Dream Thief

I twirled the ends of Yael’s hair until she woke up. She smiled and rolled over to snuggle closer, but withdrew sharply after taking a deep breath.

“What is it,” I asked.

“You smell like frankincense and rosewood. I smelled it in my dream last night,” she said with a trace of fear in her eyes.

“Yes, it is the new shampoo and by your face, I assume it was not a good dream.”

“No, I was so sad for some reason and then I felt and saw this presence. I thought I had woken up, but I had to have been dreaming still…? Oh, it was terrible!”

I pulled her closer and asked if she wanted to talk about it some more or if she wanted to forget about it. She was silent for a couple of moments and then she began,

“I was asleep and dreaming, but I felt a presence with me, eager to engage, but more with my dream than with me, if that makes any sense. It felt like I woke up and could see the human-like presence, but I was still dreaming at the same time until I actually woke up just a little while ago when I felt you twirling my hair.

I think she was a woman; like an old hag, yet she was most alluring and scary at the same time, like some kind of wicked and mysterious beauty. She was tall with long black and silver hair that flowed all around her. Her long, slender fingers were punctuated with long and pointed black fingernails. As she leaned in closer, looming over me, I could smell frankincense and rosewood and oddly, her skin looked like it would feel of velvet if I were to dare touch it; I refrained from reaching out to touch her. I was frightened, but I felt compelled to look up at her face. As I looked up, I was met with a chilling stare from her eyes. They were just huge round black wells and I felt as though I was looking into the abyss and she was looking into my eyes clear to the bottom of my soul. She also had the most menacing grin of sharp, white teeth that I have ever seen. All while I was looking at this monster, my sad dream was still going. Then all of a sudden the hag was gone and I was just crying in my dream, but I do not know what was upsetting me so much. It isn’t the first time I have dreamed about this hag either.”

There was a pause and a moment of silence before she asked me if I thought she was crazy to think it felt so real.

“No, of course I don’t think you are crazy for how real it felt to you. I have had vivid dreams as well. Sometimes they are very scary for me too, but I am often the one who seems to be scaring others.”

I had never told anyone before about my scary dreams, but I dare not tell her that I kind of like being on the scaring end of my dreams.

After that, Yael threw the blanket off and jumped up exclaiming, “No more talk of sad and scary things today, Love. We are going to get up, stay in, order takeaway, and watch that new John Mulaney special. I’ll put the kettle on.”

“Okay. You win!”

I sat on the edge of the bed and tied back my long dark hair. I reached for my phone on the bedside table and began to doomscroll until a headline caught my eye, Scientists believe “dream thieves” could be real. The article was over my head a bit, but it mentioned the possibility of seeing into another person’s dreams due to the electromagnetic field of the brain during REM sleep and how some people’s brains are able to decipher images from these electromagnetic fields when they are in close proximity to those who are dreaming. I wanted to share this article with Yael when she yelled in from the other room about the tea being ready, but she had said we were done with the doom and gloom today and I did not want to further upset her.

As Yael handed me my mug of tea she paused, looking at my hand as I reached for the mug. “When did you paint your nails black,” she asked with some hesitation in her voice.

“Oh, yesterday at work Vance and I were bored waiting for clients and so we painted each other’s nails. I know it’s silly and I don’t usually paint my nails, but I felt like humouring his majesty.” I offered along with an exaggerated eye-roll.

“It’s just that with your dark hair, the nails, and how you smell…”

“What,” I cut her off, “you think I am the mysterious and scary hag in your dreams?”

“No, that’s not what am saying, but it is weird how much your resemble her.”

I huffed out of the room and back to the bedroom and slammed the door. I was furious. Too furious. I caught myself in the mirror and saw that my eyes were huge black wells and my olive skin was almost translucent. Frightened, I threw my mug of tea at the mirror and let out a yelp as glass came crashing down onto the floor.”

Yael came running in, “Love, are you alright? What is happening?”

“No, don’t come in here! Don’t look at me! I am afraid I might hurt you,” I yelled at her.

But it was too late, she looked at my face and when her eyes met mine, she jumped, screamed, and ran out of the apartment. I collapsed onto the bed in a sobbing heap. I didn’t know what to do next.

And then I woke up. I rolled over to find Yael in bed asleep next to me. Was it all a dream? Was I really a hag feeding off the dreams of others? I laid in bed for awhile trying to sort my thoughts. While twirling the ends of Yael’s hair, I noticed a crack in the mirror.