DREAMING HOUR: THE RED UMBRELLA

Minhee Choi

“Roy, It’s time to go to sleep.”

A soft voice echoed through the hallway, to a small room with a little boy sitting on his bed. Roy’s cheeks were filled with air and looked like they were just about to pop His eyes were getting watery and his ears were turning scarlet red. The soft voice belonged to his mother. She came inside the blue room with stickers Roy stayed still, sitting on the bed with its arms crossed Looking at Roy who wanted to play until midnight, his mother began telling him a story.

“Once upon a time, there were two identical looking girls who didn’t like sleeping and wanted to play all night long. They were warned several times but both of them ignored the warning and played until they were actually tired However, as time passed and a new morning came, one of the girls didn’t wake up. There was sweat all over her and her face was pale as if she had seen something she shouldn’t have The girl didn’t wake up until 7 that night

Before she woke up, she had the worst nightmare of losing her sister.”

Then, Roy’s mother looked at Roy and carried on.

“The girl repeated this routine every day, having nightmares each night

After recognizing that their sleeping habits had brought on this effect, they began to go to sleep on time. The next day, both of the girls woke up without any difficulty, having slept well From this, they noticed that they had to go to sleep by 9pm or else a woman with a red umbrella would give them the consequences, to dream nightmares forever…”

“However, the girls soon let their new bedtime routine slip away, back to the time where they had their nightmare. After a few days, their nightmare carried on, bringing a worse consequence. One of the girls woke up, while the other girl had vanished ”

The story finished and tears started to pour from Roy’s eyes. Roy was only half crying, crying that he didn't want to go to sleep. After a long discussion between Roy and his mother, Roy at last went to sleep. She laid him softly under the blanket so that he didn’t wake up.

While his mother left Roy in his bed, Roy was dreaming something weird. In front of him was a long path which Roy was able to recognize. This was the dream that he had been warned about As he walked along the path, Roy was shocked by what he was actually seeing and hearing. There was a woman in front of him with a big scarlet umbrella, whereas other things were all monotone There, the woman began walking towards Roy, creating a sound by her footsteps. Her heels were making a creepy clicking sound; Roy was only able to hear the sound of her footsteps getting louder and louder Soon, the woman with the scarlet umbrella stood in front of Roy. She stared down at him for quite a long time and opened her mouth.

“Come follow me ”

At that time, Roy did not know what to do but her voice was cold as ice and commanded obedience. His hands were getting colder and he followed her in his small tiny steps When they were walking, Roy abruptly heard a weird voice; he was confused as it seemed like a large number of people speaking at the same time Roy quickly looked around, searching for the owners of the voices. As he looked around, he finally recognized the owner of the sounds, which were the waves on the side of the paths, crashing and colliding into the side walls. Every time the waves pounded on the wall, he could also hear something else that was weird As the voices made by the waves were crashing, the woman began humming a bright little whistling song Roy kept his mouth closed and didn’t make a sound, but when she began humming, Roy stood still. He quietly and subconsciously hummed along, causing the woman to stop him. The woman looked at Roy. Her hands were shaking in shock and she opened her mouth. “How do you know that song? Answer me!”

Frightened, Roy closed his eyes and fell down onto the floor There were tears coming from his eyes, crawling down his soft cheeks and to his chin. The woman rapidly changed her facial expression and softly asked Roy again.

“Do you know this song? How?”

Roy slowly wiped his tears with his hands and spoke in a shivering voice. “I was just humming along because the melody was simple and was easy to learn, but also my mother taught me this song.”

When Roy finished answering, the woman was back to her normal mood, and they carried on walking in a long, deep silence. They were about half way along the pier. The woman suddenly swung her umbrella and said out loud in a clear, cold voice, “I have come.”

When she folded her umbrella back, Roy was able to see a door opening at the far end of the path, which Roy thought was their final destination

Without hesitation, the woman told Roy that she could not help him because she needed to be fair to everyone But she said that she could make Roy have less nightmares by stopping halfway through and as soon as she stopped talking, dark, black shadows were suddenly dashing through the doorway, coming towards Roy. Roy closed his eyes. He was just about to get covered with the shadows When he opened his eyes, he was in darkness and was not able to see the woman or her umbrella.

When he was just about to yell and cry out for help, he noticed something strange. In the darkness, he saw his mother and his father slowly fading. When Roy was just about to run towards them to hug, he noticed that something was unusual. As he got closer and closer, his parents were walking away from him, saying that he was not needed Roy quickly yelled out at his mother and when he did, he felt his blanket and his pillow. He was waking up from the nightmare Even though he was scared and was relieved that he was back, there was one question that was still not solved, which was, who was the woman with the red umbrella? In the morning, Roy quickly ran to his parent’s room, checking if both of them were there Then, when he saw his mother waking up, he asked her about the song. Going back through his memory, he sang the song and asked her who else knew this song. With her eyes wide open, she asked Roy, “Wait, was there a person singing this song? Where? Can you tell me please?”

Roy was surprised because he had never seen his mother being this desperate. Roy quickly told her about his dream and suddenly, tears fell from her eyes Then, she slightly whispered, “She was alive ”