[I like to write random stuff in between translating... No title no nothing because this is just me droning on aimlessly...]

"There is a sect of psychologists that believe dreams are nothing but the hidden desires of mankind and when these desires are suppressed, they manifest themselves in forms of nightmare... Nightmares trouble your good night sleep? No worries for we here at Eevie's Dream-catcher Practice offer services to chase away your nightmare for a reasonable price! Call the phone number or contact the email-address shown at the bottom of the page to schedule a consultation. First consultation is free and the subsequent fees for consultation is decided according to the seriousness of your case. Terms and condition applied."
Adam highlighted and un-highlighted the weird promo slogan of this curious website he stumbled upon. In today's day and age, this sounded pretty much like a hoax, the pitch of a snake oil merchant, but... his eyes swept the bottles of sleeping pill on his table. What other choices did he realistically have? The effect of the sleeping pills were wearing off, his old recurring dreams were slowly coming back. He was afraid to get into bed at night and the effect showed in his work. He almost nodded off at his cubicle one morning and thankfully his supervisor wasn't around.

Galvanizing by his apparent lack of option, Adam steeled his resolve. As long as he looks out for pitfalls like suspicious inquiries like social security number and credit card information, there is nothing for him to lose, he told himself. As he decided to fire off an email to the mysterious address, he heard the door to his room click. He closed his browser in a hurry and the screen returned to his desktop, the picturesque scenery of a 3-storey tall white cross amidst a meandering plain of grass.

"Adam, you want to join us at the bar? I know you don't drink but we can have a match of darts between us, come on, it'll be fun!" said the familiar voice. It was his roommate and colleague, Jason.
"Thank you, I'll be fine. I have something to do. Have fun on my behalf," Adam declined politely.
"Come on, don't be such a spoil sport. What is so important that you're working on anyway?" Jason leaned in from behind to look at his screen. He was a bit dumbfounded when he realized it was only the desktop page.
Suddenly, Adam sprung up from his seat almost knocking into Jason's chin if not for the fact that Jason lean back quick enough. Before Jason could say anything about it, Adam leaped under his covers and grumbled, "I need to sleep early. There's work tomorrow right? So you also don't stay out too late."

This is cool. I tried to clean it up a bit (I'm no editor, so I just changed a few words and added some punctuation. Tried to keep most of the meaning/words the same, so I didn't make any drastic edits. Sorry if I made any mistakes):

"There is a sect of psychologists that believe dreams are nothing but the hidden desires of mankind, and when these desires are suppressed, they manifest themselves in the form of nightmares... Nightmares trouble your good night sleep? No worries, for we here at Eevie's Dream-catcher Practice offer services to chase away your nightmares for a reasonable price! Call the phone number or contact the email-address shown at the bottom of the page to schedule a consultation. The first consultation is free, and the subsequent fees for consultations are decided according to the seriousness of your case. Terms and conditions apply."
Adam highlighted and un-highlighted the weird promo slogan of this curious website he stumbled upon. In today's day and age, this sounded pretty much like a hoax, the pitch of a snake oil merchant, but... his eyes swept across the bottle of sleeping pills on the table. What other choices did he realistically have? The effects of the sleeping pills were wearing off, and his old recurring dreams were slowly coming back. He was afraid to get into bed at night, and it showed in his work. He almost nodded off at his cubicle one morning, thankfully his supervisor wasn't around.

Galvanizing by his apparent lack of options, Adam steeled his resolve. As long as he looks out for pitfalls or suspicious inquiries, like his social security number or credit card information, there's nothing for him to lose. As he decided to fire off an email to the mysterious address, he heard the door to his room click. He closed his browser in a hurry and the screen returned to his desktop, the picturesque scenery of a 3-storey tall white cross amidst a meandering plain of grass.

"Adam, you want to join us at the bar? I know you don't drink, but we could at least have a match of darts between us! Come on, it'll be fun!" said the familiar voice. It was his roommate and colleague, Jason.
"Thank you, but I'll be fine. I have something to do. Have fun on my behalf," Adam declined politely.
"Come on, don't be such a spoil sport. What are you working on that's so important anyway?" Jason leaned in from behind to look at his screen. He was a bit dumbfounded when he realized it was only the desktop page.
Suddenly, Adam sprung up from his seat, almost knocking into Jason's chin if not for the fact that Jason leaned back quick enough. Before Jason could say anything about it, Adam leaped under his covers and grumbled, "I need to sleep early. There's work tomorrow, right? So you can't stay up too late either."

    Doctor_Oetker Thanks :D It doesn't matter if you change the meaning. I just write for kicks after all. lol

        Jason looked at his roommate curiously. The guy is going to bed but he didn't even shut down his laptop? However, seeing as how Adam had completely scurried under the covers, Jason decided to not nag his roommate with frivolities like this. He decided to cut Adam some slack because recently he too had realized the dark circles that had reappeared under his roommate's eyes. Maybe his friend did need some good night sleep. He shrugged and said, "Alright then, sleep tight and I'll see you tomorrow."

