(2015-2016) It was a nightmare, that felt too real.

That night, as I stayed awake in bed, I heard thunder with a few droplets

coming from outside my window. "Oh how nice." I think to myself, it's

been a while since it rained here. As I listened in closely, something

didn't seem right. It didn't sound like normal raindrops, it sounded

more like someone was knocking outside my bedroom window at 3.43 A.M.

"Ok, let's ignore that too," I tell myself. Every time something that can't

be explained happens, I usually tell myself to ignore it, and it will

soon go away on its own. Don't give it the attention, it's wanting.

It's nothing more than my imagination, right? Something strange always

happens around this house. My family blamed my cats, but as my oldest

skinny 9-pound cat that loves to climb our roof passed away, the noises

outside my window didn't.

I frantically told my parents each morning, about the heavy footsteps

that kept only walking back and forth all during the night. No one

wishes to believe me. For weeks and months, I was cursed to hear this

unidentified soul that wanders outside, waiting for who knows what.

One night, I was done hiding with a nightlight blazing my entire room, I

felt petrified that it will crawl in, while I lay in bed drifting away

in my dreams.

I waited and waited for the heavy footsteps that sounded like a person. As

I sat in bed watching YouTube, hoping it will keep me up that night, I

began to dose off. Thud. Thud. Thud.

There it was. I opened my eyes and looked around. Nothing, I was still alone

in my room, "That's good." I praised myself for staying up. The sound

that has been haunting me for eternity was back once again.

I waited and listened. I listened to its walking pattern, it just kept

walking back and forth, nothing unusual. Except it was, it didn't accrue

to me until today(7-16-22), years later when the sound of the footsteps

has gotten closer to my window, but I was still a young idiot. I had

one goal in mind and that was the only thing that kept running in my

head.

I slowly got out of bed, in my hand I held a small, cheap turquoise flashlight that

doesn't beam farther than 2 feet away from me. Slowly creeping towards

my window, I hoped that it wouldn't see me. A fool I was. That stupid

nightlight was still so bright and was directly on the opposite side of

my window.

Again, the younger me was an idiot, I haven't changed much as I grew, I'm still

an idiot at times. I didn't realize it until it was too late. I was

casting my shadow against my blue curtain. But the footsteps stop long

before that, they stopped the moment I got out of bed. The moment my

foot touch the floor.

"Did it hear me?" No, that's not possible. I have a fan that screams while

it's on. I'm not even sure how it was remotely possible for me to hear

the thing that's outside my window. Do I have good ears, or just a bad

curse to catch unlucky moments to cast as my memory, only to haunt me

as I grow older?

It was too late to back up now, my shadow has been cast. I knelt on the

floor, the other foot to hold my balance in case I need to run out the

door. My heart didn't race, and my hands didn't shake, yes I was

traumatized by the events that have been happening every night, but I

was more curious as to what this could have been.

The time seemed as if it was taking a moment to slow down. I wanted all

this to be over and unmasked the culprit once and for all, so I can

finally get some sleep.

I raised the bottom left corner of the blue curtain, flashlight ready, I

moved the blinds away from each other and peeked outside. It was pitched

back out, nothing was visible. Around this time, my family house didn't

have lights installed, so being outside was like walking out in a

minefield. You never know what you'll trip onto.

The only light source at the time was the light post. Depending on the time

of year, the light would be able to reach my window if the leaves of

the tree haven't grown in yet from the winter season. I can't recall the

month, but I wouldn't be using a fan if it was cold. So the tree might

have had some leaves on it, but that wasn't the issue here.

There was no sign of light anywhere outside, noting from the neighbor's back

porch or the night sky. It was like I was inside an empty, black void.

I turned my camera towards my window and used it to see outside. I couldn't see the roof of the first floor downstairs at all.

To be honest, I'm not even sure what I was looking at that night. It was

all darkness. No refection was seen with the light I had on hand. I

spent around 2 maybe three minutes looking out my window waiting to hear

the footsteps in the dead of night.

Time really wasn't friendly with me. The 2-3 minutes, I stared closely

outside, was a nightmare. I wanted to look away, but something was

forcing me not to turn around, even if I did, I couldn't move. I stayed

in position, frozen in place, watching nothing but the void out my

window, closing my eyes wasn't an option either.

