u/agarner115

All of this started with a dream. Well, I guess nightmare is a better word for it. I’m used to having nightmares, usually I'm able to wake myself out of them. Then shift my position in bed and go back to sleep like nothing ever happened. But this wasn’t like the other nightmares.

The day this began wasn’t different than any other day. It was Saturday and I had the day off. One of the perks of working in medicine, it allowed me to have my weekends. A friend I'd known for a couple years, Olivia, had moved into a new condo and invited me to come over to see it. At this time in my life I didn’t have much going on. Solely focusing on building my career and finishing my bachelors degree. No boyfriend, only a few friends. It was honestly one of the most peaceful times of my life. 

I took the 30 minute drive over to visit her. A pleasant drive, with perfect weather. The route to her house involved a lot of backroads, and I was simply enjoying life as I flew past crops and largely spaced out houses. The smell of summer filled my nose, and the wind whipped around me, tangling with the music blaring from the speakers. The plans were simple: hang out around her place and just relax. After the way my week had gone, I was more than ready for something lowkey. 

Before I knew it I reached her place. It took me a moment to find it. Creekridge is a large neighborhood full of a combination of condos and apartments. Not the best area, if I’m being honest. I managed to park as close to her place as I could and saw her lounging in a chair on her tiny porch. Though, porch might be a stretch, it was more of a cement slab acting as a large step up to her front door. With barely enough room for a couple chairs and a half dead plant. But who was I to judge though, I still lived at home at the time.

I watched her as I turned off the car and stepped out. She lowered her shades and let out a low whistle. “What’s a place like you doing in a girl like this?” She could barely finish the sentence without letting out a laugh. I rolled my eyes, walking up the sidewalk towards her.

She stood from her chair as I reached the step “It’s good to see you Livs.” We both wrapped our arms around each other, embracing in a tight hug. It had been a decent amount of time since we’d last hung out. Me being too busy with finals, and her obviously working on moving. 

She released and took a small step back. Giving me a brief once over. “I’m so glad you came! Derek’s just inside feeding the cat right now. Come on in!” Her over extended thumb points back at the door.

“You’re still with Derek?” I raised an eyebrow, she hadn’t talked about him in months. I had figured they’d broken up, again. This had been a common pattern with them. She would text me gushing about him for months, then suddenly she hates him and he’s the worst. This must have been one of the good patches.

She pauses with her hand on the door. “Oh, yeah, it’s a long story.” She waved it off dismissively and opened the door. I let out a sigh as I followed her inside. The humidity outside already making me sweat. The door closed behind me as I looked around. It was a decent sized condo. Enough space for a living room, dining room and kitchen. Towards the back was a set of stairs. I remembered her saying something about it being a two bedroom, one bath. Again, not a bad find for someone on her own. At that moment Derek walked into the room.

He noticed me and gave a quick wave. “Hey! It’s good to see ya Maddie!” In his arms was Olivia’s beloved orange cat, Mango. She squirmed in his arms, no doubt smelling the food he had set out for her.

I gave him a nod. “Hey, good to see ya too.” I looked around the space again. “You guys all moved in?” I tried to make small talk. Ignoring the uncomfortable energy that only appeared to be coming from me.

The rest of the time at the house isn't really important. Derek retreated upstairs to play video games at some point. Meanwhile, Olivia and I laid on the couch watching reruns of our favorite shows. Talking and laughing over the same dumb things we always talked about.

Before long the evening concluded and I was back home. I was exhausted from the extended social interaction and wasted no time crawling into bed. Within seconds I was passed out.

That’s when the nightmare started.

I was in some type of futuristic setting. Metal walls, no windows. It felt more like a prison. I spent time walking around, trying to get a feel of the space. It was furnished like an apartment, and I found myself feeling right at home. With me in the dream were a couple of my friends Jack, and Amy. It was almost like we had a different life. As if we’d been here forever. 

Things changed when I walked past the bathroom. The door was wide open, revealing a fairly standard full bath. But, when my eyes landed on the sink, I saw that the faucet was dripping. Jack happened to be next to me and I pointed it out to him. His face went white, body rigid. He quickly grabbed my wrist and pulled me away from the bathroom. 

“What the hell?” Was all I could get out. We reached Amy in the main area where everything seemed to connect together. Upon seeing us she grew confused. 

“What’s going on?” Amy asked, eyes flitting between the two of us.

“The faucet is dripping, she’s here.” Jack tells her. I felt a pang of fear rip through me as Amy’s eyes widened.

“Who’s here?” I asked, but neither of them answered the question.

Jack shoved me down by my shoulders until I was sitting. Amy sat in front of me and Jack in front of her. “Cover your eyes. Don’t look at her, and don’t make a sound, no matter what.” My hands flew to my face, my eyes closed tightly behind them. I didn’t know what was happening, but I followed the directions. Whatever was about to happen severely freaked those two out. 

