Illusional

The Nightmare

December 20, 2 AM

I am awake. I don't feel awake, but I am. The bedsheets are freezing cold and it felt like an icebox in this room. I felt goosebumps all over me and I was making so much noise chattering my teeth. The entire room was pitch black, and the moon didn't cast any light through the windows, so I couldn't see anything. I tried to find a flashlight somewhere around the room, but to no avail. I kept bumping into stuff, including the people who were sleeping, and I was being so loud in the process, too. Eventually, I realized I could use my phone as a flashlight (it had a flashlight feature) so I tried to find my phone, and it was on the nightstand right next to my bed. I turned on the flashlight on my phone, and fortunately, nobody woke up. They didn't look like they were breathing, though, so I inspected to make sure they were alive by testing their heartbeats and.. they weren't?!

    Okay... how did 8 people die in their sleep?! I started crying when I realized they were dead... all of them. I couldn't believe that the ones I cared about the most, and who subsequently returned their upmost care to me... died. In their sleep! I quickly went to Dad's room to see if he was dead as well. With a sense of dread, I slowly tiptoed into Dad's room, with the phone flashlight on, and inspected to see if he was dead too and... he was...

    I immediately experienced a flashback of all the times Dad has ever wronged me. My crush on Stella, the D+ on my math test, my first date with Stella, writing constantly in my journal, not knowing how to fix a tire, and not playing football with Dad and my friends. The list really could go on. I even remember that one time where I was challenged to a fight by a school bully in 3rd grade (I had forgotten his name, but I remember that it started with a B...) and Dad actually made his way into the fight scene.

    "Hey, hey... hey! What are you doing to my son?!" Dad shouted.

    "Dad, please help me! This person is going to beat m-" I said, but the bully then interrupted me by saying,

    "Shut it, you liar!" Then he continued, "This boy has been bullying everyone at this school, hitting others, rebelling against the teachers, and called others bad names. That's why I'm here to teach him a lesson."

    "You shouldn't do that to him..." Dad said. Then he walked up to the bully, unbuckled his belt, and held it threatfully in his hand. "Nobody beats up my good-for-nothing son except me!"

    "No, please Dad, don't beat me, ple-" I shrieked with fear, but it was too late. He had already beat me multiple times with his belt, and I felt like I was dying a slow, excruciating death. I was crying tears, but it felt like blood. I had marks, but it felt like tiger scratches. I was warm, but it felt like I had sunburns everywhere on my body. I just kept crying, and crying... and crying. The whole scene became blurrier the more I cried. On and on without end, I remained crying, wishing the death of my dad someday for wrongfully punishing me. I felt like the previous flashbacks were simply a lead-up to this one. Like I had said earlier, I wanted my dad dead for that, and now he is... I suppose I'll have to suffer the consequences for ever wanting that. I felt terrible, but it was too late now... I wish I could go back, but I can't...

    I had checked to see if there was any evidence on who killed the 9 dead people, but there was not even a scratch on any of them, so I assumed they all died in their sleep. However, I still needed at least one guardian—hopefully a good one—to take care of me until I'm 18, so I called the police on my phone to clear things up. Even though my dad said not to use my phone, I felt like it was necessary.

"911; what's your emergency?"

"Hi. Uhm, I would like to report 9 dead bodies inside a rented winter cabin stranded by snow and trees."