Nothing but silence filled the room. It was a situation where running didn't

seem like an option anymore. The hairs on my arms rose as if something

didn't make sense. Something wasn't right, and I decided to ignore it

and let it take its course for the night.

The moment I was allowed to move again, I stood up and walk back to my bed.

That night I had trouble sleeping, I lay there staring at the empty

walls and bare ceiling. I didn't bother it any further, and it didn't

bother me that night. Around 4 or 5 A.M I slept for very little time

before waking up 7 hours later.

I was amazed how I was even able to sleep at all. That day felt normal

like any other day, and that night and a few nights later I didn't hear

any more footsteps. Was it because I took a leap and looked out the

window? No. I loudly damned my family to hear what I heard all those

nights ago, cursing them to understand the things I suffered hearing

overnight.

The day I cursed them all was the day I passed the footsteps. I no longer heard

anything coming out of my window, I would sleep peacefully in my bed.

Truth be told, it did take a long while for me to sleep in the dark

again. As for my family, they began staying up late at night hearing

those drastic footsteps still coming from my window, from their ceiling.

It was 2:17 A.m as they hastily ran outside and to my room, with brighter

flashes of light beaming in and from the same window I peeked out of

before. This time as I looked outside as they did. The footsteps, which

they swore they heard, stopped as the lights came on.

"I didn't hear anything." I kept telling them, now they didn't believe me

on that. Before they ran to my room, they had been calling me again and

again, while I was sound asleep. When I finally awoke, I noticed I have

several missed calls from my mother and twin brothers. "What the hell is

happening right now." Turns out the hefty footsteps also came with loud

banging sounds, as my mother described it, "It sounded as if someone

was running on the roof, outside my window."

They weren't sure what it was, but the final straw of the thing running

around upstairs, made my family start calling and banging on my door.

Now petrified of these things' existence, my family ordered cameras

online to be installed and called for an expert to handle whatever it is

that was latched onto my roof.

The footsteps did continue for a few more nights, as always I wasn't able

to hear any of that anymore, but it did keep my family up. On the day

the cameras were being installed, they were ready to capture whatever it

was, but the footsteps didn't come back. "Maybe it's camera shy." I

jokingly thought the next morning. They all waited as I slept soundly

night after night until they eventually gave up. The sound didn't come

back anymore, and as years passed, we never found out what that sound

was.

But that's not the end of the story for that cursed window.

Sincerely,

Strawberry

Who let the baby climb walls again?

Just as the year finally began changing to its hottest season. Right after my quinceañera was over around May, things around my life were slowly moving on. With the pace of how things were headed and school was finally over, it was finally summer vacation. So I could sit back and relax, and babysit the kids while my dad was being rushed to the ER.

To tell you the truth, I don’t remember much as to what happened that day. I was 15 and still in middle school. Years later, in my early twenties, my memory started to suck.

I just woke up one day and realized my dad has a cast on his leg. “How did he break his leg?” I wondered for years, but I mostly wondered if I even bothered asking them how it happened. I must have right. I should remember, at least, yet I don’t have the slightest clue if I did ask.

That small area right in front of the soon-to-be garage was a nightmare to be at. I recalled after we moved into the house they built, I would walk around barefoot on the dirt. I had flat feet, so I at least remembered them saying patas chuecas to me.

What made it cursed for me, I have to say has to be the devil's grass that would latch onto my skin,  the Sandburs, I later found out, its true name.

That would have to be my experience for that devil spot for now. I guess I came out lucky, I didn’t break a leg or anything drastic in that matter.

Just about last year around 2020-2021, it was heavily pouring cats and dogs, and the back of the neighborhood became flooded. It took 2 weeks for the water to inch down just a bit, my family was busy covering the big pool we always tend to put for one-time use.

It was late one night, while we were all outside talking and waiting for my dad and twin brother to come back home from work that day in his semi-truck. The lights were deeming the patio, and it began to drizzle again.

I’m a huge fan of water and rainy seasons, I don’t mind getting my hair wet. Before taking shelter from the rain, I would usually wait and soak in the peaceful drizzle, as I watched my mom and brother frantically open the gate and move things inside the garage. That’s when I noticed oily footprints on the metal sheet wall hanging 10-15 feet above my head.

