutes. She was here, and while he hadn’t left yet, he could any second.

What was she supposed to do?

Then, like any time she was stressed in real life, she started to hum. She didn’t know the name of the song, or even most of the words, just that the melody was pretty, and humming it for some reason helped her to think.

In the middle of her humming, the man finally spoke.

“Did you make that song up yourself?” Surprised, Ashlyn stopped humming and looked at the man, who was gazing at her.

He wasn’t smiling, but his expression was soft.

“Oh no,” Ashlyn assured him. “I’ve heard it on the radio once, but even though I tried to look it up, I couldn’t find it. I somehow remembered the tune though.”

“Well, I’m glad you did. It’s pretty,” he said.

Then, unexpectedly, he smiled. It seemed to be a bit sad, but it was warm, and it was real.

“I needed to hear something pretty like that tonight. Thank you. I hope one day you will be able to find the song,” he continued as he stood up.

Despite the chilly air, Ashlyn felt warm as she genuinely smiled as well.

“Thank you. And I’m glad that I was able to help you too.” The man’s smile grew a little wider before he turned around and began to walk away.

Ashlyn was suddenly back in her own bed, wide awake in the middle of the night.

Feeling quite peaceful, Ashlyn was about to try to fall asleep underneath her soft covers when she noticed the moonlight streaming through her blinds. Not surprisingly, it was a full moon tonight.

Just like in…

A sudden thought struck her, and the urge to get up and look through the window was so strong that Ashlyn didn’t protest and followed it. When she opened her blinds and looked down, Ashlyn’s hunch was correct. The man was outside, sitting on the bench, his head down and back slightly hunched over.

Just like in her recurring dream.

Except, it wasn’t just a dream, was it? It was a premonition. Ashlyn had heard of it happening to people before, but never once did she imagine that it would happen to her.

Ashlyn didn’t dwell on the fact that she received a recurring premonition as she turned around and headed out the door.

She knew what she needed to do.