CWA: The Dreams of Rain by Andre Ornelas

He’d always known he’d leave this room.

Noah looked over the room that encased so many memories, so many stories now turned into history. It was a quaint room with purple tinted wallpaper he’d inherited when he moved back from school; he didn’t bother to change it as he got accustomed to it over time. It was his sister’s older room before the family agreed to move her downstairs with a proper bathroom, oh how he’d wish for a place of his own. He made his bed and fixed the wardrobe where it lay before collecting dust until repurposed. Preexisting dust and fur were removed from every possible crest and inch; The room was reset to its original design. Looking over the room, he reminisced about all the trouble he’d overcome in this room. He gave a small chuckle as he closed the door one final time, a sayonara of sorts to his troubles. With a bulging black backpack enwrapped to his chest, he hugged his parents as they prayed over his trip.

“I already spoke with Fernanda. She’ll make sure you’re on shift in no time. For now, make sure you unpack, finalize your routines, and most importantly, do life with those around you.” His father told him as they stood in the living room. Noah noticed a messy black dye spot on his pop’s tail.

“I’ll do as well as that noticeable spot there dad.

“I’m trying son, these old bones aren’t getting younger.” He chuckled

“You’ll be great, son.”

“Thanks, Dad. I’ll text you when I get there.” Noah said, holding back his tears. His tail wagged, always giving away his emotional state.

The family walked him to his car.

He hops inside and checks everything before committing to the grueling three day drive ahead of him. He looked over his checklist and saw everything was right. Giving thanks to God that everything had been set for him, he looked out to his family, now a blurb getting smaller and smaller and waved goodbye.

“Make us St. Bernard's proud son.” his father yelled as he drove away.

That was two months ago.

“Noah Frey?” asked an eagerly excited voice behind him. Noah turned around to see a small yet ironically well-kept Maine Coon looking at him. “Yes, you must be Fernanda?” he spoke politely. His tail wagged a little in curiosity. Fernanda smiled at him and shook his giant paw. “Great, another worker who’s gonna look down at me.” She gave a laugh that anyone could recognize and guided Noah to the office.

Fernanda was one who always spoke her mind, if there was any opposition to a certain mindset, she’d let whoever is involved in the endeavor know.

Fernanda sat down at her desk and pulled up Noah’s profile.

“Glad we pulled another one out of the fires of hell known as Florida. Who knows what you had to deal with there? I better not see you calling anyone Jit.” she chuckled.

One of Noah’s co-workers walked in.

“Hey Fernanda, the machine’s not-”

As if in an instant, she contorts her face from a passionate smile to a mean glare at the worker. The worker stops her sentence in a nanosecond and closes the door behind him.

He stayed quiet and somewhat confused as she reviewed his information.

“Oh, don't worry, Noah. You’re already hired. I just want to ensure I get to know you a little more beforehand so you can assimilate better with the crew.” she said, realizing Noah didn’t get her joke from before the interruption.

“Right.” He gave a nervous smile. He thought about what he possibly got himself into.

“Anyways, I don’t expect you to be here for more than 2 years. By then I’m sure you’ll get an offer from one of the studios you applied for, right?”

Noah looked at her in surprise. “How’d you know I was looking for a job as a creative?”

She looked away from her computer and sipped some tea she had made earlier.

“Of course, your parents talk about you all the time. They told me that you might be able to raise our sales with your talents as a photographer and graphic designer. I'm also routing for you!”

Noah felt heat fluster his face, and his tail hit the cabinet behind him. A little embarrassed, he struggled to punch it down and tied it to his pants clip. He cleared his throat.

“Thanks. So about the job.”

She chuckled at his mannerisms. “As part of the job, I expect you to be a cashier. That part you’ll train with Jessica, who you say here a few minutes ago. Every once in a while, however, I want you to take a day to make content for the store’s social platforms, I’ll help schedule those days.” She finishes her tea and gives Noah three papers to sign.

“I won’t let you down Fernanda.” He said with passion.

“I know you won’t. Now, here’s the next step.” She grabs a pen from a cup and the two continue with their meeting.

That was three weeks ago.

