Random stories

Jill took another sip of coffee. It was 4AM and despite the overdose of caffeine she was getting sleepy. It had been more than 48 hours since she last slept and she could swear she was hearing things. Every inch of her body wanted to sleep, except Jill herself. The nightmares were worse than this. Hard to imagine, but she was terrified to get pulled back in. Despite her objections her mind forced sleep upon her and her eyelids were getting so heavy that it was impossible to force them open. She drifted off into the hell that awaited her.

Above her the moon stood in the sky. Except it was bigger than it should be, more red that it should be and she could swear it was pulling closer the longer she gazed at it. So she stopped and instead focused on what was in front of her. She stood on an unsteady ground. It looked to be moving in a particular cadence. It reminded her of breathing, but she refused to accept that as an answer. She set out to a figure that caught her attention in the distance. She feared it on an instinctive level, but also knew that no matter how hard she protested she’d end up at its feet. She had done this many times, even so the fear she felt didn’t dissipate. As if her body had a mind of its own she strutted towards the thing she wanted to run from.

It loomed over her like a mountain. A thick undulating mass of gelatinous flesh and eyes. It seemed to be seeking for a shape it could take, only to abandon it once it had found one. It also radiated dread and made it hard to concentrate. As if it was sending its own signals to your brain messing with the ones you send yourself. It terrified Jill, because it seemed to target her specifically. This wasn’t the first time she stood opposite of it and despite the fear, it never harmed her. It prodded something towards her and usually this was the point where she’d started running. Trying desperately to wake up from the nightmare. Sometime she succeeded, others she was caught in an endless loop of running and ending up at the same point. This time, she decided, she would stay. If it killed her, it killed her, but she was done with it. The thing hesitated, as if it hadn’t expected her to stay. It took only a couple of seconds before she resumed pushing the thing towards Jill. First she thought it was just another shapeless blob, but that when she saw the appendages. She first saw an arm, then a leg. The longer she looked the more human body parts there seemed to be. Fingers, toes, shoulders and she could even see a plume of hair. It was like a beach ball made off human flesh and bone. She felt the contents of her stomach push its way up and Jill was sure that if it wasn’t a dream she would have puked. She hoped that she didn’t vomit in her sleep and choked or something. Jill took a couple of apprehensive steps backwards and waited for a response.

There wasn’t one. A response that is. They stood there opposite one another with the human orb in the middle, for what seemed like minutes. That thing just stared at her, or at least that’s what it felt like. She couldn’t tell whether the thing could even see her through all those eyes. Each of them looked to be staring in the distance without focus. It was unsettling, like they were looking through her. It was the thing that moved first. It stretched out a gelatinous appendage from it’s formless body and pushed the ball further toward Jill. If Jill didn’t know any better it seemed to want her to have it. That’s when she realized she – in fact – did not know anything better. The sudden epiphany made sense and it being the only thing that made sense to Jill in this world gave her some comfort. What if this eye-jelly wasn’t trying to hurt her. She stepped towards the human ball and swallowed down her discomfort and disgust and reached out. As soon as she laid her hand on it the thing moved. It crept forward with what looked be a jolt. As if it was encouraging her. But encouraging her to do what? She rolled the ball of appendages around a bit. It took her less effort than she expected. Probably because it was still a dream, so it was just her mind making an approximation of her strength and the weight of the ball. She had to remind herself every so often that it was a dream.

After a while the thing seemed to have enough of it as it moved forward more rapidly than Jill had expected. Instinctively she leaped backwards, away from it. Again the thing seemed to hesitate. It only did so for a second as it proceeded. It engulfed the spheroid collection of body parts and it dissolved within it’s body. Was that what it wanted from her? Did it think she was like it? That’s when Jill had her second epiphany. It was her dream, no matter whether that thing lead the interactions. And if it was, it meant she could imagine anything she wanted. Jill tried her theory by imagining a hot-dog. To her surprise there actually formed something in her outstretched hand. It vaguely looked like a hot-dog, but it wasn’t. It felt like her mind was straining against something invisible. She put all her energy in pushing through an image and finally the thing in her hand fully took the shape of a bun with a sausage. Triumphantly she showed it to the mass of gelatine and eyes. It didn’t move, but she could feel it’s gaze on her. She took a bite of the hot-dog and then offered it to the thing. It stretched out one of those jelly feelers it had formed earlier and absorbed the rest of the food. Dissolving it like it had done with the ball.

Now that the first test had been a success and Jill was somewhat sure of the intent of the thing, she’d proceed with the next step. The thing could radiate things like fear and trigger feelings like disgust. That would mean Jill could send out thoughts and feelings as well. She focused on one thought particular. Love. She first cultivated the feeling inside herself and when she thought she had it, tried to extend it beyond her. There weren’t any signs that could tell her whether it worked, but it was her dream, so why wouldn’t it? She kept hold of the feeling and waited for the thing to respond. It did, to her surprise. It recoiled to the feeling in a similar manner Jill had recoiled to the fear. The sight of it made Jill sad and as soon as it did, the thing responded to it. There was a moment of genuine connection through the sadness. That’s when suddenly a heavy wave of despair hit Jill and she dropped to her knees and gave into the urge to cry. Through her tears she saw the thing trying to mimic her movements. It took the shape of a kneeling figure, or at least it tried as best as it could.

It had taken a good five minutes for Jill to recollect herself. She had noticed that the emotions she felt from the thing were different from her own feelings. She recognized them sharing her mind together with her own. Through the utter despair she had also distinctively felt joy and comfort when the thing had tried to mimic her. Maybe it was the same for the thing. Putting it to the test Jill formed a thought in her mind. ‘Thank you, I have to go, but will you be here next time?’ and she connected it to a feeling of trust. As soon as she was happy with the result she projected it outwards. The thing responded to it. Jill didn’t know exactly how or why, but it felt like a positive response. The thing changed it’s shape again. It seemed to struggle with it, as if it didn’t really know what it was doing, but it settled. It looked like Jill. A bit uncanny, but recognizable. That’s when Jill was struck by a feeling of sadness, mixed with trust. At least sort of. It wasn’t really trust, but it felt close enough.

That’s when Jill woke up. The sun shined through a gap in her blinds. For the first time in months she felt energetic and like she had finally had a good night’s sleep. Inside her she could feel something had changed. Like there was a connection to something. It felt like an indescribable sense that felt closest to comfort. In a way that describing the feeling was always different from how it actually felt.

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(If you liked this story, please feel welcome at r/zeekoeswriting to read my other stories!)

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Submitted by zeekoes on Wed, May 24, 2023 to /r/WritingPrompts/

The prompt

You just learned that the eldritch monstrosity haunting your dream has in fact "just" mistaken you for its young, and is trying to parent you in its own inscrutable ways.