I absolutely loved this story. Here’s my fiction for the prompt on Wednesday, September 20, 2023!

Moonlight sparkled on the yarn and feather dream catcher waving near the window, and Cassie couldn’t resist the pull the catcher had over her. She floated in on shadow and moonlight, her essence swirling around the child tucked deep in troubled sleep.

The child sniffed, and Cassie leaned over him, desperate to touch his cheek, to calm him the normal way. But no, as she leaned close, her essence twisted until she’d entered his dream.

Darkness sounded the boy as dashed along a cracked sidewalk, following a string of old Victorian street lamps. Heavy breathing followed the boy, stalking him, and as the boy slowed down despite running faster, the beast caught up. Saliva dripped from darkness onto the boy’s shoulder.

Panic rushed through Cassie. She knew this dream, this beast. It was her first oneā€¦

No. She buried the memory, refusing to recall the creature that captured her in her sleep, enslaving her to feast on and collect dreams for him.

Her stomach dropped as the boy tripped and huddled in on himself, and the dark monster opened its awful maw until silver-jagged teeth clenched the boy’s skull between them.

No. Cassie fought her fear, wrapping herself tighter around the boy. She couldn’t catch dreams without experiencing them, but she couldn’t catch this one. Wouldn’t catch this one.

She refused to let the boy be consumed by her fate. She slipped her essence into his mind and commanded him to wake.

This time, she would protect rather than snatch.

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