[Winter Writing Contest 2022] Dreameater

A drop of water on his nose caused the man to scrunch his face. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the moon. Soon after, the moon became blurry as dew covered steel bars resolved into his view. He realized he was laying on his back before he craned his head to the right. Once again, there were bars. With a groan, he sat himself up to ascertain the situation.

There was no doubt that he was in a cage. The next thing he noticed was that he had no clothes. He was not sure of what made him black out, but he was definitively sure that he had clothes before he was put in the cage. “Damn…” he said as he scrambled about. In the short time that passed, he learned that his cage was tall enough for him to sit, but not to stand. It was long enough for him to lay straight, but gave little room to roll on either side. In front of him was the edge of a cliff and behind him was the edge of a forest. Beneath him was a combination of grass and a white powdery substance. Most of it was scattered atop the grass, but some of it clung to the cage like a thin layer of powder on skin. The sight of it made the man sigh and shake his head as he examined some of the substance that was now on his body. It made him wish he noticed it sooner so that none of it got on him.

By the time he focused his attention elsewhere, what the man found most interesting was what was on his left just a few feet away. Another cage sat closely to his with a prisoner of its own. Inside it was a woman who, much like him, was naked. Unlike him however, she was still knocked out cold. A closer look at her features showed that she looked about as old as him. “At least I’ll have one person to talk to,” he said as he resigned himself against the side of his cage that faced the woods. As he leaned back, he stared at the sky and sighed. To help him pass the time, he decided to count the stars.

Time passed at a pace that seemed both fast and slow. The man noticed that the moon had now reached its peak and was beginning to descend. He also realized that he had counted close to a thousand stars. It made him roll his eyes as he thought about the fate that awaited him. It was bad enough that he was going to die in this cage, but it was even worse knowing that it would be such a slow and mundane process to reach that death. All the man had left was the hope that the woman would wake up so that he could have someone to entertain him in his final moments.

It was a fortunate thing that not long after his thoughts, he heard a groan. The man whipped his head to notice the woman come to. She followed many of his motions from when he woke up before finally realizing where she was. While he had taken the situation very calmly, the woman beside him started to panic as he saw the reality of her situation sink into her mind.

“What…? What? What?! No, no, no… This can’t be right… This can’t be right!!!” said the woman.

“How do you think I feel?” said the man with a chuckle.

“Why am I here? What happened? This can’t be right!” said the woman.

“Denying it won’t change the situation. What’s your name? I’m Traum,” said the man.

“Do you think I care about your name?! I’m stuck in a cage! I need to get out of here!” said the woman before she grabbed the bars. With all the strength she could muster, she pulled them desperately.

“Judging by your actions, I guess that means I’m older than you,” said Traum. “Here I was hoping to have a meaningful conversation with someone my age. Instead, I get to spend my last moment with a dumb kid…”

“I don’t care how old you are and I don’t care if you think I’m some dumb kid! All I care about is getting out of here!” said the woman as she continued to pull.

“You young fool… I’ve been around long enough to tell you that you can’t pry those bars open. Take a closer look,” said Traum.

“Huh?” said the woman. She squinted and looked at the bars more carefully before her eyes suddenly widened. “They’re enchanted!”

“That’s right. Only young novices would be oblivious to not notice such an obvious enchantment. Did you honestly think they would leave us in regular cages?” said Traum as he leaned against his cage once more. “So now that I’ve gotten you to realize that there’s no escape, why don’t you relax a bit and tell me your name.”

“My name? My damn name?! We are stuck in what might as well be our coffins and you want to know my name?! How are you so calm?! You and I are going to die!” said the woman.

“We all run out of time eventually. People like us all meet our ends one day. This particular situation just happens to be our end,” said Traum. “I’ve lived a long and fulfilling life. I’m ready for what’s to come next.”

“People like us? We are not the same! I am nothing like you! For one, I am not ready to die!” said the woman.

“You can deny it, but you and I are the same. But, I know you won’t believe me, so I’m just going to let you struggle until you accept your situation. I’ll be here to talk when you’re ready,” said Traum. After a quick stretch, he looked at the view provided by the cliff edge. The forest below was so tranquil and calm that it helped drown out all the racket being caused by his new companion. Unsure of what to do, he decided to try and sleep. He had never tried to sleep during the night, but with nothing left to do, he thought now would be the best time to try. It took a good half hour, but eventually, Traum fell asleep.

When he opened his eyes again, Traum noticed that the moon had shifted once more. He looked to his left and saw that the woman was prostrating and clearly crying. “This isn’t fair… this isn’t fair… I’m nothing like him… why am I getting punished when I’m nothing like him…?” she mumbled continuously.