Since then, Noah has broken into his new living space, fixed the kitchen with food from the nearest grocery store, signed up for a library card, settled and started a growth track at a church his family is no stranger to, and bought a small blue journal.

One day after work, he carried the journal in a small pack secured on his tail. Noah was coming from a grocery hall when he noticed the rain. Putting his petals in high gear, he booked it home on his bike. As he sang, Noah noticed a small beagle watching him from a window as he stopped in front of a red light.

He felt her gaze from afar. She’d been drawing something when she stopped to look at him. The two stared a little out of curiosity, as if time stopped a little for this single moment. Noah began to backpedal for balance on his bike, not noticing his tail started to wag until it hit the rail of his bike, causing it to tangle as he let out a sharp yelp as he untangled his tail from the oily rails. She gave a small laugh but hid in the corner as he noticed her. The light gave him a pass and he continued on, curious what just happened.

“Who is she?” He’d think to himself.

He got home before the rain could catch him further and began to relax. He put everything on the kitchen island and looked around. He was proud he could find a decent sized apartment: two rooms, a suitable office space, and most importantly, his own AC unit. He smiled and took a well deserved shower. Finding something comfortable to wear, he sat in the living room and played jazz on his TV. Content with the choice, he moved to the kitchen and stirred himself a nice hot chocolate. Sorting through the bags, he noticed it was time to journal. He calmly got the familiar blue notebook and began to write as he slowly slipped his hot chocolate. Fernanda gave him a personal exercise to help him organize his thoughts and texted prompts occasionally for Noah to write. She became not only his manager but also a work aunt. The rain harmonized with the jazz, making everything all the better.

It’s been two months and three weeks. Everything looks like it’s going well.

My folks miss me, of course, but they’re planning to visit every so often. I have a

stable job. I have a home, I have-

Noah paused his thought. His smile slowly turned into a frown.

“Oh my gosh, I’m lonely,” he spoke out loud, looking around the small apartment suddenly engulfing him in its vastness. Was the apartment bigger than he recognized?

Noah felt his being feeling smaller by the second. The coffee mug started to feel heavier as he began to lower it to the marble table. Noah sighed and wondered how he could have distracted himself from talking to someone for so long. Noah reflected on where he could have gone wrong. He’d talk to someone at work, right? Noah finished his hot chocolate and cleaned the cup. He returned to the coach and looked at his hanged designs. All eyes looked at his soul, he began to feel uncomfortable and removed them off the wall and into a corner.

The TV sat on an upper middle hang. The sides of the walls displayed student film posters he created in collaboration with other creatives pursuing their dreams. None of them really reached out to Noah after graduation. One poster had a black and white shih tzu reading a magazine while a small great grey dane watched from the corner, watching as he carried a barrel of bricks. Another poster showed an Old English Sheepdog with her face covered by a camera, and another poster of several dogs joined as a group of inorganic shapes. Noah felt his eyes closed as the sounds of Jazz and rain sent him adrift. He opened his eyes again and became horrified to see the same posters now change with horrifying figures of reds, blues, and yellows all reaching out. A few paws from the poster he’d put off to the side reached him first. Noah felt his body lock into place, as if in a state of paralysis. They began to emit monstrous sounds as they submerge him into his couch. He screamed into a darkening void, gasping for air as he felt motion to swim up and began to lose consciousness as he was pushed deeper and deeper until no light could be found in the void.

Noah awoke to a gentle breeze through his fur. He gasped as he looked around and picked up his surroundings. There was a lake scented smell he couldn’t quite identify, but it felt nostalgic.

“Where am I?” He wondered about the nearby bushes that led to a cabin near a lake. It was a nice brown log cabin he’d recognize as one of the cabins his family used to go to when he was a small pup. His family would gather the whole family and spend a few days catching up with the aunts and uncles. The lake sat next to it and gave easy access as a play area his cousins would abuse to themselves. His cousins would play in the water and rough house until they’d exhaust themselves or come back with fresh bruises from fights that went out of hand. His aunts would stay in the kitchen gossiping about whatever happened to them, and his uncles would sit near the TV watching sports. He stayed secluded in a room, more interested in his sketchbooks or comics he’d bring to binge on. He didn’t really feel a connection to his cousins before adulthood. Now, they help each other every once in a while on where to go for specific resources around town.

