Isabelle woke up sweating with tears running down her face. She didn't want to think back to the dream she had just had. What did it mean? The same dream had reoccurred for a week. Surely that wasn't normal. Isabelle thought back to the start of the dream. When she ran away from home.

Her old creaking house that looked nothing like the one she lived in out of her dreams was just out of her sight. Her bags grew heavy on her shoulders as she ran further and further away. She was remote. Nobody else around to take her in and deal with her antics. The only place relatively close was the abandoned school. She couldn't stay there though. It was haunted. So she ran into the forest.

It was night. The trees formed shadows that looked like figures. Isabelle felt like they were staring at her. It felt like something was following her. Hiding behind the trees so it wouldn't be seen. Lurking in the bushes. Crawling on all fours even though it could stand.

She ran faster as the feeling got worse. The trees started to dip down, low enough to touch the tip of her head. The world was caving in and getting smaller. Everything was about to squash her but she tumbled. She kept going till reaching a dead end.

There was nowhere to go and nobody that could help. She crumpled onto the floor and cried. The feeling of somebody following was worse and she had let it catch up. Isabelle didn't want to look up but she felt like she had to. So she did. The creature ran straight towards her like a movie jump-scare. Its face right up in hers. Crawling on all fours in the darkness around her.

That was the furthest she had ever gotten before waking up. Isabelle looked down at her hand and her room and took a shallow breath. It was a reminder that it was just a dream. That nothing would hurt her. Still she wept and shook until the dawning sky told her it was time to get up.