Nightmare

 
I had a most scary dream last night. I very rarely have nightmares, but when I do I get really shaken by them:

I was sitting with Didi on her bed, talking. The layout of the hotel was different, and from where we were sitting we could see into Lisa’s room. As we peered over, one of us (I think it was me) asked "Hey, who’s that kid in Lisa’s room?" Standing just beyond the doorway of Lisa’s room, looking toward her bed, was a small boy with a shaved head, wearing a deep orange, dirty shirt. He looked like a young monk, but from his height and size he couldn’t have been over eight years old. I suddenly realized that everything was really dark, that the air had a veiled, gray quality to it, like the color of the sky during typhoon. And that, aside from a chill wind, there was no sound at all.

It was at that moment that the both of us suddenly realized this boy wasn’t human—he was a ghost.

A wave of pure fear swept over my body, reverberating, thorwing all my senses on red alert. We both scrambled under the covers, and I clung to Didi’s arm for dear life, trembling and whispering nonsense. Somehow I knew he had turned around.

Then, I hear the boy whisper in my left ear, a silky, imploring whisper in Chinese: "Hi, can I join you guys?"

I tried to scream but couldn’t. This is when I woke up, shaking and covered in sweat. I lay there for awhile, fearful that I hadn’t dreamt that whisper. I contemplated sleeping with the lights on but decided not to bother Natalie. The next thing I know, it’s morning and Natalie is waking me up—I’m 10 minutes late.