Murderess In the Dark

It is dark.

 

I see an old woman in the corner.

Her head is shrouded in a heavy veil.

She holds a single candle to light her face.

She sits in an old wooden wheel chair.

She smiles through the veil, piercing red eyes!

 

We’re coming to get you, they screech.

 

Behind the woman stands her daughter.

She is old as well, her hair dripping ash.

She is dressed head to toe in shadowy robes.

She is very tall, towering over her mother.

She stares at me with those same red eyes!

 

We’re coming to take you, they screech.

 

I stand in the opposite corner from these specters.

I quake in fear and panic, too afraid to run.

The daughter begins to push her mother toward me.

I hear the creaking and wobbling of the wheel chair.

Now they are but feet away from me!

 

We’re here to get you, they screech.

 

The old woman slowly raises her weighty veil.

I see that her flesh is a bloody mass of gore.

Her skin is sunken into her rigid skull.

Her veins lie visible under a thin and scaly crust.

And her face and arms are oozing yellow!

 

We’re here to take you, they screech.

 

Suddenly, the old woman cackles in a high pitch tone.

Dropping the candle, she reaches out to grab me

Still I am frozen, and I feel her hands on my arms.

She pulls at me so she can stand up, staring into my eyes.

Then grasps my neck, squeezing until I can’t breathe!

 

We’re here to kill you, they screech.

 

I scream and sit up in bed, coughing as I gasp for air

…oh, thank God, ‘twas just a dream!

Still shaking, I slow my breathing and I lie back down.

I fall quickly back to sleep, much too quickly.

For it is those women who await my return!

 

We’re going to murder you, they screech.

 

And I am once again immersed in her bloody gore.

She holds my arms down, squeezing in a vice-like grip.

Her skin of blood, and scales, and bones rub all over me.

I shriek at myself to wake up from this terrifying dream.

…even as I succumb to this nightmarish reality.

©2012 Barbara Brown

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Author's Note

Yes, I actually dreamt this. Fortunately I woke up!

I have experienced numerous nightmares since cancer diagnosis in January 2012. It is now June 2012 and I'm averaging around 6 nightmares a week. They are all extremely vivid and seem so real. They are all related to being chased, grabbed, or invaded in some form.

With this dream, I think the old woman represents cancer, and her face reflects the fear I have for what will happen to me when I begin chemotherapy and my body is wracked with toxins. So it goes.

Reviews

[Emrys Realmskip]

Wow, this is an amazing piece of writing!