I had a dream that I was in a small village and it seemed to be a different era. If I had to guess, I’d say it was sometime in the early or mid 1800’s. It was dark outside and barely any one was around.

I found my way to a tavern. On the outside was a page of newspaper stuck up on the side of the building. It was talking about curfews and that all should beware the unknown beasts roaming in the night. There was a list of about 18 names of people who were currently missing. I snatched the paper off the wall and stuffed it in my pocket to examine later.

I went into the tavern and sat at the dark end of the bar. I started to take in my surroundings to see what was so unusual about this place. How did I get here? Where was here? I assumed that it must be in the US because everyone sounded like they were speaking a normal version of English, albeit from a different period.

So, the place looked like a standard tavern. Rough, wooden walls, an old, warped bar with mismatched stools, tables with chairs and a small riser at the other end, maybe for announcements or meetings. There was a shabby set of stairs along one wall. As for decor, it was pretty much bare. There were old hats hung from the ceiling with no apparent pattern. Some were hung with string, some with ribbons, and others I couldn’t quite tell what was suspending them. The string looked silver in the dim light.

There were a couple people in the bar area, drinking and talking in low voices, as if afraid of being overheard. I closed my eyes and found I was able to hear them if I concentrated. It took a few minutes before I was able to listen, as if I had to tune in and really focus.

One of them was talking about how he hadn’t seen his brother in over a month. He’d said he had to take in his sister in law and the children, and how hard it was to get them to leave their home. They seemed to think if they stayed, he would find his way home. Over three weeks to get them to come, he said. But together, they felt stronger. She just had to feel it to understand why she and the children had to come.

The other man said his daughter was missing for weeks now and how worried he was. He said his wife refused to get out of bed as long as she was missing. It was all very sad. But they never mentioned what happened to these people, or where they’d last been seen, or even the last things they may have said. I had the impression the thought of the circumstances was too much for them to bear. I could feel their sadness as I took in their words.

Suddenly, after a few minutes of silence, and just as I was thinking maybe I could move a little closer, someone yelled into the room from the entry. He said they were going out to do the last round of the night. I waited until everyone else was outside before getting up and following them out. I hid in the darkness of the doorway as they went over what the plan for the evening was.

We will start in town then work out way out in forks. Stay together, three to each group. Don’t anyone go out on their own. Grab hold of each other if you have to. But don’t get separated. We already know this thing preys on single souls. We will all pick a starting point inside the square then walk straight out of town, 100 paces from where Nira ends (I believe Nira was the name of the town). Then everyone was to turn to their right, walk another 100 paces, then turn right again and go straight back to the square. It should be easy to keep an eye on them from a distance.

I followed the two men from the bar, and a third who I hadn’t seen before. I wasn’t more than 20 feet behind them, but I kept to the bushes and larger tree trunks. The third man stopped and bent down as the other two continued. I watched in horror as the air in front of him shimmered and moved. I couldn’t see what it was but when he looked up, he was terrified and screamed. As he went to shield his eyes and face with his arms, it looked like the air touched him, brushing his arms and shoulders, then he disappeared right in front of me.

I leaned back onto my haunches then slid against the tree I had been half hiding behind. I took a breath and looked back to the area where the man had disappeared. Nothing. The air wasn’t shimmering anymore, and I could see the wind through the trees as the other two men came running back to the spot. They began calling out his name. They stayed within about 2 feet of each other as they scanned the clearing. Then, they started to make their way around, looking off into the trees as they went, back to back.

They were a few paces away from me when I decided to step out. I startled the man facing me so badly he used both his hands to hit me in the chest and knock me onto the ground. Wait, I yelled! Wait! I saw what happened to the other guy!

They stood over me and gawked, waiting patiently for me to continue. He stopped and bent down then the air went all funny and he screamed then disappeared, I said quickly in one breath. The man who had pushed me asked if I really saw it happen. I said absolutely. I most certainly did. Then he said I was doomed and the two of them ran away.

