Page 45 of Dryad, Try Again
The creature steps forward. I’m not going down without a fight.
“STAY BACK!” I shriek. I find the nearest object, a wooden chair, then use it to pull myself up. My legs are wobbly, and I’mwearing only my plaid boxers, but I use the moment to shove the chair at him. It bounces off, not even deterring the beast, and it steps forward.
“Tanner, what’s…?”
“I said stay back, you fucking nightmare! I’ll NEVER let you HURT ME! DIE!” My fists tremble and I shout as I throw whatever pencils and books are on hand at him. He stares at me, unaffected by my desperate attacks.
I need to leave. The nightmare is here to grab me, and I need to run. My heart continues to hammer in my chest, and I need to make my move. I grab my clothes and turn to find what looks like an exit, then I bolt out the door.
The sudden light nearly blinds me—a living room? When my vision is back, I see two other creatures—a mummy and a lagoon monster meander close to me.What?
“Tanner?” the mummy asks with a gravelly growl. They’ve come for me, too.Where am I?I turn around and see the tree abomination duck down to get through the doorway.
I step back and hit another wall. When I turn to my right, the two other monsters are gone. In their place are two normal-looking dudes.
Seth. Blake. I’m in a dorm. I touch my chest as it heaves—this is real. Opening my eyes, I spy the tree monster slowly morphing down.
Kovi.
He’s wearing nothing but black boxers and a look of confusion and despair. I take in long deep breaths through my nose in an attempt to get the anxiety down. After two minutes, my heart rate gradually slows. Turning to my right, the other dudes look utterly perplexed; clearly I woke them up.
The fog of the nightmare leaves, and I try to center my thoughts. The last several years come back to me. I’m at CreelinUniversity. I’m a college student. I work as a barista for Seth, the mummy. I was sleeping over at Kovi’s.
Kovi, not a nightmare. Well, he was my nightmare as kids, but now, he’s so much more. And I called him that. I thought he tried to kill me just now. Seeing his heartbreak in his eyes, it’s obvious that he didn’t try to hurt me. But I tried to hurt him. I told him to die.
Shame threatens to swallow me whole as my heart rate speeds up again. I startle when a hand touches my right shoulder. Seth pulls his hands back and raises them up in an act of surrender. He and Blake are down to their boxers in their human forms and have nothing on hand.
“Hey, Tanner. It’s okay. You’re okay,” Seth mutters.
I nod and gulp, but my throat still feels like sandpaper. Looking up at Kovi, he stares down at the ground like his soul is shattered.Fuck. While the fear from my dream-state is still leaving my mind, I’m overcome with another emotion: embarrassment.
“I…I should go,” I whisper.
Seth and Blake turn to each other, then back to Kovi. I approach their door with my clothes in my hands, and take one last glance at Kovi. His look of utter defeat burns my heart. I feel awful knowing that I did that. I try to blink back a tear, but the emotions of the night have all piled up. The nightmare felt so real. But I was the one who caused the real harm.
“Kovi,” I whisper.
“It’s okay,” he says in a hushed tone. He shakes his head, still avoiding my gaze. “I’m sorry.”
“But…but you didn’t do anything,” I croak.
“Yeah, I did. I did years ago, and I’m so fucking sorry.” His voice breaks and he darts into his room. The suite is so silent, and after a beat, I look up at Seth and Blake.
“Hey, Tanner, listen—”
“I gotta go,” I mutter, cutting off Seth. I make my way into the hallway and, after a few steps, decide to get dressed.
After I take the cold, dark trek to my dorm—it’s not even four a.m.—I dash up to my room. I creep into my dorm and quietly undress, trying not to wake up my roommate. With my head on the pillow, I reflect on the past thirty minutes, then break down. The silent tears won’t stop pouring out, pooling in my eyes, then dripping down the sides of my face. I ruined the best thing that ever happened to me, not on purpose, but still.
The nightmare felt so real. The forest abomination came to harm me, and it succeeded, just not in the way I anticipated. And Kovi paid the price.
19
KOVI
Tanner: I’m so sorry.
Me: It’s okay. You did nothing wrong.
