Adam stared at the short writing on his screen, he scrolled down further trying to ascertain more information like perhaps a personal phone number, Skype address, anything, but that was it. That was the whole correspondence. This must be some kind of prank, he thought to himself. Even though he went in not really expecting anything but for some reasons, he felt disappointed. Eventually, he closed his laptop, switched off the lights and climbed into bed. Like usual, he washed down several sleeping pills with a glass of warm water, prayed and prayed until his eyelids drooped from tiredness...

She felt tickled by the grass caressing her ears. She swatted it away as she opened her eyes and sat up. She found herself in a sprawling plains with no defining geographical features like trees or outcroppings. It was a sea of green as far as the eye could see, expect for a solemn looking church that seemed to sat in the middle of nowhere. The church was a stone building that definitely predated the twentieth century. It had an unassuming character except a singular belfry that rose into the sky. She seemed to be able to spot a large bell on it. She shrugged since this was not even close to the weirdest dream she had seen. 'Looks like this is going to be easy picking,' She thought. However, as she stood up to wipe away the grass that stuck to her clothes, she realized with a start that something was wrong.

A sense of vertigo struck her, 'Why are the ground suddenly so close to me? And why are my hands so...tiny?' She observed her hands slowly and curiously like they were not her own. Her gaze went lower and realized, 'Wait... What happened to my breasts?' She felt her body all over and finally came to the conclusion that she had shrunk to the size of a child, or rather, she had regressed to the state of a child. From the looks of things, she put herself at about age 8 to 10. But... a forced appearance change? The client's issue shouldn't have caused something as drastic as this... So this might be more complicated than she initially thought. Right then, she smelled the scent of roses in the air even though there was no sight of any flowers much less roses around. Her lips curved into a mysterious smile... 'So her forces are behind this, well that explains a lot of things.' She patted a rectangular object that was inside her pocket and said with a shrug, "Well, thankfully I came prepared."

She dusted herself off and headed towards the solitary church. As she came closer, she was struck with an impression the church looked suspiciously like a... face. Two rickety boarded-up wooden windows were high up in the building and there was no other windows or openings in sight. They were located on the same level and resembled a pair of closed eyes. However, the defining feature of the stone facade was none other than a large wooden door that blocked her way. It was about three times her height and had a sturdy feel to it. She tried to get closer to knock on it but as she leaned in, she heard sounds coming from within. It sounded like voices... of children?

    Truth be told, she could have turned to leave, but what choices did she have when her client was on the other side of the door. The energy profile of a dream's host was unmistakable. She leaned all her weight into the door but it didn't even budge. She doubted her normal self would be strong enough to open the door much less when she was a child. However, this was after all... a dream. She pulled out the object in her pocket, the tool of her trade so to speak. It was a deck of cards and they were all facing up. They were multi-colored and as she fanned them out in her palm, one could see there were seven colors in total, red, pink, green, blue, black, gold and purple. There were various numbers of cards for each color and there was in total about twenty something cards. However, the singular black card stood out. As she pulled out a red card, the door suddenly slid open like it was on automatic.

    The first thing that struck her was the contrast in lighting. Outside the sun was shining brightly but inside the church it was night and the only source of light was the candles that hung on eight columns, four on each side that ran down the middle of the room. The weak candlelight lent the place a sense of intimacy and simultaneously, gave her who was still beyond the threshold a limited view of the things within. The white columns were decorated with meaningful flowers like baby's breaths and tulips. The pews were crowded with children consumed in their childish antics, however, curiously enough, not one seemed interested to cross the bloody red carpet that separated the pews into two. All of them were smartly dressed, boys in tuxedos and girls in dresses. At the end of the carpet stood a handsome boy of about ten in a pressed suit. Based on her reading, this was the host, her client. Before him was an elderly, gentle looking priest in a black cassock. He was probably there to officiate this... wedding.

    The room was curiously oblivious to her presence and the fact that the door had opened so suddenly. They carried on as if nothing had happened. Suddenly, she heard a creaking sound coming from above. She lifted her head and saw the wooden planks that boarded up the window crashing down towards her. She nimbly side-stepped out of danger and the planks shattered into smithereens. At that instant, a hush fell over inside the church. The children froze in the middle of playtime and turned their heads towards the front of the altar in unison. Then, in their childlike voice, they chanted, "Where is the bride? Where is the bride? Where is the bride?"

    Lonelytree yup, thought so when i saw the times of your post....here i thought that u posted all that in 1 go. Nice story yeah.(dunno why i dont have permission to edit my posts). Who is the mc in the story though? Just to make sure...