It seemed during the time he was asleep, she might have given up on escaping and given in to despair. He was unsure how to comfort her, especially with how she kept talking about him under her breath, but he was compelled to try. At the end of it all, Traum still felt a sense of guilt when it came to leaving a child in such a miserable state of mind. “Hey, want to share your name now?” said Traum.

“Somna,” said the woman.

“That’s a nice name. Nice to meet you, Somna,” said Traum.

“Nice to meet you too,” said Somna.

“Do you remember how you got here?” said Traum.

“I was eating. Then, I think a group of soldiers caught me, and everything went black,” said Somna.

“I was eating, too. It seems people are wising up to when we’re most vulnerable. I don’t recall what happened or how I was captured, though,” said Traum.

“What I normally eat isn’t particularly tasty, so I’m often more aware,” said Somna. “See? I told you you and I are nothing alike.”

“I guess you’re right there. I get lost in delirium when I eat,” said Traum.

“That’s because you’re a monster,” said Somna. “You eat dreams indiscriminately and lose track of your surroundings! No wonder they captured you so easily! For someone who has supposedly been around for a long time, you sure make stupid decisions!”

“Are you saying you don’t? Because if that were the case, then you wouldn’t be in that cage,” said Traum. “I suppose you think only eating nightmares makes you a good person, huh? That you’re doing the world a favor by leaving people with just happy dreams? Well, guess what? People don’t care whether you think you’re good, they will always think you’re a monster! Why waste your life eating lackluster nightmares when you can indulge yourself in wondrous dreams?”

“Because we have no right to take the happiness of others! Dreams allow people to aspire towards greater things! It can give them hope and so much more when they need it most! Take away their dreams and they become soulless husks with no aspirations! What right do we have to take what is there’s for our own selfish contentment?” said Somna.

“So for the sake of others, I should only eat nightmares that leave me half starved? I’m supposed to live a subpar existence so that people can continue there’s to the fullest? How is that fair?” said Traum.

“It’s not about what’s fair! It’s because of eaters like you that our kind suffer! If we have the ability to not act like monsters we should do so! Maybe if more of our kind acted like me, we wouldn’t be hunted down with extreme prejudice!” said Somna.

“You young ones and your damn delusions… People find it equally suspicious when they never have nightmares,” said Traum with a sigh. He shook his head and regretted even speaking. “Regardless of what we do, we will eventually cause suspicion. Your intentions mean nothing to a mob of suspicious and fearful people. There is no world where Dreameaters and Humans can coexist.”

“Not with eaters like you around,” said Somna.

“Why you hopeless…” said Traum before he stopped himself as he watched Somna lay down and face away from him. He sighed before deciding that it was best for him to stay quiet. After all, yelling at someone before his death was not really what he had in mind. Instead, he allowed the silence to take control of the situation and continued to enjoy the view. Rather than focusing on the forest in front him, Traum decided to focus on the horizon. He watched as the moon slowly got closer to it.

Dawn began to give way to daybreak, and Traum finally decided to speak again. He thought the least he could do was leave the world with a little less frustration in his heart. Though the thought pained him, he decided he would leave the world without grudges towards others and vice versa. “I’m sorry about what I said,” he finally spoke.

“What?” said Somna as she turned to face him.

“We shouldn’t be spending our final moments arguing. Hostility doesn’t seem like a good thing to bring to wherever we go after,” said Traum. “Besides, after a little bit of thought, I think you were right that it’s eaters like me that give us a bad reputation. If I was less excessive when I ate, I wouldn’t have been caught and I wouldn’t have helped perpetuate the beliefs people have of our kind.”

“It’s alright,” said Somna. “There’s truth in your words. Even if the number of eaters like me ended up outnumbering the eaters like you, the negative reputation our kind has garnered over history wouldn’t go away so easily. Humans will always fear what’s different. The problems aren’t so easily solved.”

“I guess in the end, we were both right and wrong,” said Traum.

“Yeah,” said Somna. “But at least we finally had one decent conversation.”

“That’s a good memory to have before I leave this world,” said Traum as he watched the first rays of sunlight start to shine through the horizon.

“Funny, but I always thought it would hurt,” said Somna.

Traum looked to his left to see that his companion’s skin was already cracking. With the little sunlight that was present, he watched as Somna’s body began to crumble to dust. Even so, she had a content look on her face as she accepted her fate. Without a word, Traum faced the sun head on. Unlike Somna, he had eaten enough dreams that his body did not collapse with the amount of sunlight present. By the time Somna was nothing more than a pile of ash, enough sunlight had finally breached the horizon that Traum could see his hands begin to crack. Just as Somna said, there was no pain. It brought him a sense of relief as he leaned back against his cage for the last time.