He entered from the swinging doors that would lead to the lakeside of the house. The kitchen greeted him with a nostalgic smell of thanksgiving meals of old. He looked around to see his favorite treats: honey ham, mash potatoes with corn and gravy, peanut butter squares and more than he could see. He felt his stomach rumble and began to eat. He stuffed himself till he was satisfied and sat in the open living room. He felt his stomach bloat and began to drift off as the chair rocked him back and forth. He was feeling at home again after that horrid experience. But, something felt off again. He opened his eyes as white void greeted him. The seat rocked forth as he fell into the white emptiness. White became grey until it became pitch dark again. There was a murky substance in this level of the void as he looked around to find the same house, now dirtied by the surroundings around him. No green grass or blue waters inside, just pure black. He felt a tear on his face, how could the house turn into such an array?

He trekked up to the front door and wiped his muddied feet. He looked inside to find nothing shaped out. He tried the door, nothing. He pushed with his might, the door fell with him as he entered inside. There was a foul, musty smell. Offended by the oder, Noah whined and ripped his sleeve to make a makeshift mask. He walked into a tattered scene. The living room was destroyed in a similar manner a house would be in a great war film. He watched his step until he heard a crack beneath him. It was a photo of his family that fell off the wall. He picked it up and placed it on a shelf. The odor from before became stronger the more he explored.

As the odor worsened, he felt himself get lightheaded. He looked at the hall of pictures that guided his family to their rooms when they visited for massive gatherings. The hall felt as if it never ended. He couldn’t recognize names or faces engraved on the frames. Noah notices a white light across the hall. He went from a walk to a run as he tried to get to the light.

“Hey, take me back!” He shouted to the white light. It began to zoom farther into the hall as it began to dim back to black. The void from before greeted his eyes, he felt somewhat dryer this time. He noticed the light stopping in its tracks. The odor was gone as well.

He began to walk towards the light. It began to flicker on and off, as if it was trying to talk to him. Noah notices it and gently speaks in the light's direction.

“Hey, what is this? Do you know where the exit is? I just want to go back home.”

There was no response.

Noah began to float closer to the light. It disappears as he tries to touch it with his paw. Noah began to fall and collapsed into a cave. He coughs as dust engulfs him and messes with his fur.

“Where am I?”

“Noah” a voice whispers from the side of the cave.

Noah’s ears perked up as he looked for the source of the voice.

“I’m here, who are you?” he yelled back.

He sees a yellow figure and a blue figure watch him from the ledge of the cave. He breathes heavily and starts to run to them. They run deeper into the cave, faster than Noah can run. If anything was going to help Noah, it was them.

“Wait, what is this place? I need to get back to the surface, you can’t just leave me here alone, I just got here.” he began to yell to the light.

Suddenly, Noah felt something snap his leg. It felt cold and grim. He cried in pain as he lost feeling in his leg. He began to see something emerge from a crack. He sees the two figures watch from above.

“Help me. Please.” he whimpers. They leave out of his sight.

Noah could see the bizarre blob form from the floor of the cave. It started to laugh. He struggled to get up and was terrified; Noah started to bark but was muzzled by a tight tentacle. His vision began to worsen as his breath began to slow down once more.

“Why didn’t they help you?” the figure rasped at him.

Noah tried to answer back but to no avail. He bit hard at the tentacle inside his mouth and the figure screamed bloody murder.

“You’ll pay for that.” As the being began to release Noah.

Noah sharpened his nails and began to worm himself out of the being’s control. He looked at the two colored beings as they returned with a ladder. He limps to the ladder and begins to climb. The ladder begins to swing as the being sways its tentacles and smashes into rocks of the cave. The cave begins to collapse in on itself. A newly formed crater reveals itself below the ladder. Noah sees a tentacle project towards him and dodges it as he sees the being fall down the crater. He stops for a little bit and looks at the yellow being. The cave began to stabilize and the white light forms a hand to get Noah. As Noah begins to reach for the hand, one last tentacle wraps Noah’s leg and brings the ladder down with him.

“No.” yelled the white light.

Noah could hear the pain in its voice as the being’s laughter deafens Noah’s ears as he hits his head on the cave wall.

