“Dreamcatcher”

She’s coming to get me. I need to hide. I can’t let her find me…

Hakyeon woke up immediately in panic. He was drenched in his own sweat and his heart pounded uncontrollably. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. He reached for the glass of water next to his bed but he could see his hands still trembling in fear.

This was the fifth night.

He kept having the same nightmare over and over again. He dreamt about being in a small town on the outskirts of the country along with five unfamiliar children he was friends with. The dream started out peacefully and rather fun as he and his ‘friends’ were playing hide and seek. But that dream eventually turned into a nightmare when ‘she’ appeared…

“Don’t think about it, it’s just a dream,” Hakyeon wiped his sweat away and tried to get back to bed since it was still the middle of the night.

But every time he closed his eyes, the image of that woman appeared in front of his face again. He swallowed hard, trying to ignore it but in the end, he couldn’t.

The morning came and he ended up being woken up by Taekwoon for breakfast.

“Are you okay? You look a bit pale,” Taekwoon noticed.

“Yeah… just not getting enough sleep,” Hakyeon told his friend. “Thanks for getting breakfast ready.”

“No problem. Just let me know if you need anything else.”

“I will, thanks.”

Soon, he was joined by the younger members around the dining table for breakfast. They were all very energetic in the morning especially Jaehwan and Hongbin who kept talking about games the moment they sat down. Taekwoon and Wonshik also watched on the side, laughing along with Jaehwan’s fanatics.

Hakyeon let out a weak smile too but he was honestly too tired to even focus on his food.

“Hyung, are you alright? You don’t look so good,” Hyuk noticed as well and placed his hands on Hakyeon’s forehead. “You don’t seem to be having a fever.”

“I’m fine, Hyogi. I’m just not getting enough sleep, that’s all,” Hakyeon tried to reassure the younger with a smile.

“If you say so,” Hyuk said but looked skeptically at the older. It was obvious that not only are Hakyeon’s eyebags more apparent now but he’s also lost a lot of weight the past few days.

The members entered the van after breakfast for their next schedule which was a little outside of the city. Everyone fell asleep as soon as they sat down but Hakyeon on the other hand, was still afraid of closing his eyes.

“You should catch some sleep while you can, Hakyeon-ah,” his manager told him as he drove.

“I’m okay. Don’t worry,” Hakyeon said again.

Everyone noticed Hakyeon’s obvious signs of fatigue but the older insisted that he was fine. He, himself, told him that as well. Like it was some sort of hypnosis that if he told himself enough times, he’ll be fine after all.

But even though he said that, his eyes were slowly giving in.

Moments late, Hakyeon fell asleep.

As he slept, he could hear the voices of children laughing happily as they ran around in circles. But rather than happiness hearing those voices, he felt uneasy instead.

Oh no… this again…  he began to fear.

“Hey, Hakyeon-ah, we have to find a place to hide,” one of the boys said while another was tagged as the seeker of their game.

“Kids, don’t stay out too late! Hurry back home before the sun sets,” one of the mothers shouted.

But the kids didn’t care. They wanted to play. Even if it’s just one more game, they wanted to finish it. However, there was more to this game than just a simple hide and seek.

“Guys, we should listen and go home. The sky is getting dark. What if she appears?” another child said in a quivering voice.

“Don’t be a chicken. Nothing will happen,” one of the boys said. “Com’on, let’s hide!”

Hakyeon didn’t want to go. He knew this was another repetition of that horrid dream he’s been having. He was screaming in his mind to wake up but his body reacted differently. He was in a form of a child’s and he kept walking while looking for a place to hide.

Just as he thought he found the perfect place, someone shook him awake.

“Hyung, we’re here,” Hyuk opened the door for Hakyeon and woke the leader up. He glanced at Hakyeon for a second and then grew worried. “You’re sweating a lot, are you okay?”

“… Uh, yeah. I’m fine. Sorry, let’s go,” Hakyeon said after a moment of hesitation while trying to grasp back onto reality.

However, Hyuk couldn’t take his eyes off Hakyeon after all. The older was acting distant and strange. He’s never seen Hakyeon behave like that before and he couldn’t help worrying. He paid close attention to Hakyeon throughout the entire day.

After a long day of schedules, everyone could finally head home. They all got changed and packed up, ready to head back to Seoul. Just as Hakyeon got up to the front seat, Hyuk pulled him back.

“Hyung, sit in the back with me. Taekwoon-hyung, you should sit in the front,” Hyuk instructed.

“Huh?” Everyone looked at Hyuk questionably for a second.

“What are you doing, Hyogi?” Hakyeon asked as well.

“It’s fine. I want you to sit next to me on our way back, that’s all,” Hyuk said.

Everyone didn’t believe their ears, but it seems like the younger was serious. And since this was a rare occasion, Hakyeon didn’t refuse either. He sat next to Hyuk at the very back seat of the van. He hasn’t sat there in ages because the front has always been his. As he sat in the back, he couldn’t help but find it rather strange to be looking at the backs of s. It’s always been the other way around.

So, this is how they always see things when they sit here, Hakyeon thought as he watched the members fall asleep right away as soon as the engine started.

