What A Bizarre Dream

A Sci-fi Memory

Robin glanced around the semi-lit school hallway and remembered her teenage years there. The grey lockers lined the walls with periodically placed wood doors at the entrance of each classroom. She wondered why she was there and all alone but she walked the once familiar hallway anyway. After a while the eerie quiet gave her a creepy feeling but she walked down one hallway after another.

As Robin turned the last corner, the hallway slowly changed into a pathway that led into a lush green forest. The smell of moist dirt permeated the air and the temperature turned muggy. Robin looked back and saw the locker lined hallway, but carefully continued forward onto the path outlined with thick trees and hanging vines. She heard the chips of crickets as the forest was near dusk. Startled by a loud screech from a owl up high, she stopped, looked up, and wondered if she should go back or go on.

As she continued to walk further, Robin heard the occasional loud croak of frogs within the chirps of crickets. I wonder if there is water near by, she thought. This was something to keep an eye open for since it was getting even darker now. Something in her mind told her to check the backpack that she was wearing. She plopped the pack down to the ground and searched inside of it.

“Aha, a flashlight.”

With the click of the switch, she could see much better now. Why is this forest here anyways, she thought.

“I don’t remember any woods being near my school.”

Robin flung her pack up onto her back and walked deeper into the woods. Suddenly in the distance off to her right she heard a deep grunt.

“What is that?” She whispered.

She shined the light in the direction of the sound and saw some of the vegetation move. Robin stood completely still and quiet with hope that whatever it was, it won’t know that she is there. She listened as the footsteps and grunts moved closer to her but in a sporadic pattern. She could hear it sniffing too as if it was looking for something. Robin continued to stand still but kept the flashlight on. As the beast got closer she held her breath and shined the light towards her feet.

Within minutes the beast walked right in front of her sniffing the air. It glanced up at her but continued on. The wild boar didn’t seem interested in her whatsoever. Robin waited a few more seconds and then exhaled.

“Oh my goodness that was scary,” she whispered.

Once again, Robin wondered if she should continue to explore or go back inside of the school. This whole thing just seemed so bizarre to her. But she decided to walk a little further and then heard the trickling of some water.

“Oh, I bet the water source for the frogs is up ahead.”

Robin shined the flashlight around as she carefully walked and took in every thing she saw and every sound around her. It was scary but amazing. After she walked about 20 feet, she came upon a stream that looked like it went on for quite a distance in both directions. And it was wider than she expected too.

“Well, I don’t feel like getting my feet wet so I guess I’ll go this way,” Robin turned to the right and walked alongside the stream.

Photo by Peter Chapin on Unsplash

The ground was a bit rocky so she had to watch her step. With the hoots of the owls and sounds from other nightly critters, it made it for a spooky walk, but Robin’s curiosity kept her going. I still don’t remember any woods like these near my school, she thought. She shined her flashlight ahead of her so she wouldn’t fall into the water.

Just then she heard the growl of another beast. Robin stopped and listened. She heard it’s deep breathing and footsteps as it got closer. This doesn’t sound like a boar, she thought. She didn’t know if she should shut off her flashlight or look for what was coming toward her. Her heart started to pound harder as she felt more terrified this time. There was no way she could fight off a big cat if that was what it was. Robin decided to shine the light around and then caught a glimpse of two glowing eyes. As she left the light shining on the beast, it seemed to stand much taller than any big cat that she knew of.

A deep bellow came from the beast as it seemed to quickly focus on the light being shined in its eyes. Do I run or stay still, Robin thought. When the beast started to run towards her it moved like a gorilla or chimpanzee.

“Oh crap!” Robin turned around and started to run.

She ran alongside the stream in the direction that she came from in hope that she would lose the creature. But the grunting beast ran after her with only eight feet between them. Robin then tripped over one of the rocks and lost her footing. Just before the beast could grab her, she stumbled into the stream and fell hard. She felt that this was probably it until she realized that she was now laying on the floor of the school hallway. She was wet but safe with no beast in sight.

“I’m back at school. Oh thank goodness,” Robin breathed heavily.

After she caught her breath, she got to her feet and looked around, “I never thought I’d be so happy to be back in school.”

Robin then looked down at the end of the hallway and saw the pathway into the dark forest. She decided that she just wanted to find her way home now. As she turned around and walked the half-lit hallway to find the way back out, she heard a deep gruff behind her. When she turned to look, the now visible greyish, hairless, ugly, short-eared beast ran towards her. As it jumped to attack, Robin put her arms up and screamed.

Expecting to be mauled by this thing, Robin started to flail her arms. It was only seconds though before she realized that she was now in her own bed and nothing else was there. She looked around and only saw her cat Mia lying on the bed staring at her.

“Oh my goodness, what a bizarre dream.” Robin sighed.

The End

I hope that you enjoyed this short story. It was inspired by a dream that my sister had told me she had. Please feel free to comment below and share it with your friends who like to read weird stories.