Flash Fiction: February 11, 2025
The writing prompt: Write about a person who is responsible for protecting dreams from being twisted into nightmares.
Her screams could be heard in the deepest corners of the universe, reverberating throughout the cosmos like an echo of the worst kind. The sound, however, was emanating from the recesses of her mind. As she tossed and turned in her bed, no one around her could hear the wailing that stemmed from her broken heart. A dream of sorts–one that could only be carried out by another person brandishing a sword, sharpened with words collected from her like bones. Little did she know that with every utterance of pain, she was waking the Nightmare Keeper. As soon as tears began to slide down her cheeks, he was there, watching her quietly beside the bed.
When stillness returned to her body, the Nightmare Keeper went to work.
First, he held his hands above her head on the pillow, hovering only high enough to go undetected. Suddenly, his hands began to glow, radiating a gentle warmth over her entire body. Bright waves of light began to rise from her skull, and her cheeks quickly dried. The Nightmare Keeper tethered each wave to his hands, absorbing darkness from her drowsy little head. Once all of her shattered thoughts were gone, he lifted his hands, softly severing the ties to her mind. It was only then that he could begin to weave dreams.
In an instant, a burst of light emanated from the center of the Nightmare Keeper’s body. Shrouded in night, the bedroom was now speckled with twinkling stars, radiating the same light that had come from the Keeper.
As her body began to absorb the light, new thoughts in her mind began to swirl. She caught sight of the ocean and paused to observe all of the ways the sunlight danced on its waves. With each heartbeat, she noticed the solace that the Nightmare Keeper had infused into her tired body. Now that the nightmare had been banished, she could feel the dampened ember in her soul begin to glow brightly once more. When she realized it was the heat of her own flame that was warming her body, she opened her eyes.