Stolen Dreams - Lost Letters - Bonus Horror Fiction

Stolen Dreams by Loluan/Lukas of 9MM Retirement Radio.

The leaves made a crunchy sound as they cracked under my boot. The sound cut deep into the surrounding night and felt as unnatural as what we pursued. With baited breath, we moved forward, trying to calm our nerves. It was only the two of us, me and Agent Serena, and we both felt as if we weren’t up for the task.

Our shaky hands held the submachine guns as we moved ever closer to our target, our sounds masked by the running river close by and in the cover of the night, which only the moon dared to break up when the clouds stopped harassing it.

It has already be en two weeks since we entered this village hidden from the world behind old trees and located right where the river looped. If we hadn’t been there on an assignment, I would have called it beautiful, but something was not right here.

We noticed the moment we set foot into it: Everything felt wrongly colored. The trees moving in the wind didn’t produce any sounds besides their creaks, which sounded like cries against the ever-changing world around them. The grass felt dry, and for every step, I held my breath, fearing it would cut my skin once it came in contact.

The first few days went by fast. We mainly stayed on the outskirts of town to stake out everything. We saw who lived their lives and where they remained during the day and night, and found out their rhythm. 

See who didn’t belong and felt as wrong as the whole thing.

Lastly, we moved closer, deeper into this town.

The orders we got were clear. Carpenter told us about a defective scientist who got cold feet. There was also something about a facility amid these huts and shelters that calls itself a village. They seemingly told just enough to get Carpenter's attention, but not enough for us to know what was happening.

Some branch of the government seemed to be conducting experiments, and here was all we were told. Find out what it was, get the scientist out of there alive, so they can tell us what the fuck is going on, and stop all of this.

They made it sound simple.

The second night was when I felt it for the first time. Serena took the night and continued to watch while I lay down, tossing and turning. The little barn we had hidden ourselves in didn’t grant the luxury of a comfortable bed, so we collected the old hay together and improvised some beds.

The hay always pricked me with every move, but dug into my back once I started to lie still. 

But for a bit, it all made sense. While I layed there trying to sleep, everything felt as if two images of this world had been perfectly superimposed on each other.

The wrong colors vanished, and all sound felt as if it started to hit the exact frequency my brain had always longed for. It felt as if I had achieved everything I had always wanted.

Serena woke me up roughly and commented something about having the best sleep of my life, but I didn’t even listen as she told me about her findings during her watch. I was still there, or rather, I wanted to stay there. I was clawing at this reality that felt so wrong.

The next days only made it worse. They went by in a haze as I always longed for sleep again. The moment of absolute serenity always felt further away, as if it was slipping through my fingers every time I got ahold of it.

Serena must feel it too; she never overslept, but waking her felt harder every day.

We knew we had to do something.

When the fifth day rolled around,, we were sure who lived here and who was outside personnel.

We just recognized the looks, the dissociated look that goes through everyone they met, the short hours of activity and the long hours of silence that fell over the town.

We saw their parched bodies because they slept more and more and ignored every other thing their body needed, they had been doing it for months probably.

We understood.

The outside personnel were easy to spot for the fact that they never stayed for longer than 24 hours at a time and always came in after staying away for at least that long.

Always moving in with some that looked like scientists and at least two or three spooks, probably something federal, no badges, uniforms or openly carrying weapons but we just knew they were here to watch for any outside interference. They waited for us.

We noticed changes during the second week. We felt a pulse as if something was dragging us down, our brains through the mud playing with our senses, and we grew tired with every pulse.

If Serena hadn’t brought some amphetamines, we probably would have been fast asleep. I swore to myself to never take that shit again after our last operation which almost got me addicted to that shit.

So there we were, craving completion but refusing to fall asleep while the pulse echoed through the town. They were doing something more, and the experiment moved into a testing phase.

While we didn’t fall asleep, it still felt good, as if the pulse had sent a part of us to sleep, the world was whole once again, but we knew we needed to finish this operation or otherwise we would not be leaving here, ever again.

I do hate myself for not staying.

We waited for them to leave town again and prepared everything. It took us some time to notice that we were both crying while assembling the cold metal. It felt as if we were holding a sledgehammer, preparing to smash the only trophy we had ever gotten.

Serena opened first. She told me that every time she falls asleep here, she continues this long dance with her husband, who was gunned down two years ago. Every time she closed her eyes, a big piece of her life's puzzle fell into place.

I told her that for me it felt as if this hostile world calmed down, I took in more than I ever knew existed and we both talked. This could be the last time.

Protected by the night we arrived, the crunchy leaves already long behind us, we saw the slightly illuminated entrance to a house just on the outskirts of the little town. One of the spooks stood in front smoking.

As if we already knew where to step, our feet continued to move forward.

I don’t remember how he even died. I remember the splats on the wall behind him, a deep red mixed with gray matter streaking down the wall and I could swear the face inside of the splat was smiling at me.

The next two also fell fast. As we moved down the metal steps into a basement that must have been built new, they stood there with their backs turned towards us.

A single moment later, two more faces smiled upon me, staring out of deep red stains on the concrete walls. We felt good, and the closer we moved, the stronger we felt connected to how the world really was. We could feel the concrete breath beside us, the souls of those we had left behind rejoicing in their freedom now that they had left the small confinement they had been stuffed into when coming to this world.

All the euphoria crashed once we entered the final room.

We found the source of what we thought would be salvation. We thought we found what could make the world breathe again and be filled with all the right colours.

I stood there watching as Serena started hitting the scientist, who screams something about protection and a deal. She said she had to do it.

But none of it made sense to me. Now, as I stood so close to what I felt would right the wrongs in my world, it did the opposite.

I started crying, and not even the scientist's happy soul could calm me down as I turned her head into a happy spray of red and gray.

How could I be happy when the child in front of me was hooked up to a machine, inducing a coma to let them sleep until.. I don’t know till when.

Serena found some notes. They wanted this as a weapon, the innocence of a child, the lush colours, and the right sounds. Everything I had been craving was the innocent view of this world that this dreaming child had.

Projecting his hopes for a wonderful world outside onto us as it lay here, dreaming of a life it never had.

We knew what had to be done, but I couldn’t do it. As much as I knew, I just could not bring myself to do it.

Serena ushered me out, something about telling the superiors.

I knew she would finish this.

I knew I wouldn’t see her after this.

The last two shots that rang out were among the loudest I've ever felt.

It has been months since then. I feel like a part of me was left under this city, hidden in a concrete and steel basement. 

My dreams got stolen, just like the child's time.

I just hope we did the right thing in stopping their experiments so they can no longer inflict this on someone.

What is a small part of me in exchange for so many others who never need to experience this?

Tonight, I will sleep well. I bought every sleeping pill I could. Carpenter’s been calling. He will find my report once they check up on me.

But today I hope I can dream one last time.