Dream On

2 AM. Mom hustled five-year-old Diane awake for her roller skating competition. Normally, Diane was a bear on those mornings, but today she was relieved. Waking released her from the nightmare. Sort of. On the long car ride, Diane tried to review her routine, but each time she imagined roller skating, the clearer she saw the freakish, deadly, unnamable thing that almost ate her alive.

In the dream, she wore her most exquisite skating dress, the one with the sequins that tossed flashes of brilliance every time she raised her arms and practically made lightning when she twirled. In the dream, she killed it. Every move executed to perfection. Every jump landed with no wobbles, no falls. But just as Diane was about to do her camel spin, the floor beneath her splintered. The wood panels became impossibly thin, like melting ice. Deafening cracks stopped her where she stood, in the middle of the rink. From the audience, shrieks rang out. Her mom bolted down the bleachers, hurdled the rink wall, and barreled straight for her.

Mom skidded to a stop as root-like fissures spread out between them.

The announcer’s scream was garbled. Diane heard run and oh-my-God and other bad words adults used. Between her and her mom, the rink floor exploded. Out of the craggy hole lunged a giant, black creature with no eyes but many, many rows of tiny teeth. The furry body rose up, up out of the ground and curved like a snake, unhinged its jaws and was just about to snap them down on Mom–

“Diane, Diane, wake up. We’re almost there. You need to get your make-up on.” Mom gently tapped the cosmetics purse against Diane’s shoulder. “Bad dream, eh?”

She could only nod. Skating was the last thing she felt like doing today, but quitting was not in her vocabulary, or Mom’s, so she set her mind on perfecting her routine.

An ambulance passed. Then a police car. A firetruck. Another cop car.

“I wonder what’s going on?” Her mother mused. But wonder turned to annoyance when the traffic was jammed all around the roller rink. “We’ll never make it on time.”

Clouds of smoke erupted and billowed in the distance.

“Did you feel that?” Diane asked.

“Earthquake?” Her mom answered.

That was when the black asphalt of the road thinned out, like ice melting. Rubber burned. Monstrous somethings crumbled and snapped below the ground. Steel buckled. Car horns blared. Far off but getting closer, people screamed. Diane’s mom put a protective arm over her daughter, like a seat belt. The street before them shattered. Out came–

“Diane, wake up. It’s competition day.”

Also true: she got up at 2 or 3 AM to skate! Now that’s terrifying.

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