Dreams

You know we remember ever face we see? That's where we get the faces for our dreams But what about the demons in our nightmares?

Did you know that you never forget a face?

Even if you can't consciously remember it, your brain never forgets it; it gets stored in your subconscious, and can end up being used for a variety of things.

That random character you're sketching out for a story, that just seems really familiar? They could've been the person who made your coffee one time five years ago.

The face of an old man in the background of your dreams that's always smiling? He could've been someone you caught a glimpse of on the bus last week.

It's not like your subconscious can't take different facial features you've seen over the span of your life so far and try and make new faces, but even those are usually based off of someone you've seen.


But if this is true...


What about the things that scare us.

What about the thing you see in the shadows of your dreams, and don't lie, you've seen it...

We all have. And there's no denying it.


The funny thing is, I never really thought about any of this before, I could have cared less about any of this.

Until I watched one f*****g stupid, small video I got sent, and now? Its all I can think about.


It was small stuff at first. Things like, a picture on the fridge would be either slightly askew, or just completely upside down. I didn't think much of it, just figured the magnets were getting old.

Was it a little strange? Yeah, but why should I think much about it?


But now that I am sitting here, not having slept for almost a week now, I think I probably should have cared...



It didn't really get bad until about two or three days later, I had a nightmare.
But not a normal one; It was one of the ones that when you wake up, you can't tell if that just really happened, or if it was just a dream. It wasn't anything really big or dramatic like you'd see in a movie.
It was simple
terrifyingly simple
I opened my eyes, I couldn't move for some reason, but it felt like... Something was watching me. I quickly darted my eyes across the room, it was my bedroom, except something was off.

There


Right there


In the corner Right in

The Sh a


dow s



S

o
m

e
t


h
i
n

g


Was


moving...


It felt like it was piercing through my eyes into me, like it was watching my heart race, and my gut twist. It felt horrible.


Then I woke up.


Everything was fine, nothing was in my room, or anywhere else in the house. Everything was normal. But it didn't feel right.

Needless to say I didn't go back to sleep, instead I watched TV and comforted myself by having all the lights on, and stuffing my face with popcorn and ice cream.
I had the dream one more time, though it wasnt as scary this time, I even managed to fall back asleep afterwards.
But I shouldn't have.
The next morning, I could tell something was wrong. It was like someone had been in my house, but they didn't take anything, hell they didn't do much at all, at least not that anyone but me could tell. They had changed and moved around things that only I would notice, mostly small stuff, but that's what made it worse.

For the rest of the day it felt like someone was watching me.


I fell asleep again

I didn't want to, but I couldn't stop myself.

There was another nightmare.


This time, I wasn't in my house, which started to give me anxiety by itself. And the fact it was pitch black didn't help.
I couldn't see two feet in front of me, but that didnt stop me from seeing something, again just far enough into the shadows I couldn't make anything out...
It wouldn't stop moving

It just


Kept



Circling


Round

And




Round



I almost collapsed from dizziness.

I would've.

If it hasn't reached out


and touched me



Because that's when I woke up.



I didn't move
I didn't sleep
I didn't eat
I didn't drink
I didn't blink



I just sat there, for the entire day, staring at the corner where I had saw him in the first dream

It didn't seem the same anymore

Like it was stained



I didn't sleep that night, nor did I move.



The next morning I worked up the courage to go into the living room, where I sat down with my laptop and proceeded to watch cat videos on YouTube.

I haven't moved in four days


He's right behind me

I know he is




He doesn't like that I know



That i know he's real.




He lives in our dreams




All of us






He lives in yours




And now









You know he's real too








Look at these words, and these words only

Don't let your eyes wander farther than the edge of your screen


Now imagine something is there


That you cant see



Just outside of your peripheral


Right behind you


Maybe to the side



Hell maybe even right behind your screen


Just where you can't see him



He's quietly watching, listening


He's so quiet you can only hear him in the silence


Listen for those brief moments without sound

That's where he is


But don't look

Keep your eyes here




Now breathe



Deeper





Even deeper





Now as you breathe out, imagine the horrible things he'll do to you if you look



How much dark crimson blood will fly when he rips into your throat


Claws your chest open



But that doesn't really matter




Because it'll be over before you can even process what he looks like



Before you can scream



Before you can even drop your device



But don't look



If you look



it's over.




I haven't looked for four days

But I can't help it




I want to see




I want to know if he's actually there



Or if I'm just insane






Either way I'll probably die tonight

























I'm going to do it now















Maybe you should too

Author's Note

I guess this is what you could call an experiment
It wasn't written to look pretty, or be grammatically correct. It was written to plant a seed in your head, one that will hopefully make you afraid of the dark again, maybe even make you afraid of your own dreams.

Maybe we should be afraid of our dreams
After all the mind is a powerful thing

Reviews

[barleygirl]

Your experiment turned out pretty good . . . definitely compelling & suspenseful . . . altho I would trim a few spots. To me the long intro about faces does not really support the rest of your story & it just takes too long to get to the intensity. The other place where my eyes glazed over is toward the end where you change from describing what is happening to the narrator in first person, then switching over to the "you" pronoun, as if walking your reader thru a scary parallel scene, but this does not work for me. I would prefer to omit this & just continue on describing what's happening in these moments to the narrator. This is well done & not to be interrupted by your original intent, which is to try to convince the reader of something. Instead of trying to sell a premise, just tell the story in a compelling way (which you've done, for the most part, except for those two straggly parts) to invoke your premise (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[Andrew Close]

I whole heatedly agree that those two sections are pretty rough lol

Thanks you yours, and someone else review, I actually was reminded I had this account and posted some stories here!

I have migrated over to r/NoSleep on Reddit mostly (though I am now going to post my two stories there on here), and I actually used bits from this story, and my first story Don't Look In The Closet and wrote a longer story which I posted on NoSleep to positive reception!

I believe I was able to not make the same mistake of having slower straggly bits in my newer writing, and hopefully you agree!

Let me know what you think of this!
https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/7xg49k/my_daughter_is_afraid_of_the_dark_and_now_i_am_too/?st=JNNIU35B&sh=c3b38035

[barleygirl]

I read your story at Reddit & it's a compelling tale. Sorry I can't commit to reading other sites, these days I stick to just one or two. As for the other story, I'm not one to entertain ghost stories, never watch that junk on TV, etc. But your story actually made me stop & think about times I feel like I've been hounded many times during the night (insomnia). If I started to consider it the way your story suggests, I would go crazy. In short, your story is so persuasive, it causes me to rethink my lifelong refusal to consider ghost stories *wink! wink!* Fondly, Margie

[Agyani]

Hi Andrew
I regret not having found my way to your story sooner, and not reading this in complete silence (or maybe I should be glad about it?), but boy, this was too good! This is a vaguely spooky story masterfully told. Wow, I'm really in awe of your work here!

Even though I don't have a real affinity for horror stories, I know a few people here who do, and I'm sure this will make their day since it certainly made mine!

I don't quite understand the relation between the beginning and the end. I mean, the idea seems more like how the mind can perceive things even when we are sleeping rather than how we can never forget a face.
By the way, I don't think anyone could forget the face of this entity or figure if they saw it, or live another day to dream or suffer a nightmare.