Inhale

A disturbing nightmare...or is it even a nightmare at all?

            Your legs carry you as fast as they can, nearly matching your heartbeat. Everything around you rushes by and becomes unrecognizable. You try to tell yourself not to look back at the menacing shadow that follows quickly behind you but fail and turn your head over your shoulder. A gasp makes its way through your panting lips as your eyes focus on the creature. It’s almost as large as a car and has dark, shaggy hair that drapes down to his skeletal knees. Two twisted horns sit atop its head, and its beady eyes reflect the light from the streetlights. The creature opens its mouth to growl, which reveals rows of crooked teeth.

            Now you can’t move. A lump grows in your throat; everything seems useless. As much as you tell yourself to pick your feet up, your body refuses to respond. You have to remind yourself to breathe. Inhale; exhale. Even that doesn’t seem to work.

            It moves towards you in a disturbing crawl, his leg reaches forward in front of its arm, and it drags its way across the cement. Its as if all of the creature’s bones are broken. It stops right in front of you and stands up slowly. You can hear all of his bones creak as they straighten out, sending a shiver down your spine. Now he towers over you by a few feet, and his rotten breath makes the hair on your arms stand up. The air around you grows colder as it stares down on you with beady eyes. Panic continues to build inside of you, your heart starts racing. Its teeth curve into a poisonous smile as he places an arm on your shoulder. You flinch at the feel of its scraggly yellow nails with dirt caked underneath as they brush against your neck.

            He leans closer to you, allowing his unkempt hair to land on your shoulder and his breath to travel straight into your ear. You can hear its mouth open as the creature starts to cackle; its voice is malicious and deep. People walk right by you on the sidewalk, but it’s as if they cannot see you or the predatory beast that holds you tight in its grasp. You reach your arm to one of them, begging for help, but your fingers glide straight through them. As you take a moment to look at your fingers, you can hear its laugh intensify. It laughs faster, and the pitch gets higher. Fear crawls through your veins and its shrill voice echoes in your ears.

            It closes in on you and its mouth keeps getting larger and larger until it’s almost the size of your body. The wider it opens, the more rows of misshapen teeth taunt you. The creature’s once-beady eyes grow and change to crimson red, which can only mean one thing. Now, you know it’s the end. Your heart beats so fast that you can hear it throbbing in you ear. You let out a shrill cry as the monster’s mouth closes around you, engulfing your world in black.

You wake up to your own terrified shrieks and clutch on to your sheets, your pillow, the stuffed animal you’ve always had, anything to make you feel safe. You start to rub your eyes in attempts to adjust out of your nightmare and back to your bedroom. You tell yourself that everything is fine, but your heart disagrees. You rub your face with your hand, but it’s impossible to distinguish your tears from your cold sweat. Finally, you pull the sheets off of yourself and place your feet onto the hardwood floor.

            You take a deep breath as you make your way through the hallway, wondering how everyone else was unfazed by the sound of your screaming. You turn the corner and walk down the stairs, which groan at you with each step you take. Your legs carry you until you’re standing in front of the fridge grabbing at a cold water bottle. As you twist the cap off, you can hear the distant echo of the familiar, tormenting laugh. Your heart skips a beat, like when you walk down the stairs but miss a step. A shudder dances up your spine as the creature from your nightmare places its hand on your stiff shoulder.

            Your mouth opens wide to let out a cry, but nothing comes out. You shut your eyes and pinch your arm, hoping to stop the nightmare. “Wake up, wake up!” you tell yourself in a whisper, “It’s just a dream.”

            The creature laughs hysterically and hisses, “Are you sure about that?”                    

Author's Note

Please help me with my descriptions...some of them seem a little weird :/

Reviews

[Anubis]

I love the imagery of the monster in this.
This kept me thinking as I read it, at first I thought that 'I' was meant to be dead and that the monster was some sort of soul collector, but then nope, all is safe... or is it?
Really liked the twists in this, and I'd say your descriptions are fine :)

[Hannah]

Oh wow thank you so much, I'm really glad that you enjoyed it!