Noah screams as he wakes up. The rain stopped. Realizing he’d not set a sleep timer, his music shuffled from Jazz to Rock, waking him up. Noah fell to the ground as he stumbled to turn off the music. He looked at the kitchen island with the TV now off and his body feeling like a mess.

That was three months ago.

Noah was never one to write stories, but he tried to recollect what happened in his dream. It recurred with different details every once in a while. He wrote down questions on what some meant and other areas he looked into himself to answer. He looked at the clock and gasped; he overslept.

“Oh-

He composed himself, grabbed his uniform, and launched from the door. He raced downhill, dodging everything and everyone possible. He began to think of reasonable things he could tell Fernanda; he knew she’d understand but wanted to say something to her regardless.

“Hi Fernanda, so I overslept and had that weird dream you told me to make into an actual book series again”

“No, that doesn't work.”

“Hi Fernanda, I was trapped in a dream where I got muzzled and snagged under a carpet.”

“That just sounds weird.”

“Hi Fernanda, I had some really weird hot chocolate that made me have a freaky dream.”

He stopped pedaling and looked to his side.

“Wait… Where’s that hot chocolate come from?” he questioned out loud, not realizing he was about to hit someone.

He felt a force whack him from his bike and onto the floor. Onseers looked at him as he held his stomach in pain. He threw up a little.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, sir. Are you injured? Can I take you to the hospital?”

Noah looked at the concerned beagle that held blueprints by his side. It was the same beagle from that one night from the grocery store. He’d begin to notice her often and even made it a routine to wave hi to her as he went to work. They’ve never really spoken to each other aside from a simple good afternoon.

“Listen, if you wanted my number, you could’ve asked me.” Noah said jokingly as he coughed some blood.

The beagle, a little annoyed with his joke, held his hand.

“This isn’t good. Let’s go.”

Noah began to fade in and out of consciousness.

“He’s passing out. Miguel, where's the minivan?” she screamed.

The beagle barked to his crew as a minivan parked near him. The beagle, Noah, the crew, and the bike were all held in the car.

“Come on, stay awake with me. You need to pay attention next time; you could’ve seriously gotten even more hurt.”

“I know, I was distracted.”

“By the looks of it, you looked dazed.”

“Funny you should say that; I’m still tryna know what it means.”

The beagle looked confused. Noah pointed to the pack on his tail.

“Read the 9th page.”

The beagle looked over the journal on the concrete path. She runs to retrieve it as Noah begins to drift off and wakes up soon after in a bed at the hospital. The beagle sat next to him as she wagged her tail reading his journal.

Noah moans and she directs her attention to him.

“Oh good, you're awake.”

Noah tried to sit up but whined and plumped into bed in pain.

“Easy. Easy boy. You need to heal. Now, you’re going to stay quiet and let me speak.”

Noah gave her a curious look.

She gave a small breath and began.

“My name is Carmel Ornelas, and I’m a lemon Beagle. You ran into a stationary block that was in the middle of the path. We’d just started renovating the building near the coffee shop you’re working at. I got to meet Fernanda a while back, I didn’t know you worked with her until she called you as we were riding to the hospital. I explained everything to her and she should be here in a bit.” she said nervously.

Noah spoke softly, yet sarcastically.

“You had to put it in the middle of a downward crosswalk?”

She began to laugh and he was left confused.

“Listen, I wasn’t thinking, ok? Dang. I paid for your visit today, and you don’t need to think anything of it. I feel guilty as it is.”

She looked out the window as she held his notebook.

“I believe that’s mine.” Noah said as he reached for the notebook. She looked down at the book and pulled it closer to her. Noah reeled back into the hospital bed defeated.

“About that. I believe I can help you.”

The two looked at each other for a while.

“What is this really about?” She asked.

Noah looked at the window next to her and back to her eyes.

“I think… I might need a friend.”

The two blush as the doors to the room open with a great force.

“Noah, you’re awake! I was so worried.” shouted Fernanda, making a grand entrance not even professional divas could master.

Noah snuggled deeper into the bed’s sheets. Caramel looked away from the book and to the TV in front of them.

“What did I miss?” Fernanda asked.

The three remained in silence for a few moments as the hospital became quiet.