The Dream

For the last three nights, Lillian hadn't been able to stop a recurring dream. It was always the same: a group of people in formal eveningwear—long gowns and tuxes—were having fun, chatting, and laughing. The gathering looked familiar to her, but she was unable to recognize any of the people. They looked pale and bloodless, and their eyes were intensely yellow. She herself wasn't present in the dream. She couldn't see herself near the gathering but was able to see her twin brother, Jamal, who didn't look happy. Though he was giggling loudly, he looked panicked amid the gathering.

The attendees' clothes kept changing during the dream, but her brother's remained the same. He winked at her and nodded his head, telling her to run away; but she remained, immobilized and transfixed by the event. The music playing in the background was grim and scary. It started slowly and then accelerated. After a while, it returned to a slower pace.

Two of the partygoers approached Jamal and lifted him over their heads while still laughing. It looked as if they were playing with him, but he grew more panicked and started to laugh hysterically. He shouted at them to put him down, but they didn't. Lillian wanted to help him, but she wasn't there. She felt her existence but not her presence. She wanted to scream and order them to leave him alone, but she couldn't. Her voice, muted in her throat, could be heard only by her. It was shaky and supplicatory.

"Leave my brother alone. He's only ten years old. Please."

All the partygoers were watching what was happening to Jamal, but they looked indifferent to his plight. They even started to laugh joyfully. After a while, the two who had lifted Jamal threw him to the ground heavily, and a big thud was heard along with a painful scream.

Lillian woke up from her sleep with her small heart beating fast. She looked around her, breathless. Darkness was sweeping over the whole room. She turned the lights on as she tried to control her panic and was relieved to discover that it had been just a dream. She went back to sleep, leaving all lights lit.

The same thing happened to her twin brother, Jamal, that night, as it had the two nights before. He had had the same dream as his sister, with the same details. Only he was watching, and Lillian was the one who was lifted up and thrown on the stiff ground. He shouted at the two men who lifted her, but his voice was dumb and stuck in his throat, exactly the same as his sister in her dream. He heard only the echo of his voice telling the two men to leave his sister alone, and then he woke in a state that resembled Lillian's. He went back to sleep, leaving all lights on.

The next morning, all family members gathered for breakfast: Lillian, Jamal, and their father and mother. All were in a good mood, and it seemed as if Jamal and Lillian had recovered from the trauma of their dreams of the last three nights.

Their father hurried Lillian and Jamal to school. They all kissed their mother, who was standing at the door of the house to bid them farewell.

"You are my priciest pearls in this life," she told them after they expressed their love to her.

At school, Jamal used to boast that he was ten minutes older than his sister. Despite being disgruntled by this, Lillian grudgingly offered no retaliation because she knew how obstinate Jamal was and knew he would have gone too far in teasing her as usual.

Despite being twins, the two were extremely competitive with each other, whether in sports or in their schooling; but when united, they were an unbeatable team. They felt each other's joy and sorrow, even when they were apart.

In geography class, which they both liked, the teacher was explaining a point when the twins heard, although they were seated apart from each other, the voices of a group of people who reminded them of the dream they had had.

The voices whispered to them, "Come to the party."

A chill ran through their bodies, and they exchanged looks, asking if the other had heard the voice. They nodded their heads at one another, and their eyes widened out of fear.

After the end of the geography class, which had seemed to carry on forever, Jamal approached his sister and took her by the hand, leading her to where nobody could hear them.

He asked her, "Did you hear that?"

She replied, "Yes."

They wondered if the other students in the class heard what they had heard but thought it very unlikely. No one else had reacted the way they did. Jamal told Lillian about the dream he had had the previous three nights and discovered that she had had exactly the same dream. Lillian asked him, "Shall we tell Mom and Dad?"

Jamal shook his head and said, "No."

He explained to her that they wouldn't believe them and would, as usual, accuse them of having twins' illusions. Jamal embraced his sister and promised to protect her from the voices because, as he put it, he was the elder brother.

She looked angrily at him and said, "You are only ten minutes older than me, and I will tell Mom and Dad."

When they arrived at home, they saw a man talking to their mother in the doorway. They couldn't see who he was because his face was turned away from them, but he was a tall man with short hair, and on his neck was a tattoo composed of two straight lines tilted in the same direction. Jamal was curious to know what the symbol behind the tattoo meant, but he was even more curious to know who the man was. They got out of their dad's car and ran to the doorway. The man turned, and his eyes met with theirs. He seemed vaguely familiar to them, but they still couldn't recognize him. He acknowledged them with a nod of his head.

Lillian whispered to her brother, "What a weird guy!"

Their mother said to her husband, who arrived a little later than his kids and was busy shaking hands with the stranger, "This is our new neighbor."

She then said that he had come to tell her that he wanted to celebrate moving into the new house by throwing a party and was apologizing in advance for any noise the party may cause. Her husband appreciated the new neighbor's consideration, but Jamal and Lillian exchanged concerned looks and hurried upstairs where they sat down in...