I can feel my face.

I feel it completely. My full lips, round nose, and even every follicle of hair on my shaved head.

The last thing I remember is falling asleep on the sofa after cooking my best friend and brother breakfast. The two live with me. At the age of 30, it wasn't my favorite idea to share a house with roommates. It would never make sense for me to be able to afford this house alone after the Council planted me here.

I love Sierra and Eric, but I miss living alone.

My erratic and disturbing dreams have kept me from being able to sleep for more than four hours at a time. Sierra and Eric worry about it, but I resolve not to think about it.

So, I cooked.

After breakfast, everyone with a job went to work, leaving me alone. I snuggled up on the brown leather couch and drifted off into my dreams.

Now, I can feel everything. I can feel my whole body now as I open my eyes. I am no longer in my home. My view of a dark alley behind a row of houses. The houses are dilapidated, a few of the houses have weathered furniture or children's toys within their fenced yards.

The dream is lucid.

I feel awake but weightless, almost like astral projection. Astral project is the separating of one's astral self (their spirit) from their physical body. Most people astral project from their bodies but do not leave the physical plane. Those who are adept can venture beyond the veil as I must have unintentionally done.

A whistling noise hits the air, like nails against metal. I have the feeling of being in a scary movie. Something is watching me. My body shivers with fear as a cold feeling snakes its way through my body. A figure appears less than fifty feet away, at the entrance of the alley.

The figure is coal black with slick black skin.

Its clawed hands nearly swipe the floor as it slouches to one side. The monster blinks and its glowing red eyes slit like a serpent. "Parker."

The voice of the figure is darker than anything I have heard before. Its tone is one of familiarity. It says my name as if we are old friends. It could easily lull one into a false sense of security.

"You wander into the webs of darkness like a willful fly."

"Who are you? What's your name?"

A deep growls leaves its parted lips as it hisses out. "Fear."

The world around us quakes as the word echoes through the alleyway. I break away from the alley and hop the fence to a pale blue house. I race past the discarded children's play car and through the front door. I slam the door behind me and lock it behind me.

Pure darkness greets me as I turn.

There are stairs to my right. They are barely visible in the darkness. I pause when I notice a pair of eyes watching me from above.

The eyes are frozen wide in horror as they watch me. A brief flicker of light illuminates the small Asian girl's face. Her fearful eyes never leave me as she brings a finger to her lips to shush me. She has a small rainbow flag dangling from her left ear.

The lights flicker off again as something pounds on the door behind me. My eyes leave the girl for only a second and when I look back up the stairs, she is gone. The pounding escalates as I rush past the stairs to find the door at the opposite end of the hallway wide open.

Something breathes on the back of neck. It sends every hair on my body on edge as a claw rests on my shoulder. "Join our little game" the demon whispers.

I scream out as loudly as I can. An odd sensation fills my entire body as the air around me thickens, almost as if everything becomes real. Sierra's voice calls out to me in the darkness as I open my eyes.

Sierra has a frantic look on her face as I come to my senses. I plant my feet firmly on the floor as Sierra sits down beside me.

Sierra's chocolate skin is almost blemish-free in the light of day. Her highly melanated skin is helped by the abundance of facial products she clutters the bathroom with. Her box braids are wrapped in an African wrap.

Her blue pinstripe power suit is giving grown lady boss energy.

"What was that? You were crying out."

My hands are visibly quaking. I feel cold from the inside out. I clasp my hands together to stop them from shaking.

"I'm fine. I just had a weird dream."

Sierra examines my hands. I cannot steady them. She stands from the couch and walks over to the coffee table to retrieve a small blue folder. "Right. You clearly don't want to talk about it and that's okay. You've been through a lot. I'm not going to pry but you can talk to me. Or Eric. Or maybe even a therapist."

Her worry is palpable. The nightmares are enough to set off Eric and Sierra's alarms, but I can't exactly tell them what I'm dreaming about. The last thing I want them to remember is the magical world.

It would ruin everyone's new start.

Sierra is frustrated as she heads to the door.

"It's complicated." I say. "It's old trauma that I don't want to re-trauma myself with. It's just harder than I thought it would be. But I think, maybe, if I get my mind off everything that happened, things could start to stabilize. You know?"

"You deserve a fresh start, Parker. You went through alot. I'm just very concerned. We both are."

"I know. And I appreciate that. I just—I want to move forward. I'm sorry if I worry you." I say. "I was thinking that since you're a mighty SCRUM Master, whatever the Hell that is, we should celebrate. We never actually celebrated your job. Partly because I haven't a clue as to what that means. I kind of thought you were a stripper for a while."

"We've gone over this six times."

"Point is, I feel like we should have a movie night. We could do a 90s theme. All the cringe we can handle while binging on popcorn. Maybe even wine."

Sierra eyes me suspiciously. "I'm in, but your unemployed ass is going to have to commit what I do to memory one day."

"Unlikely but I'll try."

Sierra laughs as she leaves with her folder. I wait until I hear her car start and pull away before I push myself off the sofa.

A strange, cold sensation on my shoulder leads me to the tall mirror in the hallway. I pull my shirt off my shoulder to reveal the indentation of the monster's claw.

It wasn't a nightmare.

I projected in my sleep.