I called my mother over just as she got a phone call from my grandmother, her mother, and we all talked for a solid 17 minutes about how it was remotely possible for a baby's footprints to be up there.

It has been raining hard and for days the footprints are right next to a big acorn tree, but the branches are still too thin for anyone to be climbing it, let alone a child. We did the math and figured out that the only one young enough could have been my sister. Yet she was out of the question during the time of my 15 birthday party, around 2011, her feet were huge compared to the ones on the wall.

“Who else could it have been?” We all asked each other. We didn’t get any answers, and we didn’t know how it was possible for all those 11 years to go by for the prints to still be there. They didn’t fade, the footprints had the mark of the entire sole of the child's foot.

I took pictures that very moment, but as I guessed, the photo became distorted or was missing. I wasn’t going to let it win, I wanted that photo, so I took, even more, asking for more light to be in an angle to capture every bit of it.

3 square feet, those prints went, they weren’t in a straight walking line either, it was misplaced as if the baby was drunk. The left foot had a left foot next to it, the right foot had a left foot facing towards. It didn’t have many pairs going on.

When my dad and brother came home, we showed them the prints and pictures, still, we were left with no answer to our questions. “How did it get up there and how is it still up there?”

The footprints didn’t harm anyone, but they did leave me thinking at the end of the night. Does it have anything to do with my mother's dream of her carrying a wrapped baby in her arms, that her deceased grandmother took from her?

Sincerely,

Strawberry

7/30/2022

ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ

The dragon and the voice

                                                         The dark cloud in my dream is a true nightmare

The Last time I dreamt of this dark cloud, I was in the big living room of my family home. The one we mostly never use unless we have company over. The truth is, I hate dreaming at times. I hate watching myself. I’m always running away from these beings. Or trying to save someone. But one thing I know for sure that I’m afraid to see is that damn dark cloud that cast the sky into darkness. I sat and watched my sister talking about trivial things about death. I tried to move, but I was glued to the seat, all I can do was watch as she was slowly going upstairs, allowing the dark shadow to come out of the clouds and engulf her whole.

This dream was a transition from another dream, that same night, as I slept.

In the first dream, I was in a rush. I was in my home getting my siblings when they were a few years younger and my grandmother from my mom's side out and into the family truck. As I placed the kids outside, they ran and that was the last I heard of them. While my grandmother wasn’t willing to get out of bed, she just wanted to stay there. I wasn’t planning on leaving her behind.

When I have my grandmother in my dreams, I tend to be glued to her until I know she’s safe. Being stubborn, I tossed her to my shoulder, determined to bring her along. “It’s too late.” She explained. The thing I was running from in all of my dreams all these years, has finally caught up to me. The dark clouds.

I closed my eyes and when I opened them I wasn’t near my family home. “Didn’t it engulf me?” Confused, I looked around the area. It seemed as if I was placed in a tiny, deserted two 1-story building motels that held two 8-foot length pools, placed in front of our rooms. We rested above a hill. The building we were using was all rooms, while the other building was considered supply storage as well as the restrooms and changing rooms.

Between the building was a dirt path that was headed to what seemed to be a village, it was the back entrance of the motel.

Every one of my family members was having fun in the pool and everything seemed normal. I went to check in the room I was staying in and noticed my grandmother cradling a baby in her arms. She didn’t seem as if she wanted to leave the room, so I left her be. While she didn’t look at me, she was at least walking around. I was a little relieved.

I was headed back out when I noticed the once sunny sky was quickly turning dark, with the wind picking up speed and the dirt with it. “Something wasn’t right.” I think to myself, the atmosphere wasn’t the same as before.

The second I picked my guard up, that’s when I heard screaming coming from the pool farther from my room. I ran, following the scream, but the loggia between the pool and rooms only grew in size. I might have well been running a marathon by the time I reach the end.

Huffing to catch my breath, I look up and noticed they were fending off a dragon. I had dreams about monsters and demons, and golden gods the size of the Statue of Liberty, that have been trapped inside a cave. A dragon was brand new to me.

The BBQ pit they were using before was now being thrown to the dragon, to scare it off, as well as lounge chairs. I began shouting to distract the dragon, giving my family enough time to run away.

It seemed as if it wasn’t there for them, but for me. Its body hovered above the pool, while the lower half rested on the roof of the building. The sky grew violent, there was a storm coming soon. Lighting kept flashing, yet the sound of thunder wasn’t heard.

