Lucinda's Dream, Part II

Lucinda turned on the kitchen faucet to put out the cigarette that fell in. She put down her cell phone and thought to herself; "Did I just imagine all this?" "Am I going crazy?" She grabbed her umbrella from the foyer and ran out into the backyard. The rain was coming down hard and the wind picked up. It was hard seeing with the rain hitting you in the face. It was early afternoon and yet, she felt like she had been up for 12 hours. She checked outside for footprints, but none could be found because of the rain. "If there were foot print" she said out loud. Looking around her yard, nothing seemed unusual. The yard wasn't fenced in so anyone could walk in the back and be unseen. Her neighbors all worked or else she would knock on their doors and ask them if they had seen the man.

She went back inside and that was when she realized she had gone outside with no shoes on. Her feet were socked and dirty from the mud. Her clothes drenched. She ran into the bathroom, stripped and took a hot shower. Thoughts entered her mind that she imagined the man. A dream that would not end. Once out of the shower she made herself a sandwich and warmed up the morning coffee. Her stomach was in knots but she felt the sandwich and another cup of coffee would do the trick.

As she sat down at her kitchen table to eat, she thought of the man. She couldn't make out his hair color because of the hood, but his eyes, oh yes his eyes were a piercing blue. His nose was small and that smile, she thought. It was an evil smile. He has such thin lips. They were twisted into an evil smirk.

Lucinda was exhausted and rest was something she clearly needed. She checked her doors to make sure she they were locked and proceeded to her bedroom to take a nap. It didn't take her long before she fell into a deep sleep. She started to dream again of the hooded man. Only this time she was in a park and running. He was running after her. In her dream she was screaming. Help me! Someone please help me! The man yelled for her to stop. He was catching up to her and Lucinda tripped over a rock and fell to the pavement on her face. She felt the man's hand on her shoulder. He was trying to turn around. That's when Lucinda woke up. She was drenched in sweat. She sat up in her bed and looked around. Everything was quiet. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table. It was 4 pm. "Oh God I slept two hours, why can't I just sleep and not have these nightmares?"

She went into the den and turned the television on to the Game Show Network hoping to distract her thoughts from her nightmare. Lucinda was watching Family Feud and often played along, when the phone rang. It was her sister Theresa calling. Ever since Lucinda lost her job, Theresa would call every week to check in on her. Theresa lived in Pennsylvania with her husband and three teenager daughters.

Lucinda appreciated her sisters concern, however her sister would lecture her on depression. "You know Lucinda you need to get out more". "You know Lucinda you need to seek help to get over this depression". Lucinda often tuned her sister out. No use telling her about the dreams, her sister would tell her to see a shrink. The next 20 minutes Theresa spoke of her family and what was new with them. After the call, Lucinda went to her mail box.

Bills, bills and more bills, she said and threw them on the dining room table. It was then that she noticed an envelope addressed to her. What was odd was there was no stamp or the senders address. Lucinda held the envelope with trembling hands. She kept debating whether to open it or tear it to pieces and throw it out. She opened the envelope to revel a plain white piece of paper with large letters in black ink, sort of like a permanent marker. She read it and her heart started pumping faster. The words said "Sweet Dreams Lucinda or stay awake, It really doesn't matter for your soul I shall take". It was then Lucinda fainted.

She awoke five minutes later with the letter in her hand. "I've got to call the cops, I have proof now", she said out loud. Two police men showed up 15 minutes later. The took her statement. Lucinda did not tell them of her dream. She knew they would think she was crazy. All she told them was of the man outside her window and the envelope. The officers said they would file a report and take the letter to their lab. They would look for finger prints and run it through Codus. Codus was a database law enforcement used for identification. It had all fingerprints of arrested criminals. However if the person that wrote the letter was never arrested, than there would be no match. The officers also told Lucinda they would give the letter to a hand writing specialist for a possible profile on the man. Lucinda gave a description of the man and thanked the officers for their time. She appreciated their help, however since no crime was done her case would probably sit in a pile on some desk for weeks before anything came of it. Unless of course the man came back and tried to kill her.

It was almost 6 pm and Lucinda needed to eat. She fixed herself hamburger helper with a side order of corn and grabbed a coke out of the fridge. "Gotta love living on a budget" she said out loud. Food is food". For the next several hours she watched movie after movie on HBO. The thought of going to sleep only caused her more anxiety. Sleep got the best of Lucinda and she fell asleep at 11 pm on her couch.

The dreams kept coming. Only this time the man was holding her. She looked at those blue eyes and the next thing she saw was a knife. Lucinda was screaming in her dreams. The man kept stabbing her over and over again. Blood was pouring out. She couldn't fight him off. "Oh God I'm going to die, she said in her dream.

Lucinda awoke, but this time she wasn't home. She was in a hospital room and her sister Theresa was at her bedside. "Oh Lucinda your awake", Theresa said with such happiness. "What happened?" Lucinda asked, "Was I stabbed?" Theresa looked at her sister with concern. "Stabbed, Oh God no" she replied. "What happened?" Lucinda demanded. Her sister left the room to get the doctor. The doctor came in and he too looked happy to see Lucinda awake. Lucinda was angry and demanded an answer. "Where's the hooded man, did they get him?"

Both the doctor and Theresa looked at one another. "Lucinda, listen to me", the doctor said. You were in a car accident. You had internal bleeding and we needed to operate." Theresa spoke, "Lucinda you fell into a coma". "What accident?" "What coma?" Lucinda yelled.That was when Theresa told her the story.

Lucinda had been in a coma for three months. The accident happened in April, it was a rainy day with strong winds. Lucinda had been food shopping and on the way home she lost control of the car and hit a utility pole. Lucinda listened but still didn't understand. "No I was stabbed by a man in a hooded jacket", she said. The doctor and Theresa looked at one another with confusion. Then Theresa remembered something. "Oh Lucinda a man walking his dog seen the accident and he called the ambulance, it was raining and he had on a hooded jacket". I remember because the police took the report and a week later he came to the hospital to see how your were." "Your very lucky the doctor said, had that man not been there to get help, you could of died from your internal injuries." "The knife Lucinda asked, what about the knife?"

The Doctor thought about this and then explained to Lucinda why she might think of such a thing. "Lucinda you were conscious when the ambulance brought you in. You had to be operated on and you were awake prior to surgery. You didn't fall into a coma to after surgery." It is possible your last thoughts, the hooded man who ran to your car and called 911, being on the gurney going into surgery, your last thoughts before being operated have remained in your subconscious all these months.

Lucinda just looked from the doctor to her sister. "Are you telling me there was no man stalking me, no stabbing and everything I remember was all just a dream?" "Lucinda, her sister said. You dreamt the whole thing."

Isn't our subconscious an amazing thing? The last few images Lucinda could recall, the rain, the hooded man, thoughts of surgery signifying a knife were all embedded in her brain prior to her coma. She was dreaming the entire time. Did you guess it correctly? Thank you for reading Lucinda's Dream Part I and II. I really enjoyed writing this and look forward to your comments.