Chapter 2 - College: Enter Dreams

Gateway

By: Draco

Chapter I



Sei was the average, run of the mill teenager. She was nineteen years old, had long, waist length golden blonde hair, ice blue eyes, and was in her first year of college. She was somewhat short, being five feet two inches tall, with an average build. She hated being teased about her height, but tolerated the more affectionate teasing. She made up for her height in strength and speed. She was a black belt in karate after all, and was no push over.
Being the friendly, caring person she was, Sei had a lot of friends, and was easy to get along with. She was also known to be sarcastic and feisty at times, and would argue her point with others when it was on a subject she strongly disagreed with. Though, Sei’s strongest skill, and passion, was her art. She had been drawing since she was little; developing from scribbles, to detailed, well-structured pieces of art. It was a hobby that always gave her something to do, and work on. From Aardvarks to Zebras, any animal or creature you could think of, she could draw it. Though now that she was in college, she didn’t have that much time to herself to engross in her hobby.
A normal day would start with the ringing of the class bell at the college


~:~:~


Walking along the crowded halls of the college on Monday was pure chaos. The shrieking of the bell barely audible over the loud shuffling, yelling, chatting, and banging of lockers, as students got ready for their first classes of the day. Somehow, once more, managing to get through the first stampede of the day, Sei squeezed past the last few people to her class where her friends were waiting. They looked up as she entered, smiling and waving her over. One of them, Megan, got up give her a brief hug, in which Sei returned of course, smiling. Megan was a good five or six inches higher than her. All of her friends seemed to be taller. It just wasn’t fair.
“Don’t you just love Mondays?” There’s Megan for you, the sarcastic optimist. Sei knew how to play this game, as she snorted a bit, smirking.
“Oh yeah, almost as much as I love Professor Albert’s lectures on all the different kinds of fungus. Or maybe the smell of the locker room after the jocks have had their way with it.” At that, Lily, another one of Sei’s friends, spoke up with a disgusted grunt.
“Seriously, the least they could do was spray aerosol or something in their once their done. They’re not the only ones using that room. And don’t even get me started on the bathrooms.” Everyone shuddered at that comment. It was a fact that the college’s men’s football, basketball, and soccer teams were dirty, coming in after games all sweaty and smelly, the odor spreading throughout the room and soaking into everything, even the air. Some girls had even found old shirts or socks left behind.
“Men have to be the most crude, and disgusting creatures. Pigs have better manners.”
“Like that’s even saying anything. They should hand out gasmasks for us when we have to use the place.” Finally taking her place behind her two friends, Sei shrugged.
“I’m just glad I don’t have to go through that everyday. Maybe the girl’s tennis, soccer and basketball teams should write up a petition or something.” That getting a few laughs, it didn’t last very long, before their professor arrived, and class began.



The rest of the day consisted of four other subjects, each about an hour and a half long. Luckily, Sei enjoyed most of her classes, and kept up high B’s in all of them. She would only see Megan and Lily occasionally in the halls after the first class, since they had different classes. But after school they always got back together for a while to go over the day. And it seemed nothing interesting had happened today. Not much of a surprise really. As the three of them walked along the campus grounds, the sun was just beginning to set, and students slowly made their way to their cars. Megan then sparked up a new subject.
“Hey, Sei, get to draw much at all recently? It’s been a few months now hasn’t it?” Giving a sigh, Sei shook her head.
“Haven’t had time, classes have been really tough, and I’ve had a lot of homework. Who knows when I’ll pick up a pencil for that reason. Not anytime soon.” Which really disappointed her, since she loved drawing with a passion.
“That sucks. At least you don’t have a research paper due in three weeks.” Sei had to smirk at that.
“Sucks to be you.” Megan then mocked her, reaching over to poke her in the side, something she hated greatly. Briefly, a miniature mock fight between them, ending with Lily and Megan joining up to gang up on their friend, poking her for a good minute or two. But now, as they reached their cars, they said their goodbyes, the mood changed again, to a duller, routine one. With an exasperated sigh, Sei climbed into her car, started the ignition and headed to her apartment.

~:~:~


As Sei unlocked the door, and stepped inside, it was almost completely dark out, save for the small lamp that hung outside on the wall of the apartment building that gave a small area of illumination. Her apartment was nothing special; the basic, one bedroom one bathroom, and a small living room that joined with the kitchen. It was enough for a single, college student to deal with on her own, while juggling her classes and work at the local animal clinic, as well as a restaurant down the road near the church. At least she had a free night tonight. A chance to relax a bit and make herself dinner, which normally consisted of easy meals like pasta, eggs and toast, oatmeal, salad, or cereal. Frozen dinners were always an option as well, but Sei tried to avoid those at all costs, ordering Chinese or pizza if she didn‘t want to cook. Simple, yet effective, it was cheap, and it kept food plentiful, which always seemed to be a problem for students.