I kept my sight on the dragon as it did the same. Its eyes were the same height as me alone, its pupil was round and kind. I wasn’t sure whether it was friend or foe. Its snout wrinkled as a dog when threatened or a cat when upset. Either way, I wasn’t willing to find out.

I backed up carefully, all while keeping its attention glued to me. With one flash of lightning struck down near the tree in the corner of the motel, the dragon disappeared.

A scream was heard from the other unused building. My cousins were hiding over there. Everyone from earlier all ran, trying to save the kids, from whatever they screamed.

I was still stunned by what I have just witnessed. I was the last one to run to the other building, but when I was passing the dirt road entrance, I seemed to have noticed a little girl clutching a stuffed animal. Standing between the buildings.

At that moment, the sky began to pour heavily, I was getting soaked. The little girl seemed more interested in the pool than the rain. The girl's mother stood at the front of the entrance, not wanting to enter the property.

I shooed the girl back to her mother. That’s when I looked up and noticed the sky. It was the dark clouds. It was engulfing everything in its path, and the village was next.

For some reason, I woke up inside my dream. I was fully aware, that I was still physically asleep. Now I had full control of my dream body.

I called the mother and child, who were hesitant to go back to the village. That’s when something in the sky or in my head whispered, “they are going to die if you don’t help.” It repeated the same words again. I didn’t know who this voice was referring to.

Rushing the mother and child to my room, I checked on my grandmother, who was unaware of what happen outside. They began talking to one another. “It’s not them,” I told myself while running to check on the other group.

The majority of my members were neatly placed on the floor, draped in a tarp. I had a feeling that the voice didn’t mean their death. Walking past the bodies, I went to aid the last two that trapped themselves with the thing that killed the others.

I wasn’t aware up till now that my sister has been missing from the moment the dragon showed up. Making use of the heavy rain and thunder, I found a way to lure the monster out of the building

This monster was a shape-shifter. It kept transforming into a goat, a cat, a white rabbit, and a snake. I wasn’t sure if this demon was the dragon from earlier, it never clarified to be the dragon, by turning into one.

Unfortunately, I ended up slipping onto the dead bodies, making my dream loop back to the beginning, where I opened my eyes. The dream played out the same. Before the dragon, before the girl, and before the dark storm.

I was cautious, now knowing what to do, but I ended up repeating my mistake, by what I assumed, at first, seemed like I stepped on the dead bodies. My dead members actually grabbed my ankles.

This time, I woke up in the front yard of my grandmother's home. Everyone that was dead was now walking and arguing with one another, over a dead tree, that’s been uprooted.

Something didn't seem right once again. I had never had a dream within a dream. I was mentally awake in my dream realm. Glancing at everyone, I noticed all of my family members from my mother's side.

“I would never dream of them all together at once,” I recalled the voice from the other dream. “Someone was going to die if I don’t help.” I looked at the sky once again. It was completely dark. The grey clouds shadowed the light of the sun. “Where’s my sister”, I yelled.

I woke up, unsure how the dream ended, or if I found my sister.

That morning, I told my mother of my dream, leaving out the detail about my sister missing, and she was shocked to hear it. The truth was, she had a somewhat similar dream that same night.

Two unknown individuals were walking away while my family was having a party in a public pool. Every one of my family members was chasing and shooting the two men, who had something to do with what was happening to my sister.

My mother was doing chest compressions while demanding to bring the others back alive. She told me that she questioned me in her dream, while I was meant to be babysitting my sister, but all she told me that I said was I couldn’t find my sister in the water.

My sister was coming to and passing out. In what seemed like an eternity to her, cousins brought back one of the men, whose leg was drenched in his blood. She wasn’t sure if it was shock or her rage that woke her up, but she sprang out of bed that morning to check on my sister.

She was awake and heavily coughing. She began laughing at the idea that her cough was loud enough to wake only or mother from across the hall.

My sister never heard about our dream, but when I asked about hers, she recalls being near a pool sitting down and eating snacks as she watched her friends playing in the water. She doesn’t remember jumping in, just her choking on the snacks, causing her to wake up, with sweat drenching her body.

That voice was talking about my sister this whole time.

Sincerely,

Strawberry