They tried to kill me again. I did not eat, because they dose the food. I did not drink the beverage because they laced the drink I am sure. Forget sleeping. They make rounds like every hour. So easy to smother and not make a sound, yeah? Getting a chance to sit outside and breath in the fresh air, feel the sunshine warm my skin. It has given me time to think. I hear traffic noises coming from the streets about a block ov...

As it turned out, I was right. Suicide wasn’t a thing you heard about much, at least not in our quiet little town. It was something that happened far away, something distant and unfathomable. And yet, that morning it had struck home with terrible precision, taking Lucy’s mother with a finality that left everyone stunned and gasping for breath. I had a hard time understanding what happened. I think we all did. One day Mrs....

My life was curiously empty before meeting Lucy, that summer’s day so long ago. It was my birthday, of which I was only allowed one a year, and unique because of that, as well as it being the one day upon which my un-birthday did not fall. Summer was in full bloom, golden sweet and flower scented, and the sky had chosen to be a particularly vibrant shade of blue that day. It was a day upon which to wander about a heather...

I awoke suddenly, a weight upon my back, pressing me down, my face pushed so deeply into my pillow that I had to fight for every breath. A vice like grip upon the back of my neck held me still. I tried to scream, but the sound was muffled, so instead I fought, hoping to free myself from my unknown assailant. He was too strong, but the desperation of terror kept me going longer than I would have thought possible, up until...

Much had changed this time in Alice’s nightmare world. We both recognized the setting, and yet both of us were aware that something wasn’t quite right. Oh, the changes were subtle and had we not walked this path so many times before, we might not have noticed them, but they were there. The color of the sky was a little off, for one, and the sounds seemed muted. Ominous shadows still lurked at the corners of our comprehens...

After that night, things were different between us for a while. Of course, her parent’s weren’t content with my promise that it wouldn’t happen again and my trip to the emergency room turned into a three day stay for observation, complete with IV drip that contained a handful of medications meant to keep me calm and help me sleep. The bottom line is I drifted in and out of reality for several days and, when I was finally...

It was all so familiar. She was dressed as before as was I. Shadows flitted about the countryside and through the woods, and the breeze was chill upon our cheeks. We trod the path, ignoring the signs warning of danger. It was as if we’d forgotten what had happened the last time, what would happen if we continued on. In the back of my head I knew we should turn back, but I was powerless to voice that thought.Once again, we...

It all started innocently enough, wandering through Macy’s, looking at dresses that were far too expensive and sophisticated for us to even consider."You should try it on, Luce," she urged me, stopping in front of a cocktail dress that a 16-year-old girl had no right to own. "You’d look stunning in it."She was right in a way. It was something a movie star would wear, glittering red upon the mannequin, leaving its shoulder...

And so, I had finally discovered the truth about Alice’s dreams. Neither of us wished to talk about what had happened, and yet how could we not? Eventually, haltingly, she told me that sometimes they weren’t as bad, that sometimes just the man in the hat was present and that often times he was sweet and others he was cruel and that as she got older, they’d gotten worse. Sometimes she found ways not to go to sleep, hoping...

I awoke with my heart beating like a trapped dove, holding onto her as she shook and cried, sleep still claiming her. I could feel her own heart pounding as she began to thrash in my embrace, crying out so loudly that I was afraid she’d wake my father. Unsure of what to do, I tried shaking her awake and then, remembering a scene from a movie, slapping her cheeks until finally her eyes snapped open.Her breath was uneven an...

Funny thing. After all these years after revealing my secrets to Alice, I had forgotten one of hers, the very first one. Oh, I suppose it’s only natural. After all, we’d never spoken of it again, never even mentioned it. And yet, had I been a better friend, I would have recalled her whispered admission to me. "Sometimes, I think they might be real outside of my dreams."One thing that neither of us had considered was that...

The end came quickly. In looking back, the signs are obvious to my adult self. Not to the 16 year old teenager that I had become. Junior year. So many possibilities were flowering open. I’d discovered boys, at least in theory, the year before. Alice had been kissed for the first time but I was slow to follow her example. Of course she’d taken on the role of cheerleader while I was more at home with the fringe groups. Band...

An introduction to the reader. This is something I have been working on for a while. It was actually written quite quickly (in the space of 30 days) and then put aside to be polished, a process that has gone much more slowly. I think it needed a home before I was ready to finish it, and this site feels like that home. Funny, but a week ago, before I knew of the existence of Stories Space I had a sudden urge to finish this...