My mind couldn’t tell where up and down was but I knew someone was there. Someone who I knew I’ve met before...

My heart was pounding so hard, I feared it would breaks my ribs....

A scream woke me up. Covered in sweat I sat up in my bed, surrounded by blinding darkness. I listened to the scream. Who was that? I couldn’t get my body to stop shivering. It toke me a few minutes until I realized it was me who screamed. Still in shock, I slowly remembered where I was. My room. In my bed. 

In the dark, my shaky hands tried to untangle my blanket that had rapped itself around my legs during my nightmare. I lied back down and pulled up the blanket until it reached my chin, thinking it would protect me from the dream like a shield.  

That dream. I have dreamed that dream ever since I can remember. I sighed in exhaustion and turned my head towards the window. Dim moon light shone through my little window, making creepy shadows on the opposite wall. This was the time when the dream was the worst. Every time when the full moon approached, the dream became more real, more frightening. You couldn’t  imagine how sick I was of waking up in the middle of the night, screaming like a baby, unable to fall asleep again. Believe me, I’ve tried everything.

But those eyes. Dark yellow with green veins. I knew I’ve seen these eyes before but I just couldn’t figure out who they belonged to. 

 „Mahina! Hurry up we’re going to be late“, shouted an impatient voice that belonged to my sometimes-very-demanding-grandmother. While rolling my eyes I shouted back over my shoulder: „I‘ll be right there, just give me a minute!“

My face turned back to the full sized mirror and I looked at my reflection. Overall, I had a normal body. Long blond-Brown wavy hair that reached the hips, tall and slender body, big green-blue eyes with little golden sprinkles in them, red lips and a little nose. My outfit consisted of blue jeans, a longsleeved white blouse and a pair of yellow sneakers. The only jewelry was a pair of small earrings, hidden behind my hair. 

Satisfied with my appearance I grabbed my phone, stuck it into the backpocket of my jeans and rushed out of my room into the hallway, down a flight of stairs towards the front door. There, my granny looked impatiently at her watch. „Come on child, you don’t want to miss New Years celebration!“, she opened the front door and walked out of the house. I followed her and closed the door behind me. „Hey wait“, I yelled after her, running to catch up. Boy, she was pretty fast for an old lady. We turned right and followed the faint sound of music, coming from the center of the village. The street lights were on even though it wasn’t completely dark yet. „Fit, not old“, she suddenly said while walking quickly down the sidewalk. I wrinkled my forehead in confusion. „What do you mean?“. She didn’t look at me but kept right on walking. „I would say that I‘m a fit lady, not an old one“, she said with her lips twitching. My eyes widened in surprise. „I‘m sorry, I didn’t mean ....wait, were you in my head again?“. Granny smiled. I sighed. „Oh come on, you can’t just do that in broad day light!“. Her face turned to me: „It’s evening“, she said calmly. „Still, what if someone heard you and figured something out?“. I had lowered my voice to a whisper. Her reply didn’t really help. „So what? The whole town already thinks I’m crazy, why not help to support the image?“. She winked at me. At this point, I was sure she was going crazy. But I mean, she was definitely not a normal granny. Granny opened her mouth again. „I‘ve been meaning to ask, how’s  it going with“, she lowered her voice, „ you know, your studies?“. My answer was a slight mumble. „Ok“, I responded. 

We reached the crosswalk and waited for the pedestrian light to turn green. Silently we crossed the street. On the other side of the road we followed a little path that led to a park That was the source of the music. There were booths everywhere but the main part of the huge crowd was in the middle of park, on the dancefloor. I stood on my toes, looking for Daya and Tyler, my two best friends. Finally I recognized Daya‘s blond hair and I started walking towards her when a strong hand grabbed my elbow. Stunned, I turned around and looked into granny’s face. „I was just going to dance with my friends....“, I started but she interrupted me with a wave of her Hand. „You know, just because we’re different, doesn’t mean we have to fit in to be perfect. Be yourself and you are perfect“. Her confident brown eyes looked into mine for a few moments, then she turned around. I stared at her back as she walked away into the crowd. Wow, I haven’t heard her talk this emotionally in years. Still confused by what she meant, I mingled into the crowd.