It was bright outside. A beautiful day. I could hear the sounds of life as the first day or spring began. I got out of my bed to take a look outside.

I am 23 years old and not so long ago I would have enjoyed nothing more than to see the darkness of autumn and winter consume the entire planet for all of time. I glanced over at Shelly who was still sleeping. She had the funniest way of sleeping. It was not something I made fun of her for. Rather, I enjoyed watching her sleep.

The phone rang so I walked over and answered it. "Mornin Dan, we got a big day ahead. You sure you are up to this?" said Phil. "Of course man, I promised I would help in anyway possible" I replied. Although I was not looking forward to moving him and his family out. They had a 1 ton piano that I would help move..."Awesome" he said "we will see you in say an hour"? "sure" I replied.

Phil has been my best friend since I was only 8 years old. I remember all the trouble we used to get into as teenagers. It didn't matter though, cause we knew we had fun even when we were in trouble. My fondest memory is when we got into trash cans and rolled down an hill straight into some old ladies house. Broke through the side and everything. It was the most hilarious thing ever. Even though neither one of us could walk straight for 2 hours after that.

Phil was a great guy. Had 1 kid age 3 and his wife Alyssa was the sweetest woman. That is, second compared to Shelly of course. During the drive I was thinking about the past once again when I was suddenly hit by a vision of some sort. "DAN! HELP! oh god! Make it stop!" screamed a woman I had never seen. Her face was all bloody and seemed to be fading with the wind. I ignored it as my imagination and pulled up to Phils house.

"Hey dude. Been too damn long. We just had breakfast if you want a bite" he said. "Nah" I replied "Let's get this show on the road".

We spent all day moving his stuff into the Rent-a-truck and finally finished at about 6 O'clock. We decided it would be best to just leave it all in the truck and have Phil get a hotel room for him and his family for the night. Luckily for me, I spent my whole working life in construction so a days hard work was not such a big deal. On my day off though, kinda sucked.

The drive home was quiet. I came across a stretch of road I had never seen in my life before. Odd, cause I drive this route all the time. I pulled over and decided to get a look around. Where were all the houses that normally reside here? I turned around when I heard a noise. It was Shelly. "Hun, what are you doing out here?" I asked. She said nothing. In a blink of an eye, she was standing in front of me and I could feel a sharp pain in my stomach. I fell to my knees and died.

Right as death gripped me I woke up. It had all been a dream. Everything. I felt grateful that it was only a dream. A disturbing dream at that. I turned to look at Shelly and wake her. But she did not move. She was not breathing. I pulled off the covers and saw the stab wound. She bled everywhere and was dead.

I screamed in horror. I had killed her. I dreamed of my own death while I caused hers. Now, forever as I always wanted. The autumn and winter skies will consume my world for all of time. For the death that was my true love, so that love will die forever.

Good story! Good twist to the ending. Sad, but a good read nonetheless.

A Horror and haunting tale, Mr.Toodles, I enjoyed it, thank you.

It's difficult to put into words how your story affected me, but it did. Psychological thrillers do that to me. Can I say I was confused without sounding dense?

Dreams are amazing things and I take note of every one that survives into my waking mind. Your story reminded me of that practice. Last night I dreamt of a Hallowe'en costume. My shoulders were padded high and on top of my head, hidden under the padding, was a bloody stump of a neck.

Maybe I should try to make that a real costume for the trick or treaters.

What scares me though, is what the heck it all means...

Interesting story, Toodles.