        Guest199 Nah, I write only in between translation breaks. I think you're only allowed to edit the latest post, it's just how the forum operates it seems. I actually have no clue who is the MC either, I wrote as the plot came into my mind. So it could be anyone at this point lol.

          can't wait for more. I get a sense of Alice from Wonderland emanating from this, but really, the story could go anywhere at this point

          The boy was getting increasingly flustered from what sounded like accusations from his wedding guests. He stumbled over his words trying to justify himself but it was obvious that he was not winning over the crowd. Suddenly, the priest on the altar turned stern and announced with finality, "There is no bride because you are a sinner!" The judgment silenced the room. "But Father... I'm not... Please believe... I'm innocent..." The boy pleaded but the priest ignored him and led the room to chant, "Sinner! Sinner! Sinner!" The priest appeared to be consumed by religious fervor. The boy stepped involuntarily backwards from his main aggressor and slipped. He landed squarely on the carpet with a heavy thud and it seemed to awaken the giant. The church groaned as it shifted like it was actually alive. This spooked the girl but her fear was nothing compared to the boy's. He tried to claw his way out and blood-red liquid oozed out of the carpet, staining his suit. As if responding to pain, the carpet flicked the boy into the air like an actual fleshy tongue. The boy screamed for help and the people in the dream started to flicker like images from an old television screen. "Crap, the host is waking up!" The girl cursed under her breath. The stone bricks of the stone walls started to crumble and she immediately blinked out of existence lest she got trapped in his dream. In her hurry, she didn't notice the waif of a figure who stood in solitary up in the church belfry.

          Adam woke up with cold sweat breaking on his forehead. He sat up and breathed deep, trying to calm his beating heart. As he calmed, the sounds of the morning sifted into his ears, the chirping of the birds and the sound of the few solitary motorized vehicles. Out of nowhere, he heard a groan coming from his side. It was his roommate, Jason, tossing around in his sleep. He was half-dressed and had kicked away part of his mattress. Adam studied his roommate's aquiline nose, sharp jaw, hair that was tousled from sleep, and bare chest that was rising and falling steadily. A quick blush rose to Adam's face when he realized his roommate's male part was doing its morning salute. Adam dashed into the bathroom to splash cold water on his face and freshen himself to face the rest of the day.

          The rest of Adam's day was spent in a daze, him being all caught up with what he saw earlier. Night had fallen when he finally tumbled through the door of his room. The first thing he noticed was the absolute silence. This meant that Jason wasn't around to fill the room with video game noises. This was better, Adam concluded in his mind, some alone time would probably do me good. After a shower and dinner, Adam switched on his laptop, and realized he received a reply from the strange website he emailed the night before. Compelled by curiosity, he clicked it open.

          "Dear esteemed customer, after visiting your dream last night, my rudimentary diagnosis is that you've been haunted by those in my business call, a Nightmare. Of course, I will need to talk to you for a little more before I can come up with a firmer conclusion. Therefore, I wish that you retire to bed early tonight and I shall meet you in your dream. Do not fret because after we ascertain the source of your Nightmare, I will do my best to help you exterminate it.

          P.s We will discuss the issue of payment during the dream meeting as well. I will see you tonight.

          XoXo, Eevie's Dream-catcher Practice"

            Adam studied the message with skepticism. Then, he lied down on his bed to figure things out. First thing's first, he did kind off spot a little girl that usually wasn't there in his dream yesterday night. However, he was too caught up in his own trauma to be able to tell whether that really happened or it was his brain playing tricks on him. Secondly, the dream did have a premature ending compared to the other ones he had earlier, at least, this time, 'she' didn't make an appearance, and that thing did qualify to be called, a Nightmare, as long as it defined things that could scar one for life. However, the question was: Were these enough for him to base his trust in a mysterious message from a person whom he had never met before? Furthermore, what was this payment the message spoke of, Adam had a feeling it was not referring to conventional monetary payment. Maybe Adam's nerves had been pulled taut for so long that lying on the bed unraveled them or there was some magic in the email, because even without the aid of medication, Adam was slowly succumbing to drowsiness...

            When Adam came to next, he was standing in front of a door, yes, a nondescript door that was attached to nothing and seemingly led to nowhere. The space he was in was a wide grey expanse that was somehow lit. There was nothing as far as his eyes could see other than this door before him. He circled around it slowly. The door had a silver doorknob and was somehow standing even though it wasn't installed into anything, not unlike the prop doors used by actors on stage. While he was debating how to proceed, a female voice drifted out from within, "Don't be shy, come on in."

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