Chapter 1

I see her clearly. She is just standing there and staring at me. Her dark hair falling around her pale face, and those frightened eyes almost piercing me. A thin bloodstream runs from her right temple and down her cheek. There is something she is trying to say to me, but all that I grasp is a half-choked: *H*elp me!

Then she stretches her arms towards me. I try to get a hold of her hands but I only brush her fingertips. Everything becomes completely black.

Only her hoarse "Help me!" gets stuck in the air.

Am I awake or am I dreaming?

I lie with my eyes closed on the bed, freezing, and can feel my heart pounding hard against my chest. My throat is dry. I'm afraid to open my eyes because she is in the room. Is it her, sitting on the bedside and is stroking me on the cheek right now? No, I need to stop it now!

You know  ... when you wake up in the middle of the night, it's freezing cold in your room, you're shaking, teeth scraping, your blanket laying on the floor, and you have a strong feeling that she, the little girl, from your dream, is the one who pulled it from you? Oh, you probably don't know the last part? But I do. It's not enough with it being very terrifying, it actually pretty annoying too. I almost never get a whole night of sleep anymore, because she does it every single night: Stepping into my dreams and standing there with her sorrowful eyes, looking at me, while she shouts something that I don't hear.

In the beginning, I felt sorry for her. but now, I feel almost sorry for myself. It's really disturbing.

How do I get rid of her?

I take a few deep breaths, its soothing. Then I hold my breath and get it together, forcing my eyes to open, while slowly exhaling. At first, I don't see anything, everything is completely black. I stay lying still as if spell-bound, while I look out for any movement in the dark. Is anyone here?

I blindly reach for my phone.

Now is enough. I'm going crazy. I also have a feeling, that she hides my stuff. For example, I placed my phone on the beer box, that I got from my uncle Johny as a Christmas gift, and is standing right beside my bed. I just know, that I placed it there...but now it is gone. Verschwunden. Danm it. Now I can't even see what time it is, but she usually shows up the first time between 12 and 12:30.

I can hear Welly flap crazy with his wings, and now begins jabbing: “Ciao Bella, Ciao Bella”

Welly is my budgerigar, and guess who named him? Jully, my little sister, who is as annoying as a little sister is when you are 16 and she is 13. Welly is also starting to get uneasy at night that he ordinarily never did. In the morning, his small, blue feathers will lay all over the cage. He is a pretty talkative budgerigar. other than “Ciao Bella” he says “Buongiorno”, ”Buona Notte”, and a lot of Italian cusswords. Among others is “Va fan culo”, it sounds funny, but it's not, at least not when Italians are around. I don't even want to explain what it means, it's totally disgusting. Italians can become pretty creative when they cuss. He can also say “porca puttana” and “stronzo”. It is SO primitive. That's all that Jully and dad taught him. My dad is half Italian, that's why his name is Marco. His mother, my grandma, Nonna Rita, who I gratefully inherited from, my honey brown eyes.

I tried to talk with my mom about the girl, that interrupts my night sleep. When it all began, I was naturally scared. extremely scared.

Who wouldn't?

So I revealed it to my mom and described in detail about the girl in my dreams, and that I had a sensation it was more than a dream. That she really pulled my blanket from on top of me and was in my room.

How it went? Nope! My mother studied phycology in highschool. So she concluded quickly, that this girl symbolized that childhood, that I was saying goodbye to and that I don't wanna let go. That's why I couldn't reach the girl's hands (!).

On the other hand, my mom grabbed both my hands, looked me deep in the eyes and said:

It time to let go of the child, Maya!

She said that- in all seriousness! Yet she continued in the same sentimental tone:

Maya, remember, no matter what, you can come to me. I will always be here for you and help you... Sweety.

Then she pulled me in a lame hug. And right there\, the movie cracked\, I mean\, it got awkward and transnational. I couldn't tell her that\, she had just proved that I couldn't use her for a f***.  Like\, I'm  16! So\, of course\, I still hang on the little girl.

Moreover, my grandma -my mom's mom- had just died when the "girl" started coming in at night. I loved my grandma dearly. And then she just died.  She fell ill with some kind of aphorism in the brain, the doctors said. Or was it called apoplexy?  It was brain hemorrhage anyway.

When the girl came at night, I thought it could be my grandma's spirit or something like that. Or wished it was. But grandma had blond hair when she was a kid and was a little chubby, but the girl from my dreams is thin and has long dark hair, so it didn't make any sense. My grandma's name is Eja.

...I have no idea whether the girl from my dreams has a name.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***