Down By Bayou

She was having the dream again.

There she was. In a long black lace dress, slowly strolling along the bank of a backwoods Louisiana bayou. It’s beautiful out, the sun shining brightly in the sky and warming her dark skin. A wooden wheel rotated across the way. Birds were flying high, bugs and insects chirping their day songs. The gentle breeze blew through the Spanish moss and through her dark brown curls, them tickling her nose.

It was so peaceful.

She would then walk into the murky waters, relaxing as the cool water eased the heat from the sun. Would trail a finger over surface, smiling fondly at the ripples.

But how does she where she is? She’s never been here before. And why was she so calm?

A pair of egrets are a few feet away casually plucking fish from the water. A frog would make a small splash as it jumped into the shallow end from the bank. Slowly the sounds would die out as she moved away from the shore.

And as she went further in, it got harder and harder to keep going. Something would start brushing up her against her legs, then wrap their phantom fingers around her calf.

Why was this happening? She would never be out here. She’s scared. She wants to wake up now.

That’s when she would look down, shakingly lifting her hands.

Gone was the muddy and still water. 

In its place was blood. 

Why couldn’t she ever wake up from here?

That’s when the whole bayou would grow dark. The sun would disappear behind black storm clouds. The area grew deathly quiet.

Body parts were littered everywhere. Torsos and feet would be scattered on the bank.

A half-decayed arm floated past her.

The egrets started picking at the eyeballs of a rotting head.

She would panic, trying her hardest to turn around and make it back to the bayou’s edge, but the thick blood made that impossible.

She had to make it. She had done it once before. She had to do it again or She would come.

“Elle.”

She whirled around and stomach plummeted.

There SHE was. The bane of her existence. The tormentor of her nightmares for the past month. The owner of the most beautiful pair of green eyes that continuously haunted Elle even when she was awake.

Nadia. 

A little young thing. Couldn’t be any more than fifteen or sixteen. Dressed in her pretty white slip. 

Looking like an angel with her golden-brown hair perfectly coiffed in a bun.

But Elle knew the truth. She was no angel. She was a demon.

A demon Elle needed to get away from.

Too bad she wouldn’t make it. She never made it to the shore once Nadia was near. 

“Not this again,” Elle whispered, shaking her head. “Please not this again.”

Nadia tsk’d as she moved closer, the blood not stopping her from being able to move.

“Then stop waking up.”

Before Elle could even scream, Nadia would grab her head and push her under.

Blood would fill her mouth and nose, fear settling in as she drowned.

She tried with all her strength to fight back. Dug her nails into Nadia’s wrists. Tried kicking her.

Night after night. The same thing. Struggling to stay alive.

But night after night, it got harder and harder to overwhelm her.

Why did Nadia want to kill her so badly? Elle didn’t understand what she could’ve possibly done to warrant her ire. Or who she even was. All she had was the name that came into her mind when they first encountered one another.

Elle wish she could ask her questions, but Nadia never wanted to talk.

She just wanted Elle dead.

Elle’s luck was running out. She could feel her lungs threatening to pop. This went one much longer than the night before.

Maybe tonight would be the night.

The night where she-

Elle shot out of bed, gasping and coughing wildly.

She clenched at her chest, trying to calm her heart pounding loudly. But also checking to make sure she wasn’t there.

Luckily, she managed to catch her breath, but she still felt like she was under the blood.

Could taste it-thick and metallic on her tongue.

Could still smell the heady scent of copper as it took over her senses.

But like all the nights prior, Elle went through the process of calming down.

She looked out her window and stared at the moon. She then counted the plants on the across the street neighbor’s balcony. Eventually the feelings went away and Elle was able to finally relax.

She looked around the room, still a bit jumpy and startled by every single dark silhouette and misshapen lump she saw.

Leaning over, Elle clicked on her side table lamp. The room was filled with a warm glow, chasing away the frightening shadows.

“It’s just a bad dream,” she murmured to herself. “Just some weird nightmare brought on because you made one joke to Selene.”

(A stupid one-off joke about the place she was currently staying in was haunted.)

Once she felt safe, she turned the light back off and settled back into her sheets. She was about to drift back off to sleep when a voice made her blood run cold.

“I can’t believe you actually keep managing to reject me.”

Elle yelped and fell out of bed, tumbling to the ground in a tangled mess of sheets. She scoots backwards until her back hit the wall, terrified out of her mind.

Sitting in the wooden chair in the corner was Nadia.

With a bright pearly white smile and those beautiful green eyes shining in the moonlight, she said,

“Hello Elle.”