Everything got silent. I couldn’t even hear the humming of electronics anymore. No one was talking. Until I heard a shuffling sound across the room. It came from the direction of the bathroom. Without warning I felt a presence to my left. As if someone was right beside me, staring at me. I resisted the urge to look, Jack's warning playing on repeat in my mind.

Cover your eyes. Don’t look at her. Don’t make a sound.

I felt something wet run over my cheek. I suppressed the whimper that built up in my throat. A shiver ripped through me as I felt the same wetness on my toes. 

The fear was enough to eject me from the dream. I bolted up in bed. My forearms supported my weight as my eyes darted around the room. Everything began to look dangerous as my eyes struggled to adjust to the dark. The nightmare was still fresh on my mind. My trembling hand came up to my left cheek. I felt a patch of wetness that ran across my skin. I looked at the end of my bed. My toes poking up under the comforter. Slowly, I wiggled my toes, a vile feeling of liquid reducing the friction between the appendages.

In that instant I threw the covers back and left my room. Deciding that the couch sounded like a much safer place for me.

I don’t remember falling back asleep. I don’t even really remember if I dreamt. What I do remember is her. Towering in height, and lanky. Black hair fell down to her waist, wet and tangled. She had on a long sleeve gray dress that fell down to her bare feet. Just as she turned to look over her shoulder at me, the dream ended.

By the time morning came around I’d already gotten over the nightmare. I figured I’d just been drooling on myself during the night, which explained the liquid on my cheek. I blamed my wet toes on overheating. I was having a nightmare, and I slept with a thick comforter. I was convinced I had been sweating.

I wish I hadn’t called Olivia to talk about the dream. But I needed someone to confirm my delusions. That it had been drool and sweat, nothing else. I explained the dream to her in great detail. Starting with the weird metal rooms, and the fact that something was there with us.

She was silent for a little bit after I finished. “Was she wearing a gray dress?” Her question caught me off guard.

“Yes?” I answered slowly, unsure where the conversation was heading.

“Long black hair?”

“Yeah.”

“Really long fingers?” My heart started racing.

“Yes. Ho-How did you know that?” My voice grew shaky and it was hard to get my words out. I could feel my throat drying out, making it hard to swallow.

She laughed. “Oh that’s just Miriam!” The laughter pissed me off. I was scared for my life over here and she’s laughing?

“Who the fuck is Miriam?!” I yelled at her without meaning to. If Olivia had any idea what was going on I needed an explanation immediately.

She lets out a deep sigh. “To be honest, I don’t exactly know what she is, but she’s followed me around my whole life basically." Her tone remained calm, and I could hear her moving something around while she talks. 

“Okay, so why the hell am I seeing her?”

“I don’t know, no one else has ever told me they’ve seen her, other than Derek.”

“You talking ‘bout Miriam?” I could hear Derek’s voice in the background.

“Yeah! Maddie had a dream about her!” They both share a laugh. My blood started boiling. My panic mixing with rage.

“Ohhhh she lick your toes too? I hate when she does that.” I felt like ripping my hair out. What the hell are they even talking about? They were being entirely too calm about this whole thing.

I started pacing around my bedroom. “You’re telling me this, this thing latched on to me somehow?!” I was starting to sweat the more I moved around. Growing worried that my heart was going to burst out of my chest.

“Oh she’s harmless, I wouldn’t worry about it.” Olivia’s words did little to soothe me. 

“The worst she’s done is start moving things around, I wouldn’t be too worried.” Derek replied right after her, sounding much closer to the phone now. I hung up on them after that, I didn't want to hear anything else they had to say.

That was five years ago. Miriam never left, though Olivia insisted that she would. I stopped sleeping, opting for quick 2 hour naps whenever I wasn't at home. The lack of sleep caught up to me pretty quickly. I was falling asleep at work, I couldn't eat, school became less and less important. 

At some point scratches started appearing on various parts of my body. I started hearing the sound of wet shuffling throughout my house. My parents never seemed to notice anything, which did nothing but make me feel isolated. Eventually, there was the feeling of being watched. In the living room, while cooking dinner, but mostly, while trying to fall asleep. I felt like she would pop up at any moment and finally get me.

Recently the activity had stopped for the last couple of weeks. I started to let my guard down. Stopped trying to listen for her footsteps. And even fell asleep for longer than 2 hours for a few days.

I needed to write this down and warn someone. I don’t know what she is, I don't know why she’s here. She won’t leave me alone. Do Olivia and Derek still see her? Are there others like her? Someone please help me figure out what’s going on.

Because today, my bathroom faucet started leaking.