The Woman in the Red Jacket

Travis was sure he was having a dream.

It was the only way to explain why he was standing in his pajamas in the middle of a school playground. It was daytime, and there were no children or teachers. No cars drove by on the road outside of the schoolyard fence. There was not even a simple breeze.

There was only one thing that felt out of place in this frozen world with no people.

It was a woman, wearing a red jacket. She was standing by the swing set, looking back at him with a smile. Like in all dreams, Travis was compelled to walk closer to her. He lifted a hand to greet her.

“Hey.”

“Hello Travis,” the woman responded.

“Oh. I wasn’t expecting you to know my name. But I know I’m dreaming, so it makes sense.”

The woman nodded.

“Indeed. You are dreaming.”

Travis studied the playground. “I don’t think I ever had a dream this weird, though.”

“All dreams don’t make any sense. Look at me for instance. I’m the only person here with you.”

Travis scratched his head, staring at the woman.

“You look so familiar to me. I think I’ve met you somewhere before.”

“Yes. You have.”

“Oh. Um…nice to see you again?”

The woman smiled again.

“Nice to meet you too, Travis.”

“What’s your name?”

The woman hesitated, but she did not answer his question.

“You have been dreaming about me for the past seven months.”

“What?”

Travis let out a nervous chuckle, but the woman was now staring at him and was no longer smiling. It made him uncomfortable.

“We have been meeting for the past seven months. You always forget about me whenever you wake up. It’s getting harder to maintain my hold on you, so my spells are weakening for each visit…so I thought of a better idea for you to remember me this time.”

“What is it?”

The woman lifted up her right arm. She removed the sleeve of her jacket, exposing her skin. The woman pressed a fingernail that was painted red, against her arm. She drew a long line down her skin, drawing blood.

Travis shifted uncomfortably on his feet. He wanted to bolt out of there as fast as he could, but something told him he wouldn’t be able to run. Dreams always had some sort of supernatural phenomenon going on.

Fingers poked out of her wound. A whole hand slid out, and then another hand emerged. Arms followed a head with long hair, and then an entire body. The woman did not move the whole time, as a whole human body fell out of her arm. The body landed in front of Travis, on his knees.

The figure lifted his head. Travis cut back his scream when he recognized himself. The only difference was that this version of him was naked, covered in blood, and he was smiling.

“Hey Travis,” he replied in his own voice.

Travis grabbed his arm, digging his fingernails into his arm. Even though he felt pain, he couldn’t wake up.

“Travis. You aren’t listening to me,” the other him said in a singsong voice.

“Fuck this shit. Wake me up. WAKE ME UP!”

Travis pointed a shaky finger at the woman. “I WANT TO WAKE UP!”

The woman shook the same finger she used to cut her own skin, moving it back and forth like she just caught him trying to steal money from his parents’ wallet.

“You need to listen to what he has to say.”

“NO!”

Travis turned around and started to run. Like what he was expecting, something held him in place. An arm that resembled his own, wrapped around his waist from behind. Breathe that smelled like a dead body leaned closer to whisper in his ear.

“Your son is ours.”

Travis screamed. He pulled with all of his strength and found himself falling into a dark abyss.

He awoke in his bedroom. He was now sitting up and had flown forward so hard that he bit down on his tongue by accident. He reached into his mouth to touch his tongue, finding blood on his fingers.

For no reason at all, he felt the urge to make sure that his son was alright.

Travis left his bed, and rushed to the bedroom across from his own. He softly opened the door, and found his son, sleeping soundly in his bed. A teddy bear that was given to him by his partner was nestled in the covers with him.

Travis closed the door and then tip-toed to the bathroom. He rinsed his mouth out, grimacing from the pain emanating from his tongue.

“Fuck. That stings.”

“Your son is ours.”

Travis gasped and whirled around. There was no out behind him. He pulled open the curtain, but no one was there either. He touched his head, feeling dizzy. For an unknown reason, he didn’t want to go back to bed.

He thought about calling his husband, but the last thing he needed was to scare the shit out of him. He was staying with friends in another state. He deserved a vacation than to get a panic phone call from the love of his life.

He decided the best course of action would be to go downstairs and make himself a cup of coffee. And probably about eight more cups after that.

He couldn’t go back to sleep.

Deep down, he had a feeling that something was waiting for him.

Something bad.

Something evil.

Something red.

Thank you for reading!

This is based on a nightmare I once had, and the main character, Travis, is from a past comic I made years ago! I thought it would be cool to combine both of these into one horror story!

Emy Quinn