Josh woke in a lathered sweat. The darkness outside his window was threatening. It was as if someone turned off all natural light, leaving behind huge shades of dark black and even darker black. Since he had sat straight up, he was having trouble remembering the dream that caused his body to jerk him out of his slumber.
A shiver ran down his spine as the vision returned from his dream; or was it a nightmare? It might have been both. He remembered the girl was the most beautiful he ever remembered yet he sensed there was something inherently evil. Josh could smell it in the night air that seemed very stuffy. It wasn’t unusual to have the dew point in the mid-70′s for late July in South Dakota; but it was very unusual considering he had the a/c working over time keeping the house at a cool 72˚ F.
Now he was second guessing himself. Josh questioned whether or not he had left a window open; but he knew that wasn’t possible. He questioned if he dreamed of the girl or if she was real. He became very nervous. His sweat began to stream down his back instead of the benign trickle from before. Was it from fear or was the energy sapping humidity seeping through an open door or window?
Josh was afraid to turn on any lights. He stepped on the carpeting that covered his bedroom floor. It was damp. It seemed almost soggy. He wiggled his toes to get a better feel before he headed toward the hallway outside his doorway. He stopped and cautiously looked around the door jam . First he put one foot on the cool feeling hardwood floor; and then apprehensively stepped fully into the hall with the second foot.
His steps were tentative and slow. Fear of the unknown caused his heart to thump loudly in his chest and his breaths to be short, choppy, almost to the point of hyperventilating. His mind was telling him there was nothing to fear. His emotion was not nearly as confident. Josh slowly made his way to the family room. Once he stood on the imported tile floor and away from the hall to the bedrooms, he felt a warm, waterlogged breeze coming from beyond the kitchen.
He made his way in the direction of the draft. He approached the kitchen, looking for anything that he could use for protection. All his sporting equipment was carefully stored in a closet in the opposite direction from where he headed. He thought of using one of the larger kitchen knives, but thought better of it. He didn’t want to get that close to what ever it was that was haunting his home; besides he wasn’t that good at fighting.
Josh made it quietly to the far side of the kitchen, where he grabbed the umbrella propped up next in the corner near a door. He quickly looked in the dining room, nothing there. He turned and headed toward the door to the foyer and the living room. The breeze was coming from the living room. The moisture accosted his senses. It seemed worse than he anticipated and seemed to have a foul aroma.
Two feet into the foyer out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw something move. He heard nothing. The humidity tends to muffle some sounds. Josh stopped, dead in his tracks. He only moved his eyes in an effort to keep as still as he could.
Suddenly, the most beautiful girl he had ever witnessed stood in front of Josh. It was the girl of the dream that shook him awake. Her long, dark hair swayed in the breeze coming from the living room. Josh could tell that she was sparsely dressed. He couldn’t tell if she was wearing a bikini or underclothes due to massive darkness that made him concentrate and focus on a narrow view. Her eyes, at least in his mind, were green; but he wasn’t able to see for certain. He let his guard down and took a deep breath because he recognized her.
He whispered; “What are you doing here?”
In a throaty deep, sexy voice she responded; “I just had to see you.”
This was the last thing Josh heard or saw. He never knew what happened; except for the realization that what he experienced before waking was in reality an orchestrated nightmare when he was half awake and mostly asleep.
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