To endure

There it was again, that sharp gut-wrenching pain. It must have hurt like a sucker, for Thalia was screaming in agony. The veins of her temple throbbed furiously, like her head would split apart in a matter of a few seconds. Face drenched in perspiration, heart pulsating and fingers twitching uncontrollably, she jolted out of bed, gasping for fresh air and wildly examined her surroundings- Phew, the same room. Her alarm clock lay restless on her side and her bag at the foot of the bed was spilled open with its contents. She sighed.

This time, it was a different dream, or nightmare rather. Upon hearing the ruckus, the girl's mother raced upstairs to her bedroom:

"I'm ok mom" groaned Thalia

"Honey what happened?"

"Just some stupid nightmare"

"Are you dreaming about boys again? Did you get dumped?" giggled her mom

"MOM, NO WHAT?"

"I dreamt Mr Davids was making his 'funny' maths jokes again"

"Well anyways sleepy head, I've prepared you dinner. Come down and quickly finish it or I'll give you a taste of my own nightmares"

--She winked and retreated to the Living room--

Thalia smiled. She felt happy and safe with her mom. Her mom was her only comfort person and she wished she could do something to repay her for her unconditional love. She recalled very distant and fuzzy memories of her mom holding her as a child: her contagious smiled beaming on her baby face and her hands radiated with a loving warmth. Her dad on the other hand; well Thalia actually didn't have any memories of him. As hard as she tried, she couldn't even extract a single ounce of her memory that involved a father figure of some sort. She had even asked mom on several occasions but she would either remain silent or say the same things "He will come soon" or "He was a great man, I'm sure he would love to see how you've grown." Now Thalia, being Thalia, thought of other possibilities. What if she never had a dad? The wonderful brain cells of hers sometimes came up with the thought of her being asexually reproduced.

"Well I'm not a fucking microorganism, C'mon Thalia! Rack your brains. Well at least now I know I was listening in Biology classes."

However, a dawning thought suddenly sprang to her mind. Yes, the nightmare. Eyes wide open, she looked pale as if she had seen a ghost. The nightmare was etched in her mind, she still felt the after effects of the vision and shuddered.

"Pfffft it's a silly dream why am I so scared?"

Thalia couldn't help but think about what happened: she was alone, in a thick forest, scrambling between the broad thickets and heard a shrill, piercing howl in the distance. Her hands were muddied with soil and scratches ran down from her shoulder to her arm. It was a living hell. She could sense whatever it was, closing in on her. Running as far as her legs could take her, she paused momentarily to catch her breath, but that only gave them more time to catch up. She had to think, now, and fast. Otherwise, she was 100% sure she would've been mincemeat. Clustering her final efforts, the girl sprinted one more leg through the trees and on the other side, there was a clearing that led to a village! She heaved her legs in a herculean effort. But only, if life was that easy; an ominous fog menacingly enshrouded the clearing as if to trap her. She dropped dead on her knees. She was hopeless. Thalia whimpered- five canine beasts emerged from within the forest. Their eyes flared yellow and their fangs, bared wide open, were razor-sharp daggers. A heavy atmosphere of bloodlust soon dominated the once-present clearing and something about the beasts made Thalia think she was not their first snack. She scanned the pack. No weaknesses of any sort. And no signs of her being mistaken prey. She chuckled nervously- "I'm in danger." All five beasts advanced towards her in an elliptical fashion. There was simply no way of getting out of this. Thalia had said all her prayers (𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗚𝗼𝗱) and already passed her thoughts onto her mother. Simultaneously, the canines pounced as a unit going for the kill. But from her peripheral vision, she saw a cloaked figure materialize behind the beasts. Her smile curved dangerously... and Cut!

That was when she woke up, screaming like a banshee.