Playground. (A nightmear)

Who decides the rules that lay inside each dream? Who is the caretaker of the playground? Who calls the shots and rings the bells? Who plays the first move in the game I am thrown into every time my eyes shut?

These are questions going through my head as I walk down the long dirt path, lined with wooden cages. A man introduces me as Marie to the game. He guides me down the hall as barks and bowls ring in my left ear. The snarls are all part of the round. Were almost at the end of the path when he stops me.

“Run” he smiles at me as he pushes a button on the wall. The wood begins to shake as I bolt back down the way we came, the anxious snarls of the impatient wolves hit against the fence. They rise higher; I feel a snap at my ankle but keep running. I look around for weapons. I have nothing but a large key in my pocket. The wolves are out and they chase me. I lose most of them but one is on my tale as I turn the corner; into a room that resembles something of a barn. I turn to face the wolf “Marie” it whispers, ready to pounce. I clench the key in my hand. I hear the bell of round one and my heart stops. I have to kill one and then move on.

The wolf jumps as I roll; it lands on its back. I lung at with my key, jumping on it. “Where is your heart?!” I scream already knowing its placement. I lung the key into its chest, but miss its heart. Suddenly the room changes along with the beast, it grows smaller and loses it monstrous features. I’m sitting with my youngest sisters blood all over my hands. She gasps for air. The reality that she won’t live hits me hard. But I missed her heart and now she will die slowly. I want to pick her up and run, but the rules of the game are indented into my head. They wont let me make a move that is not permitted. I work against my will as I lift the key again. My entire body is begging to not do this but I plunge the key into her heart and she goes still.

Snarls approach the corner of the room, I’m already on my feet, not daring to take the key with me, or even look at my sister. What was next? Would I have to fight each of these beasts only to discover they are my loved ones? Would I kill each of my sisters followed by people I care about?

I run. I’m chased. I hear the bell ring again as I approach a dead end. I’m expected to try and kill this one as well. To reveal who it is that’s hunting me. I face the predator and I know the eyes, the dark fur. It growls at me as I back up against the wall. I won’t fight. There is a knife that appears at my feet.

No.

I dodge around the large beast, only getting my arm slit in process, darting for the door. The man that walked me down the hall stops me

“This is not how we play.” He pushes me back towards the wolf. And throws me a weapon of some sorts. I ponder lunging into his chest. He smiles, reading my mind. I try dodging around him but he grabs me again. This is a level I wont get by without a fight. “Do you want to be disqualified?” He spits at me.
“Yes!” I plead. He takes the weapon from my hand. “Fine, you lose” he walks away as the door shuts and I’m left with the monster.

My mind follows the man, holding the blade as he walks away from the locked door. The echo of snarls spreads a smile across his face. He taps along the cages of the wolves that wont get to play and the screams behind him stop.