short horror stories

the shift

John had always been a heavy sleeper, but he never imagined that one night of deep slumber would lead him to a nightmare that would last forever.

As he drifted off to sleep, he felt a strange sensation, as if he were falling through space and time. When he woke up, he found himself in a strange room, with unfamiliar furniture and a different layout than his own bedroom. He shrugged it off as a vivid dream and went about his day, but things only got stranger from there.

Each time John fell asleep, he would wake up in a different reality. In one, he was living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, where the only survivors were a few scattered groups of humans fighting for survival. In another, he was a wealthy businessman, living in a mansion and surrounded by luxury. In yet another, he was a prisoner in a dark, damp cell, tortured daily by his captors.

Each time he woke up, John felt a sense of dread and confusion. He longed to return to his own reality, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to find his way back. As the days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months, John began to lose hope.

The worst part was that each reality felt just as real as the last. He had memories and experiences from each one, and he couldn't shake the feeling that he was somehow losing himself in the process. Was he still the same person he had been before he started falling through these different worlds?

As time marched on, John realized that he might never find his way back to his own reality. He was trapped in an endless cycle of horror, doomed to live out an infinite number of possible lives. And all he could do was continue to fall asleep, and hope that one day, he would wake up in the reality he truly belonged in.