She had left work late as usual. She should have just gotten an uber, or headed straight for the train station or maybe the bus station, but she had not. Instead, she'd decided to walk.
Why had she decided to wall such a long distance on her own, in the city of all places?
Emily had no idea why it had seemed like a good idea then, but she was definitely regretting it now. There was someone following her.
Male or female she did not know. There were no identifiable features evident in their baggy clothes. At first she had tried to lose them in the crowd, but they kept up. And now despite knowing the city like the back of her hand…she was lost…and her pursuer was still following her.
Sweat flowing down her back, Emily tried to run, but she was not fast enough. It felt like she was moving in slow motion, every time she looked back, her pursuer was right behind her. She ran until she couldn't anymore.
Deciding that she would rather go down fighting, she finally stopped.
"If you're going to do something, just come out and face me instead of hiding in the dark like a coward!" She yelled out. For a moment, there was nothing, then the hooded figure stepped out of the shadows, and moved slowly towards her.
Standing her ground, Emily balled her fists and got ready to fight, her heart thundered, and every breath she took felt way too loud in the silent alley. Tired of waiting, she charged forward, with a cry. She swung and her fist connected. But rather than flesh and bone, she was met with…water?
She stared at her fist, the liquid dripping from it, then at her attacker. From beneath the hood, there was nothing but the deep dark waters of the ocean.
Emily screamed, and the ocean roared back. The figure lost their humanoid form, becoming nothing but the water, all encompassing, and she was swept away in the current.
'Please!' She thought, 'I can't swim,' She begged, but the water was unrelenting. It dragged her down, down, down….
Emily came awake, breathing hard, she looked around, almost expecting to be surrounded by water, but there was nothing. Just the usual contents of her room, the lights outside illuminating them. Turning on her bedside lamp, Emily took a moment to breathe.
"Just a dream Ems, just a dream," She reassured herself. She stared at the clock, she had managed two and a half hours of sleep.
With a sigh, she got up, her feet silent on the wooden floor as she made her way to her crafts drawer.
Yet another night of embroidering then, she thought to herself. She was already done with her flower, so maybe this time she would do something different? Unable to think of anything better to do, she settled on doing the world map. It would keep her busy without needing too much effort.
As she got the right threads ready and got to work, Emily could not help but think on the bleakness of her situation.
She had no reason to be suffering in the way she was. Sure her dad had died of cancer when she was young, but lots of people had lost their parents at an early age, and they did not have sleep problems.
So why her? Why did she have recurring nightmares. They were always about either, drowning or suffocating. Why was she having them.
Doctors could not figure it out. And all the faith healers and shamans her mother had taken her to had no idea either. With her mother now thinking that the problem was behind them, Emily could at least console herself with the fact that one of them enjoyed counting sheep.
Her mother was her rock, she'd raised a child on her own. It was the least Emily could do to make sure that she got a good night's rest. Cheered by that small thought, Emily went about her project as she got ready for yet another sleepless night.