The young nightmare got off the man's chest and stood off to the side. She stared at him for a bit engrossed in his movements and behavior. His tossing and turning stopped shortly after she moved away from the human. She tilted her head to the side in an attempt to understand the human, her human, that lay before her. She then let out a yawn. The mare passed through the door akin to a ghost walking through walls and doors. The sunlight that cascaded upon her body as she stood out in the middle of the village street made her feel helpless and a little weak.
The nightmare headed down the small village road picking up various words from the people surrounding her. The people were moving to and fro completely oblivious to the young mare that was walking beside them. She made her way to the edge of village. She was headed to the place where she had originally 'sprung to life'. The place was near an ancient tree and a murky pond and this was the place that she made her home.
The nightmare climbed the ancient tree and lay herself upon a limb not too far from the ground. With the sun nearly high in the sky she closed her eyes. Her sleep was blank, she neither dreamed nor did she have nightmares. Her sleep was nothingness.
She awoke and the sun was no longer high in the sky, but rather it was nearly behind the tree line. She stretched her arms carefully as she didn't want to fall off the tree. The young nightmare let out a yawn and sat fully up on the limb. She swung her legs absentmindedly from the branch. She was looking forward to finding her human again and watching his silly flailing movements. She wanted to see him again and she could barely contain her excitement. Her curiosity was thoroughly piqued.
The mare climbed back down the tree and headed back into town. She headed into the village in order to find her human again. Each day she came across him he would have large bags under his eyes and with each day she visited it would become worse than the day before. She followed him around town for a bit before he would head to his home. She would watch as he made food for himself before he would eventually climb into bed and fall asleep. When the human was asleep the nightmare crawled upon his chest and observed the young man. When the sun came up she headed back to her tree limb to fall asleep. This was her life for several days until something had changed.
The nightmare headed into town searching for her human. She searched the place in which he worked, but he was not there. She furrowed her brows. She searched a few of the places he frequented, but he was not there either. Finally, after failing to located her human, she decided to head back to where he slept, his home.
She entered through the door and was shocked to see he was already sleeping!! And without her no less! This was so early for the young man. The nightmare quickly sat upon his chest and waited, but nothing happened. He had no movements, he was frozen stiff.
The nightmare leaned in and tapped his forehead. His eyes were not fluttering like they normally did. He wasn't thrashing around like he had done previously. What was wrong with this human? The nightmare asked herself.
There was a loud pounding on the door of her human's house. The young nightmare turned her head looking at the door as the humans on the other side called out. After enough banging the humans entered the tiny abode of her human while she climbed off of his chest and stood in the corner in the shadows observing. She watched as the two new humans walked into the room, one of them who had been addressed as 'Doctor' hovered his hand over her human's mouth for several seconds and then moved his hand to the neck of her human.
The nightmare waited and listened as the humans spoke in hushed tones.
"Doctor is Alger all right? I was concerned when he didn't show up for work." The opposite questioned as he stared expectantly at the doctor waiting for his answer.
"No, unfortunately Alger is dead."
"Dead." The man mumbled, "I'll go find the priest."
"Yes, there is nothing to be done here."
"I should have noticed something was wrong, he was getting weaker with each passing day. Do you suspect it was the plague?"
"No," the doctor noted. I suspect something far worse and something that is nearly impossible to treat."
"What do you mean doctor?"
"I believe it was a Mare, a evil entity that brings terrible dreams and even worse sleep. Overtime they can kill their host."
"A mare in this village, that's impossible, right?"
"I would have thought so, but apparently not. There is one here."