Is this a dream?
I emptied my third glass of rum and coke. It was Thursday night at ten of ten. After a long hard day of work, the last thing I needed was to deal with anything with a sober mind. It had been a stressful week at work, and I've been stuck working overtime for the past month getting ready for the holiday season.
This would be the tenth holiday season I've been there since my parents passed. It's been the same thing each year. Each year, I put up the same stupid decorations, with the same stupid holiday puns. And every night, I go to sleep to the same dream. I don't even remember the last time I had a different dream at this point.
The dream would start with me in the kitchen finishing a glass of rum and coke, surrounded by three lit candles about to lie down when a knocking was coming from the front door. It was always: three knocks, a pause, three more knocks, a pause, and a final three knocks. I would reach the front door when the knocking would stop. I would put my ear up to the door and on the other side I would hear my voice,
"Is this a dream?" Three soft knocks,
"Is this a dream?" Three more loud knocks,
"Is this a dream?" Three bangs.
I turn back around towards the kitchen, and in the middle of kitchen surrounded by the three candles, I'll see my body hanging from a noose. That's when I'll wake up.
Whenever I fall back asleep, I always go back to the same dream. Everytime I see my face, it looks more and more pale as the nights go by.
Every night was like this, and I knew I could expect no less from tonight. I've tried everything. I even moved to a new apartment last month to try to change the scenery. But every night the same dream.
I was still moving into my new apartment, and haven't even looked in every room. Everything I needed for day to day was on one floor except for the hallway closet I couldn't open. I just threw the boxes in the garage for now until I could take a day and put everything in a good place. The one hallway closet door was jammed shut though, and the previous tenant painted over the frame. One day I would get to it. But I was done for the night. I rinsed my glass out, set it in the sink, turned off the lights and headed towards my room. It was pretty dark in my apartment if it weren't for the window in my room that was lit up by the street lamp outside.
I had almost reached my room when I noticed a small flickering light on the floorboards coming from behind me. It cast a long shadow. But the second I turned around, I didn't see any lights. I figured it was my eyes adjusting to the dark. I turned back towards my room, and almost ran into the door. It was now shut I front of me. I tried to open it, but somehow it was locked. I looked and saw the door was lit up by candlelight. And then three knocks came from my front door.
I turned around, and saw something hanging from the ceiling fan in the kitchen. There were three candles that lit up the room and the hallway. Three more knocks, this time loudly banging. I crept closer to my front door through the kitchen, getting a better view of the thing hanging in my kitchen. Three loud bangs like the door was about to be broken in.
The light flickered, and the shadows fell and I could make the silhouette out of a body hanging from the kitchen ceiling fan. Then three soft knocks came from inside the hallway closet to my right. I turned my head staring at the door I've never used. I turned my head back towards the kitchen, and was face to face with my rotting corpse with the noose around my neck. My eyes and mouth wide open, staring into my soul, I asked myself,
"Is this a dream?"
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