Because our family doesn't decide who we are, we decide who we are

Fear that you can't reverse (nightmare chapter)

⚠️trigger warning⚠️ nightmare, fear, etc.

Nothing really happened for the first few minutes, just total darkness and silence so quiet, I could hear the blood flowing through my veins. Then unease creeps in. I got the feeling like something sinister was lurking in the shadows, watching me. This grew for a few minutes until I started to hear noises. Noises like a monster from a show I watched with my grandma, Lost. Mechanical clicking and straight toned groans. Then the unease grew to fear as the noises grew louder and new sounds mixed in. Strangled yells like the dying roars of a tiger. Screeches like that of a hawk diving in for the kill. Snorts of a feral boar. Then came water noises. Like waves of the ocean, but if the water was alive and looking to kill. Then the fear turned to panic. I started to see creatures that looked like nothing I would have imagined. Boars the size of a tiger, with the face of a Demogorgon. Octopi with needles lining their tentacles. Lions with teeth of broken glass and claws of steel. Snakes three feet thick and faster than a human, with a film of bleach to burn your skin. Spiders the size of bathtubs with stinging nettle for hair. The creatures scuttled and slithered slowly towards me, and pure terror invaded my mind. I tried to convince myself that these nightmares were just an illusion, but something just felt too real. A spider crawled towards me, backing me into a corner. I let out a scream when I looked into its eyes. Human eyes. Like the ones of failed subjects who were killed. I faintly hear the Soldier yelling at the guard to let me out. I know I can't give in. Leaves of nettle fly from the spider's abdomen and hit me in the face. I scream partly out of shock that the nightmares are physical, but mostly from the pain of what feels like millions of microscopic white hot needles embedding into my skin. I reach a hand up to my face and let out a strangled yell when it comes back covered in blood. Then needled tentacles wrap around my upper thighs, hips, and waist. The ones on my thighs start pulling away from each other, tearing the needles through my inner thighs.
I wake with a start, feeling someone's arms around me.