I ran back to the town square. On my way, I had to avoid several others who were also running back to the square. I didn’t know anyone here and I felt alone and a little scared, mostly of their ignorance or fear of outsiders. It was pure speculation but it felt like those men who ran away from me thought I was dangerous somehow. Personally, I don’t think I’m even remotely intimidating, even when I’m trying. But I am wearing weird clothes compared to them, I had been using my cell phone as a light in the woods, which I had forgotten I was using when I stepped out. I just now realized I had been shining it around a dank alleyway and thought of how it might startle someone from the 19th century. I quickly turned it off, sat down in a corner and closed my eyes as tight as I could.

I knew if I kept my eyes closed for a bit, they would naturally adjust. It would take just as long to stumble around in the dark while they adjusted than it did to sit and wait patiently. I needed a moment to sit and think and clear my mind. I opened my eyes and saw a weird bar sticking out of the wall above where I had sat. I grabbed the end sticking out and pushed it into the other wall. I saw an old soggy bit of canvas piled a little way further into the alley. I ran to it and brought it back to the corner. I hung the canvas from the bar and created a little nook.

I peeked out of my little hidey spot and saw another pile of stuff closer to where I had come into the alley. I quickly ran over to it, grabbed it up and brought it back to the canvas corner. It was a soft, dry blanket and a pillow. I put them down and got a bit more comfortable. Now I had my own little area that hopefully no one would notice at night. That gave me until morning to figure out what was going on.

Then I remembered my phone again. I pulled it out of my back pocket (completely unsure when I actually put it there). I opened the App Store and found a monster tracking app. How convenient. Apple thinks of everything, I thought excitedly. I download the app, never considering this ancient town probably shouldn’t have wifi. After answering a lengthy questionnaire, I finally got the app going. What a nightmare.

So, I am using the phone to see if there are any monsters around me. Then a little help button pops up on the screen so I click it. It starts to tell me about the unseen monsters. It tells how they take their victims in the night when they get them alone, how it’s usually someone who has already lost someone else, and how the victims are never heard from or seen again. No one knows what they look like or why they come. And the town doesn’t seem to have any records prior to the arrival of this monster. In fact, it seems this monster has been terrorizing the town for almost 13 years. It also mentions that it has only ever taken one person a night, so they expect it is only one creature.

Suddenly my app starts beeping. I close the help section and see a bunch of red and blue dots on the screen. I don’t know what is what. Why isn’t there a help section for that? I lean to my left and look out of the small slit that allows me to scan the opening of the alley. I don’t see any one. I get closer to the opening, but still no one is there. Then my phone makes the Klaxon alarm noise so loud I think my ear drums have broken as the world starts to ring in my ears all around me.

Then I notice the curtain looks weird and the air is shimmering. Suddenly, there’s a girl standing in front of me. She can’t be more than 12, although people aged more quickly in the past so I could have been wrong. She’s holding the canvas, pulling it back a bit so she could see in.

You don’t belong here, she says, although she doesn’t sound angry or upset. She’s actually very calm. Where should I be then, I ask her. I don’t know but not here, she says. We should find a way to get you home, she says after a moment of thought.

Who are you I ask. She tells me her name is Almira Groven. I pull the paper out of my pocket and there’s her name on the list. You went missing, you’re on this list. They’re looking for you I tell her. And I’m looking for them, she replied. Why, I ask. So they can come home she says. I look back down at my phone and see it now shows that the so called monsters are red while the people of the town are blue. A little late. Thanks technology. Then it dawns on me that Almira and I are both red.

I look her in the eye and say We’re the monsters! Did you know that we’re the monsters they’re all afraid of? I show her the phone and the app. She nods and smiles. Then she says, I guess the unknown is always monstrous. She takes my hand and as I step out of the canvas corner, I woke up.

This dream was form November of 2015.