Dream Catcher Story Contest
3rd place
(Category 2: grades 6-8)
“As You Sleep I Feast!”
by April M. Gonzalez
Age 12, Grade 7
Every night they come, whether you can sense them or not. They come the moment you close your eyes, even for a second. They want you deep asleep, to satisfy their never-ending hunger.
They’re always hungry. They creep and sneak upon every living being. They make your mind go quiet, quiet enough so you eventually fall asleep. They put you to sleep so that your mind is weak, weak enough to play with. They create your dreams and nightmares. They feed on your emotions. Your strongest feelings are enough to fill the depths of their empty stomachs.
…
It’s little Alex’s bedtime, he’s not tired, he could go on for hours. But as he lies down, he’s still not tired. He’s not aware and doesn’t see the shadow creeping towards him; it’ll give him a nightmare tonight. Little Alex had been watching a zombie show, and as soon as the lights go off, this creature will feast. It will induce so much fear that he won’t have to eat for many moons to come. Slowly Alex’s eyes start to droop, any thoughts he had a minute ago, fade. Why was he so tired?
Alex was deep asleep. With the lights off, the creature had nothing to fear and while above little Alex, the creature’s hand was approaching his head. Tonight the creature would feast. But, the creature had gotten too cocky and as the creature’s hand touched Alex’s forehead it recoiled. Its hand sizzled and burned. The creature looked up, there above Alex’s head was a dream catcher. Too bad, no feast tonight! The creature jumped off the bed hissing, “HISS,” it slithered out of the room bubbling with anger, it would have to find another prey to hunt.
View a list of all the winners: http://pasadena-library.net/teens/2020/dream-catcher-story-contest/