3. The Dreamer-The Dream Changes

She was someplace else.  In any other situation, she would have been fascinated at the change in scenery.  Couches, carpet, walls, Julie and Michael, all were gone.  In their place was sky, snow, and dark patches of mountainside.  The setting sun glinted off the snow, painting it gold.  The sky was rich pink, orange, and deep blue.

The arm around her throat distracted her from the breathtaking view.  Her fingernails dug into the flesh around her throat.  Her teeth sunk into the palm across her throat.  In response, her captor laughed.  The flesh around her throat flowed and changed, turning into rubbery bands.  A man stepped into her field of vision, a new arm and hand forming as she watched.

The more she looked at him, the less she was able to discern any features about him.  His appearance seemed to shift and shimmer, one moment a large African American, the next a stout Scandinavian.  Even his clothing was impossible to pin down for more than a moment.

The grip began to tighten.  The world was fading and she felt herself growing weaker.  He examined his new arm, and experimentally bent the elbow.  He seemed to be satisfied.  Now his attention returned to Anna, and the draining feeling increased.  There was nothing she could do.

"Hey!" a new, different voice shouted.  Her captor snapped his head around as he looked for the source of the voice.  No longer did he look pleased and triumphant.  The grip around Anna loosened.

"Wake up," it was the same girlish voice, but softer and gentler now.  Anna didn't hear them, really, but felt them in her mind.

"Show yourself!" her captor snarled.  In the distance she heard a song.  It was a song she knew.

"This one is not for you," it was the same voice.  As the words were spoken, a girl faded into view.  She was small with short, straight, black hair.  Her eyes were large and red.  In her hands was a scythe.  The song grew louder.  It was something Anna recognized, a song which meant something important.

"Wake up," the girl repeated.  Raising the scythe, she rushed in towards the man.  Metal rang on metal as the captor met the scythe with a sword.  The mountains echoed with the sound of their battle.  Anna realized what the song was.  It was her ringtone for her cell phone.  Someone was calling her.

"Wake.  Up!" the girl screamed as she rushed at the captor again.  The ringtone drowned out all sounds of battle as Anna reached out into the mountain air...

And gripped her cell phone.

"Hello?" she mumbled into the phone.

"Hi," Nick's voice answered her.  Sitting up, she looked around.  It was her bedroom.