Painful Nights - A real life experience

Game of cat and mouse.

Mikah sadly could not stay awake constantly and would succumb to sleep. But one specific night made her realise that sleep was not safe for her now. Sleep had become painful. The night was cold, quiet, eerie. Mikah being delusional from lack of sleep sat in her bed staring at a bright screen that sat upon her desk. Eyes getting heavy.

After some dreadfully long hours during the night, Mikah got tired of staying awake. It became apparent to her that having sleepless night was impossible. Eventually she gave in and slept through the rest of the night, or so she thought. Very quickly she was awoken in an unfamiliar place.

Her brain knew this was a dream, vaguely forgetting that she was asleep, getting close to lucid dreaming. Thinking this would be a good idea she decided to walk around and attempt to figure out a way to wake up before something traumatised her again, or worse, hurt her. While walking around she started to notice strange things. The sky was an ashy brown shade, standing in the woods but all the trees were dead and rotting. The ground was dry and crunching with every footstep, everywhere she looked was dead and rotting, even the air smelt like a rotting corpse. Where she stood was in the middle of a wasteland.

While walking in the middle of a dead forest, she eventually found a small pathway hidden between some dried-up rotten bushes. Mikah walked along the pathway and soon found herself walking on a pathway that gradually got wider as the trees got thicker and taller. Thats when she noticed the sky was black. The darkness took over the forest, unable to see deep into the forest. Opposite from Mikah was a tall male staring at her. The same male she had been dreaming about for months on end. Tall, so skinny that his bones were visible, greyish skin, darkness around his eyes and the same terrifying grin plastered across his face. The clothes he wore were barely hanging onto him as they were torn and dirty.

This eerie male across from her stared into her soul, 20 feet distance between them. Mikah felt anxiety take a hold of her as screaming consumed her mind.

'Run! Run away from him! Wake up!'

Those words swarmed her mind while her feet stuck to the ground, as if the floor below her was trying to swallow her whole. That's when a voice boomed through the forest. The words she heard were carved in her brain, never allowing her to forget.

'You shouldn't be here. Leave this place! You're not allowed to be here.'

What couldn't she know? Why does she have to leave? Does he know that I'm conscious? So many questions with no answer. Did she reply? Did she ask where she was? Has she even been here before?

'Wake up! Wake up!' Mikah's mind screamed at her again and again as if a broken record lived in her brain. Panic began to set in, vision starting to blur, heart pounding and sweat dripping off her. The questions circling her mind were getting worse and worse until this cursed nightmare made her question whether this was reality. It was too real. Too many real feelings for this to be a nightmare.

The feeling of her eyes struck her. Her eyes were shut. They weren't open. Even though in this nightmare her eyes were open, with all energy she had she tried to open them. One thing she forgot about was the figure, Anxiety grasped her as she was too focused on trying to open her eyes. The figure was able to start running at her without her noticing. Only when his footsteps broke her anxiety induced trace, did she notice this male figure running at her. Adrenaline coursed through her body as she spun around running away.

Mikah screamed out time and time again. But nothing came out. It was like her voice was just taken away from her. Trying everything she could to get away from him. Mikah couldn't get away. He got closer and closer, so close she could basically feel his body grabbing hers. The male pounced on her like a lion catching its pray.

Mikah's eyes got blurry from tears that had formed ever so quickly. Fear settling in, as if making itself at home.

'I finally got you.'

The males raspy tone spoke, pressing Mikah's face into the ground while she struggled under his grip. This terrifying male teased her scrapping a knife along the ground as she spotted it in her view in the corner of her left eye. A dark sinister chuckled escaped the male's lips as he raised the knife above her.

Before the knife could plunge into her back Mikah bolted up in bed. Sharp pains spreading throughout her back, bodying shaking like a leaf and cold sweats soaking her body. Mikah sat wide eyed in bed holding the cover over her body. Shaky breaths slipping out from her lips.

'Stop these nightmares please...'