Tonight would be consisting of leftovers from the previous night. Opening the small fridge in the kitchen, Sei pulled out two glad-wrapped pieces of pepperoni pizza. The crinkling of the plastic wrap as she unwrapped her dinner just made the effort worth it as the prize inside was revealed. Not bothering to even warm it, and grabbing a glass of milk, she sat down at the table and flipped on the little television set up across the table. All it got was standard cable, so Sei usually just ended up watching the news. Dinner was usually a break lasting around a half an hour, to a full hour. Afterwards, it was time for homework. With a groan, the backpack was dragged over and reluctantly opened to reveal her Calculus, Chemistry, Latin, and History books.
“So begins Monday’s after class torture session.”


It must have been past midnight when Sei finally finished all the work for the next morning. She had all but collapsed into bed, having left all her books out on the table. She could get them packed in the morning, when she wasn’t so tired, hopefully. Pulling the covers up over her, it was only minutes before she slipped off into slumber. Though not even in her exhausted state of deep sleep could she ignore the reverie that befell her soon after darkness enveloped her.


It was coldwhere was she? Was this a dream? Sei thought people didn’t feel in dreams. 


So what was going on? A distant, stifled call in the blackness surrounding her made her whirl around, but in the empty darkness, she could see nothing.         Glancing around, she tried listening, and watching, to hear if that voice would come back. For a few moments there was absolute silence. No sound whatsoever from anywhere. Perhaps it was gone? No, because seconds later it returned, louder, and a bit more clear, piercing the air around Sei, causing her to jump and whirl around once more. It definitely wasn’t her imagination. The cry was still muffled, but each time it rang out it got more clear.
This voiceit sounded human, and male, judging by the deep tone. What was he trying to tell her, if that was the case? There it was again, even more clear, almost comprehendible. It was starting to sound more desperate, pleading almost. It sounded like a single word, maybe two once and a while. Was, whoever this was, trying to communicate with her? The second Sei wondered that, she thought it was ridiculous. That would have been impossible; how could something be communicating with her in her sleep? This had to be a dream right? Again, even louder, more shrill and distinct, the call came. It sounded like‘help’?


Suddenly it came again, and a cold chill, not caused by the feeling of the air around her, ran down Sei’s spine, the hair on the back of her neck rising. It was ‘help’! A cry for help! This so called ‘dream’ was starting to frighten her, take on a creepier atmosphere altogether. But, it was just a dream right? So then why was it affecting her like this? The mysterious call kept coming, but now it was getting muffled, and more distant again. Slightly alarmed at that, Sei tried pinpointing the voice, where it was coming from, but it was from a different direction each time it rang out, making that impossible. Even more frightened now, she started running, glancing around her wildly, unsure to even herself if she was trying to get away or find the voice’s owner. The voice continued to grow softer, more muffled and more distant. It was fading away, and Sei wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing. There was no way she was going to call back, one reason being that she didn’t know what would happen if she did, and she was too scared by now to make any sort of noise. Though, now as the initial voice faded , more voices suddenly exploded around her. Just whispers really, but very loud, as if the ‘volume’ had been turned up. These voices weren’t very clear either, and the direction kept changing, as if they were all around her at once, even as Sei ran. It didn’t even sound like English! It was more along the lines of a chant, or ancient language.


Just then, Sei lost her footing, and tripped, gasping in surprise as she fell. Once she hit the ground, a pale pair of hands suddenly seemed to just materialize out of nowhere and close around her throat, pushing her down against the ground forcefully. Now the chanting, if that’s what it was, got louder. At this instant was when the young college student completely panicked, starting to thrash and claw at the opposing hands around her neck, near hyperventilating. She wasn’t screaminguntil a pair of glowing blood red eyes appeared, seeming just an inch or two from her face. At the sight of them, something within Sei seemed to grow. Terror. Those eyes were the most horrible, horrifying things she’d ever seen, frightening her out of her mind. Screaming, her efforts to break free of the hold the thing had on her increased. As the eyes seemed to be closing in on her, just when she thought she was a goner, the world around her went white


 ~:~:~


The loud, insistent buzzing of the alarm clock went ignored, as Sei sat on her bed, pale, and gasping for breath. Her whole body was shaking, the terrifying experience still fresh in her
mind. One hand clutched at her chest, in the large white t-shirt she usually wore to bed.


Just a dream

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