Dreamcatcher
“Hey, do you think it’s true?”
The look on 67’s face was one of dread. He was known to be somewhat skittish and it was the running joke between everyone that knew him. He would jump at almost anything. This is why it seemed like a joke when he got the job he did.
In the spirit world there is a hierarchy. From the day the spirit is born they are given a number. That is their name until the day they pass the trials. The trials are the last stage of going to school. For two years they work a very specific job. There is a lot of pressure to completing the job well. This decides where they will be assigned after graduation, how successful they will be, and where they will live. Although there is a lot of excitement to what job a spirit will get, these are still not the most glamorous of jobs. Because they’re in trials these are essentially the lowest of all the jobs in the spirit world. There is one place a spirit doesn’t want to get assigned.
Cleaning out dream catchers takes a lot out on a spirit. A few millennia ago this job wasn’t needed. One of the favored spirits went rogue and took a lot of spirits with him. Now they fill the night air with bad dreams. Dreamcatchers were created as a way to combat this. It takes a strong person to do this job. That’s why it didn’t make sense that a spirit like 67 would get this job. It didn’t fit any of his strengths at all. Each night the spirits in 67’s class are assigned a sector. Over the years there has been one story that has been passed down through the classes.
67 asked, “Do you think it’s true? You know, about sector 16 in the land of Under?”
“I don’t know,” replied 74. “I mean; don’t you think the leadership would have said something? And I don’t think they would send you there. No offense.”
“Exactly! That is what I was thinking, too. I am so ready to graduate. Two more moon cycles and we are done for good. Anything is better than this. Hey…74?” His voice quivered as he was talking to 74. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Yeah,” 74 replied. “Anything you want.”
67 continued, “Can you check on me before the sun shines on sector 16? Just in case is all.”
With a chuckle the two of them left it at that as they went about their night.
67 had cleaned out a few dreamcatchers that had him shaken up, but he thought this was because of his heightened awareness of what was to come. There are certain houses that seemed to be marked. Plenty of stories have been told as to why, but most spirits have agreed that only one of them makes sense. It seems that certain children have a very specific presence about them. These kids have a destiny to reach thousands upon thousands of people and change the world they live in. These are the houses that seemed to be marked. This house is the most infamous. It’s said that three spirits prior to 67 have never been the same.
67 went into the house and noticed that it was a lot darker than any house he had ever been in. He sat and stared at the dreamcatcher for fifteen minutes. It’s easy to let these bad dreams impact a spirit’s mood. Somehow it attaches itself to them. This is why they are required to go through a cleansing each time they get back to the office. 67 couldn’t bring himself to do it, but he knew he had to. If a dreamcatcher isn’t cleaned, then the bad dreams get through. Children have been known to completely abandon their destinies due to the impact of the bad dreams that were allowed to enter in.
67 had decided to clean it out. Hesitating wasn’t doing any good. He started to walk toward the dreamcatcher when all of a sudden something was different. The room was darker than it was before and the temperature dropped. 67 had encountered bad spirits before, but never had anything like this taken place. There was an eerily dark mass in the corner. 67 noticed he was weakening when he saw the mass approach him. With pale yellow eyes that glowed and a mist that slowly flowed around him the spirit began to speak.
“Coming here was a bad idea. You know what has to happen.”
With a slow and sinister laugh the dark spirit jumped toward 67.