        Hidden under the comfort of his bed covers, Adam willed his heart to stop palpitating. He sighed in great relief when he heard the door to his room open and close. He could no longer feel Jason's presence in the room. He pushed his covers back as he sat up. He felt a great weight pressing down on him and he swore he could hear a familiar and gentle male voice giving a sermon. He shook his head ferociously as if trying to shake the voice out of his head. This could not go on anymore...

        He dragged his body back to his table and faced his laptop. He reopened his browser and clicked on the history tab. What is there for him to lose, was the thought that floated into his mind. After he typed a short email stating his situation, he clicked the send button. Then, he stared at the screen numbly, wondering what the hell was he doing. He probably entered himself into some malicious spam-mail chain or something of the sort. If he was in the mood to laugh, he would have laughed at himself. He picked up the leather-bound bible on his table and he couldn't help but think, maybe he was going about this the wrong way. Salvation perhaps was in prayers. As he prepared to really retire for the night, he heard the message alert from his laptop signaling that he just received a new mail in his inbox.

        The mail went: "Dear valued customer, thank you for your interest in our services. After a close reading of the mail you've sent us, we have a rudimentary understanding of your situation. Your trial consultation will happen tonight. Do not worry and go to bed like usual. We will meet you in your dream.

        XoXo, Eevie's Dream-catcher Practice"

        For some reason, I read the first paragraph like it was the beginning of a Law and Order episode. "There is a set of psychologists who believe... and these are their stories."

        Anyway, good creative/random writing.

        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."

                    Adam pushed the door open cautiously. While he didn't know what to expect but what he saw disappointed him because everything was so... commonplace. The room was cramped and barely furnished. It was windowless and had a single hanging lamp lighting up the place. The only thing of note was the four walls were painted a dull blue, the kind that would make him fall asleep from staring at it for too long if he wasn't already. In the middle of the room was a steel table and a set of chairs. An old woman about seventy of age sat in one of them. She had on a floor-length floral printed dress with flowing sleeves, or more commonly known as the hippie dress. Her sandy-colored hair was frazzled and unkempt like hay that needed a good brushing. She had no accessories or make-up except the wrinkles and lines that decorated her weathered face. The first thing that came into Adam's mind was... charlatan!

                    "Mrs. Eevie?" Adam ventured cautiously.
                    "A gentleman always leads with his own name," came the reply in a surprisingly young voice. "I'm Adam..."
                    "Nice to meet you, Adam. I am indeed Miss Eevie. Please have a seat," The woman said as she gestured at the empty chair opposite her with an gnarled hand. As Adam sat down, she proffered him a warm and friendly smile. Adam felt instantly at ease, Miss Eevie reminded him of his kind grandmother.
                    "Well, we have lots of things to discuss so let's not waste time," suggested Eevie. "First thing I would like to know is when did you start having these troublesome dreams?"
                    Adam scratched his chin in contemplation before coming out with an answer, "I believe they started when I moved in with my current roommate, Jason so that would be about two months ago."
                    "Jason, is it? Tell me about him if you don't mind," Eevie urged.
                    "Of course, I don't. I didn't know Jason before we moved in together, I met him over the internet when he posted a tenant ad. He was looking for someone to share his rent and I was looking for a place closer to my workplace to live. Initially, there were some rough patches but we got over those quickly. It was probably because he had the best personality of all the people I know. Not only that he's also athletic, kind-hearted, hardworking and many more. He always cheers me up when I'm down and share my happiness when I'm happy. In fact, he is the one most worried about my constant nightmares. He is a wonderful man..." Adam suddenly stopped himself, realizing perhaps he had been rattling on for too long. He turned to look at Miss Eevie, and she gave him a mysterious smile that he had a hard time deciphering.

                      Lonelytree "No homo", he added, before things could get even more awkward than it already had.

                      Hey look! An update from my most favourite author on this site! Huzzah!

                          "Thank you for the glimpse into your life," Eevie offered before continuing, "Now, do you mind telling me about your religious background?"
                          For some unknown reasons, Adam could feel his guard go up. "Why would you want to know that?"
                          "Honey, you were swallowed by a church in your dream, do you need a clearer symbolism? Plus, I'm not saying this is the source of your nightmare, it's just that this will go better if I know more about you as a person," Eevie comforted with a smile.
                          After a pause to weigh her words in his mind, Adam explained, "I was an only child born into a religious family. My parents were simple folks but they instilled the faith of Christ in me since I was a wee child. They were good people who walked the straight path of servitude to God. Every day, I strive to be more like them."
                          Eevie nodded along. She added when Adam seemed to have finished, "What about the priest in your dream? Who is he?"

                          Lonelytree Lol. The sarcasm is unreal.

                          B-b-baka! My confession was taken as a joke! Runs away crying

                          Dense harem protagonists smh

                              Adam's eyes glazed over from fond memories. "That would be Father John, the priest from my childhood. He presided over the church from my home town. He was an old-fashioned, stern but fair priest. Perhaps it was my parent's influence but I was always fond of Father John and he looked after me like I am one of his own. He taught me everything I knew about the forms and rules of my faith. He taught me how to be a good and lawful Christian. Other than my parents, he was the biggest influence that shaped me into who I am today..." Adam was silent for a moment as he was pulled back into the present. "However, in my dreams, he seemed to be very disappointed in me. Do you know why that is, Miss Eevie?"

                              Web Novel Novel Ask