Nightmares

She stood surveying the battlefield. The sky was as red as the ground below. She knew that it had to be her, she had to be the one who would fight the other side. They had a mysterious fighter, someone who had taken the lives of many on their side. They had a dragon with them. Her cousin had volunteered, but how could she let her fight, knowing that her cousin might not survive, knowing that her cousin had a young daughter. No one else could do it, only she could. And she finally might be able to find out who this monster was.

Suddenly she heard it, the flap of dragon wings, deafening in her ear. It was time. Slowly, the figure rose from the other side of the plain and gradually approached. The dragon landed nearby, and a figure approached her slowly. She readied herself for the fight... until she saw his face.

"No," she breathed, it couldn't be! Not her brother, anyone but he! She waited but knew what she had to do. They fought. She manged to get him on the ground and tore off his helmet and his armor. Then she took her knife and stabbed him. But he didn't die. Again and again, she stabbed him, tears streaming down her face. Cut after cut was made until his flesh become spongy and deteriorated. Finally, what was left of her brother stopped moving, and she sat down in the blood and sobbed.

This was a dream I had when I was 14 or 15, and it bugged me for the entire day afterward. I love my brother and we get along great, so this one hit hard. I have had other dreams, dreams where my entire family dies, but I was never the one doing it.

DIFFERENT NIGHTMARE:

Everything was on fire, again. This dream had happened several times over. Sometimes her family made it out, sometimes they didn't, and sometimes she was trapped beneath the flames. But it was always a dream...

Until the fire alarms went off.

(Turns out the alarms were just broken, and there was no real fire, but it took us a while to figure it out.)