You Ran from It All

Victoria quickly kept her poker face up and decided to not even follow up on the secrecy. Feeding into it would not bring her anywhere, especially if she wanted to find out what was going on between the man in front of her and Ethan. One of them wanted her to not investigate the other. The other one took every opportunity to take his shots but spoke in riddles.

"Well, I appreciate it, Caleb. Thank you for your time. And apologies for the intrusion." She put on a soft smile and raised her coffee cup.

"You have to follow all the leads, I understand that. Don't worry, no harm done." His face had gone back to the beaming, warm smile he had welcomed her with earlier. "I guess I should finally lock up now."

Victoria took the hint and shook her head in agreement. There was no reason to stretch this out any longer. "But," he then stated, "I enjoyed this, Deputy."

Once she had left the store and sat back down in her car she looked back to the store's windows. "I do not know what to make of you..." she mumbled before she turned on the engine and headed home.

It was not that late yet, but she was fried. The day had been frustrating enough for her to decide to just go to bed, so without any further delay she fell onto the mattress and rolled herself up in her blanket. Asher had decided to stay on the couch instead of sleeping on the bed but she gave up on calling him over after he had ignored her several times.

It did not take her long to give in to her urge to sleep, however busy her head was.

When she opened her eyes again she was surrounded by trees. She looked into the sky and saw clouds dashing past the moon in time-lapsed motion, making her feel dizzy. But the grass on which she was standing did not move at all.

The air around her felt like it was too thick to breathe. Every time she pulled it into her lungs, it felt like it was sticking to the inside of her chest. But despite not feeling any breeze, she could hear the rustling sound of leaves behind her. Turning around she realized where she was. Back at the meadow with the white tree, which was lazily moving in the still air, like it was alive and taking in huge breaths. All of it stood in contrast to the hasty moving clouds above. Confused by the surreality she helplessly looked around.

A low, distorted sound vibrated through the air. It hurt her ears, but when she listened closer, it sounded like words. So she concentrated, staring in the direction of where the sound seemed to come from, trying to suppress the urge to cover her ears with her hands.

"Human...", the echo thundered again.

A chill washed over her. Two, glowing red eyes emerged from the trees and lunged towards her into the light. With a gentle thud, as if she fell in slow motion, she felt the ground against her back and felt the pressure of a giant paw, pushing her down into the grass. A mighty bear had softly pinned her to the ground. She could not see its face, as the creature stood above her and looked back to the white tree.

"Human..." she heard the deep, distorted voice repeating. I did not come from the muzzle of the bear but from somewhere within it. Wet droplets hit her face, falling from a gaping wound in the beast's chest. Something moved inside the dark, bloody hole. She wanted to turn her face away but was frozen in terror. "...You ran from it all," a voice leaked from the tear, now getting clearer, "and yet you are willingly running towards your own doom now."

She tried to push the beast off of her, but her trembling hands slipped through the bloody fur, unable to build up pressure. When she accidentally stived the beast's hair away from the wound, a wave of blood poured down onto her. But then she saw it again. Something moved. A human eye opened within the flesh wound and looked straight back at her.

Victoria gasped loudly, yanking her head upwards, forcing Asher to jump off her. Her heart violently pumped against her chest and she quickly realized she was in her own bed. The dog must have laid on top of her in search of warmth when she fell asleep.

"...what in the actual," she whispered hoarsely, driving her shaking hand through her sweat-dampened hair. The blonde sat up in bed and pulled her legs closer, wrapping her arms around them to press them closer to her chest and calm her pulse. She rarely remembered her dreams after she woke up but she knew, that this one would stay in her head for a long time.

"What on earth made me piece this crazy crap together?"

Asher stood up on the mattress and nudged her arm with his snout. Absently she pet his head, looking over to her phone and the time displayed on the screen. It was four thirty, but she knew she did not want to fall asleep again, not after this dream.

Victoria rubbed her temples and got up to take a shower but ended up apathetically standing underneath the stream of hot water. What was 'running towards your own doom' even supposed to mean? She let go of a deep sigh and just let the water run over her, hoping it would wash the dream away.

It took her a while to snap out of it and start her morning routine to head off to work.