Hakyeon glanced at Hyuk, who didn’t really say a word as soon as they got in the van but the younger wasn’t sleeping either. He was looking through his phone it seems. Hakyeon got a bit bored and he really wanted to ask why Hyuk would suddenly invite the older to sit next to him, but he was a bit too tired to even want to open his mouth to speak.

He let out a little sigh and drifted back to sleep, by accident.

Not again…  he swallowed hard, seeing the dream’s setting once more.

He found a nearby hut to hide along with a few of his other friends. They played a few rotations here and there but before they knew it, the sky has completely gone dark.

“We should go home,” one of them kept saying.

“One more round. After that, we’ll go,” the other insisted.

The children looked at each other and sighed, just one last round. But as soon as they said that, a bell started to ring. The children looked at each other in fear, knowing exactly what the sound of those bells meant. The bell kept ringing closer and closer.

“Hide!” the children all scattered immediately on the signal and Hakyeon did the same as well.

He ran with everything he’s got with one of his friends and found a house, with its door opened and lights still . There was no one inside but the lights felt safe. But he knew that the light only welcomed the uninvited.

He looked at the other boy and decided to spread out instead of grouping together especially with their small stature, they could fit in better places alone then with each other. Soon, he found a room to hide in. He turned off the lights and dashed for one of the empty closets without a door.

Shoot, he thought. He forgot to close the door to the room as well when he was running in panic. Just as he wanted to go back to close it, he heard the bells again.

“Aaahh!!!” a child screamed nearby his room.

She’s here… oh no… Hakyeon gulped and placed his hands on his chest, trying to calm his rapid heart beats. It was beating so loudly that he thought it would break.

The bells grew louder and louder.

He swallowed once more.

He sat still in the dark closet, watching the hallways from his spot. The lights started to flicker ominously, and the bells drew near. He could hear footsteps closing in at his spot and before he knew it, a figure stood there in the hallway.

A tall woman, dressed in white from top to bottom with pitch black straight hair and pale skin like a ghost. She stood by the doorway that Hakyeon forgot to close the door and didn’t move as if she knew that there was someone in the room next to her.

This is the end… Hakyeon thought.

He’s had this dream too many times that he knew he couldn’t escape. Every single time he’s had this dream, he would be caught and killed by the woman in white.

He covered his mouth, trying to hold his breath so that the woman wouldn’t hear him but she could sense it, even as she approached him in the darkness. She crept closer and closer towards Hakyeon, causing Hakyeon to tremble even more. He closed his eyes out of fear, waiting for his end to near.

Hakyeon could feel it as he closed his eyes, the woman was staring straight at him with her bloodshot eyes, pale white skin and red painted lips… she was there. She was breathing near him, staring at him and waiting for him to open his eyes to look at her.

Don’t do it, Hakyeon-ah. Don’t do it, he told himself as he tried to fight his fears.

This dream have always been the same and have always ended the same way. But just as he waited for his doom, he heard footsteps racing into the room.

“Get away from Hakyeon-hyung!” the voice said loudly.

Hakyeon could hear the woman screaming in pain and someone fighting against her. He squinted his eyes opened a bit and saw the woman disappeared. But instead, there was someone else.

“Hyung! Are you okay?” that person said.

“Huh?” Hakyeon tried to focus on who it was that saved him from that dreadful woman, but the sound of traffic woke him up.

He looked around to see that he was still in the van, on his way back home. He let out a sigh of relief though that he didn’t have to meet the woman this time for once in his dream. But he felt rather warm and when he looked at right hand, he saw that Hyuk was holding onto his hand tightly.

“Hyogi?” Hakyeon glanced over at the younger.

Hyuk mumbled a bit as he woke up from his sleep and when he woke up, he caressed Hakyeon suddenly on the cheeks.

“I’m glad you’re safe,” he said.

Hakyeon’s heart raced again, but not out of fear this time. He realized who it was that saved him from his nightmares that night. That person was none other than his beloved maknae, Hyuk. Hyuk never let go of Hakyeon’s hands the entire trip back to Seoul and Hakyeon never had that nightmare ever again because even if that woman came back to find Hakyeon, Hyuk would always be there to catch her.

A/N: The part of the nightmare is actually based on a nightmare I had when I was a child. This dream has always been the most memorable one to me and I still remember every detail of it even until this day. However, the dream didn't end with someone helping me out. The real ending of the dream when I had it was that the woman stared straight at me when I opened my eyes to check if she was gone. She was there, watching me, waiting for me to make any sudden moves before she kills me. I was afraid and it was horrible. I had this dream so many times when I was young that I didn't know what to do to be honest. The scariest part of the dream was the fact that this woman's face was actually my mom... I was afraid of my mom when I was a child because she was kind of strict. But as I grew older, this nightmare eventually turned into a joke. The fear of my mom grew less and at the end of the dream, it ended up me bursting out laughing while staring at the woman in white. You know how it is when you're playing those 'staring' games and trying to not be the first person to laugh? Yeah... I don't have this dream anymore now but I can still remember it very vividly. So, I decided to write a oneshot of it with VIXX. 

Has anyone had any experience with dreams or nightmares before that they can still remember? Because I actually have too many bizarre ones... LOL