The Book Of Nightmares

Chapter Two: The Nightmare Itself

I was in a veld. It was so beautiful. There was a pond somewhere in the distance but it was occupied, a lovely bluebird and it's family of two younglings. I realised there were no trees nearby, the birds must've been living on the ground.

There was a screeching sound coming from the bluebird area. I ran towards the cry and found a grotesque scene. A Diamondback was swallowing the poor bird and the offspring were watching in silence.
As helpless as I was, I stood there, too shocked to move and almost too shocked to breathe.

Suddenly, I grabbed its tail and its head simultaneously. Then I attempted to squeeze the bird out, but it went in vain.  It was already dead. The snake wriggled out of my grasp and turned to face me. I was scared but I faced it. It coiled itself up and began to cough.

I stared at it in confusion, trying to figure out what it was trying to do. Then a hand shot out of the mouth. There was a terrible cracking sound, as though bones were breaking and reattaching. The hand turned into an arm and into a shoulder. Then it quickly retracted.

I stood at about a metre away, still gawking at the snake. It's jaws, wide open, fangs bared and eyes turned clean white. I stared into the mouth, hoping the hand wouldn't come back. Then, a single eye popped out. The flesh surrounding it, was a disgusting murky brown.

It stared at me; not daring to blink, I stared back until it blinked. Then with a earsplitting scratchy squeal, it began to move out. The whole thing. It looked like a human. The thing crawled out of the snake's mouth slowly, as though it hurt it to move.

Finally, it stood or rather squatted before me. It looked like a cross between a spider and a contortionist. I made no attempt to move. It crawled towards me but I still didn't inch away.

It's sticky black hair, dripped a slimy blackish green liquid. It's sticky black hair stuck to it's face like glue. It's sticky black hair was now merging into my own blue hair. The thing tackled me and stood above me, breathing as though it's lungs had suffered, devoid of oxygen for a long while. It inched closer to my face and coughed right into my mouth. It tasted like muddy peanut butter and oily fish paste.

Then it swerved toward my ear and whispered. At first it sounded like gibberish. Then I made out three words.

"Set...us...freee"

Then she licked my cheek and got off me. I lay there on the grass, too petrified to move. I had closed my eyes when she licked me, now because I heard a sound, I slowly peeled them open. I saw....a man. I couldn't see his face clearly, but he looked distressed. I could hear some of the words he was muttering to himself.

He kept going on about a rock, a flaming rock. He said something about freedom of expression and mumbled something about hell's gates breaking loose

I finally mustered the courage to stand up, but when I walked towards him, he suddenly jerked his head in my direction. Most of his face was blurred but I could see his eyes. They were an odd silver. Then without any warning, he simply dissolved into nothingness. I looked everywhere, yet I couldn't find him. Even the girl was gone!

Then, I felt a piercingly sharp pain in my back, as though I was stabbed. The girl was back and this time she had latched herself onto my back like a leech.

She hovered closer to my ear. With one hand jabbed into my back to ensure she wouldn't fall off and the other caressing my hair in an unpleasant manner, she whispered,

"Set...us.....freeee!"

"Without any warning, she let out an earsplitting scream and I woke up to this new room of mine."

My mom went quiet for a while. I could tell something in my dream was bothering her, as though I'd set off some fear or distress in her. Even though she hadn't said a word yet, I could practically hear the inner turmoils going on inside her head.

Finally, she sighed and grabbed my hands. "Wow, that was...wow! Honey, you know it's not too late for therapy."
"Mom! I told you already. I'm ok!"
"Are you sure? I don't wanna lose you too, please Xaela, if anything is bothering you, I'm always there for you. I might not know a lot about mental illness or disturbing recurring nightmares but I can find professionals."
"Mom!"
"No, let me finish. I love you Aurora, and I'm sorry I don't tell you everything. It's just, some things are too complicated now to explain. One day, you'll have your answers. Maybe then, your nightmares will cease."
"Mom, please, if ever I find myself overwhelmed by all this, I'll make sure you know. I love you too mom, but when you call me by my second name, I get scared."

Mom let go of my hands as she broke into a light chuckle.

"It's nothing honey. I just, it's been long since we've used that name. If you're uncomfortable with it, I can always-"
"No. I think it's ok. Maybe we should use it."
"Ok honey. Get some sleep okay. Again, I love you, Aurora."
"I love you too mom."

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