During the first day after meeting the young woman in his dream, his mind had been occupied by little else than her. Who was she? A real life person or only something his mind had made up? However the case, maybe, just maybe, she could make his nightmares stop...

She said she hoped we'd meet again, he thought repeatedly during the day. Distracted as was, he walked into both people, doors and walls. Not even training was able to clear his mind as it usually did. He didn't have the guts to mention her to his friends or family, for fear of getting labeled as a lunatic. Google, on the other hand, didn't judge him for asking weird questions, but neither did it provide any answers.

Once night finally fell, he expected to see her. Instead, his familiar shadows began to torment him. And unlike the previous night, they weren't interrupted. He tried to fly away, but they trailed behind him like mosquitos after a berry picker. Once dawn finally came, he woke up exhausted and drenched in cold sweat.

She hadn't come.

Maybe she wasn't real after all. Had he been stupid to think she'd been anything but a part of his mind? Probably. It made a lot more sense than the thought that he had actually met someone. Before the second day came to an end, he was convinced that the young woman he'd seen hadn't been real at all.

So when the second night came, the shadows weren't a surprise. But that didn't take any of the pain away. It's only a dream, he reminded himself repeatedly.

"How terrible!" A familiar voice forced the shadows away. "You're in a nightmare, again." The young woman from before bent down before him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Who are you?" Rhyan looked at her with big eyes as the shadows turned grey and lost their urge to drown him.

"Nice to meet you again," she replied, smiling. "I'm just Layla."

"I'm Rhyan..." He rose on weak legs. "How do you do that? With the shadows? Can you teach me?"

"Are you sure?" Layla looked down at her feet. "Others always seem eager to put some distance between themselves and me."

"Of course I'm sure. I'd do anything to get rid of the nightmares. And besides, you seem amazing. Who better to learn it from than you?"

Layla blushed and her smile returned. "Alright, come with me."

She led him through a stone arch, much like the one from their first meeting. This time however they emerged on a meadow. Emerald knee-high grass was sprinkled with sunflowers tall enough to look him in the eye, patches of red clovers, daisies shimmering like pearls and bluebells housing bumblebees. All of it swayed softly as a breeze swept past.

"Wooow, you have serious skills, Layla." Sunlight shone warm on Rhyan's bare torso and the grass was soft beneath his soles.

"I've had to be." Something sad was hidden behind her smile. "Let's get started, we could wake up at any moment."

"Yes, of course." He redirected his focus from the meadow to Layla.

"Step one!" Rhyan could have sworn she was literally beaming. "You have to make completely sure you're dreaming. The easiest way to do so is with a reality check."

"A what?"

"You know, making sure you're in a dream. Like trying to breathe through a pinched nose or putting a finger through a hand," Layla said. "Try it."

Rhyan held up his hands for a closer look, shrugged and put his right index finger on his left palm. It went right through.

"BLOODY HELL!" He pulled out his finger and shook his left hand like it had caught fire. Although it had been painless, he could still feel his finger inside his hand. His whole body jerked in disgust.

Layla only laughed. "I take it you're sure now. Although I would've gone with the nose pinching."

"Really funny. What's next?"

"Positivity." Layla's smile widened.

"Are you serious?" He looked her dead in the eye, and yes, apparently she was. "Fine. Go on."

"A dream is affected by how you feel and what you think. If you're scared it'll only make a nightmare worse. Instead of feeding the fear you need to think of something that makes you happy. Go ahead."

"But I'm not in a nightmare."

"It's good practice. Go on."

"Fine." Rhyan closed his eyes and looked back on the last time he'd been running in the forest. Sunshine had streamed through the pine trees, the air fresh and crisp. He had been in complete control over his body and his actions. A smile took form. "Now what?"

"You'll search for a door, or as I do, an arch. To find it you need to know what you're looking for. You'll walk through it, expecting to be someplace else, and thus you will be."

"You make it sound so simple, Layla." Rhyan opened his eyes and returned her smile. "So that's it?"

"Yes and no. This is how you handle one nightmare. The difficult part is to make them stop."

"Okey, how do I do that then?"

"You need to talk to someone about their source. Understand them. Nightmares don't simply pop up out of nowhere," Layla said. "I will listen, if you want to talk about it."

Rhyan hesitated. "Sure. It's not like you'll tell anyone."

Layla's smile disappeared. "What do you mean by that?"

"You're probably just in my head." He shrugged.

Layla looked at him for a moment before responding. But even though she was clearly talking, Rhyan couldn't hear a word of it. Instead of her voice, he heard an alarm from somewhere far away.

Tiit tiit TIIIT!

Before he knew it, he was laying in his bed, staring at the alarm clock instead of at Leyla. Frustrated, he slammed a hand on it.

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A/N: Rhyan doesn't think Layla is real, but how about you? Could she exist?

What do you think the source of Rhyan's nightmares is?

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