Night Terrors

The halls were dim and empty. The night lights in the hallways faintly illuminated less than an inch from the point where they resided. Doors were locked at each dorm room, and every student rested as much as possible before dawn. Even in room 502, where slept a girl in her first year of college.  Her pale body, comfortably covered by thin red sheets, lay gentle and still. Her back nestled onto her mattress, thus, leaving her face exposed to the pleasant breeze that entered lightly through the barley opened window.

It was slightly 3 in the morning when a sudden cold wave entered through her head and slithered its way down out her toes. She pierced her eyes open gazing up into the lonely darkness. “I remember leaving my lamp on” she said while turning her attention over to the now lightless bulb attached to her blue lamp. She stretched her arm out reaching towards the thick golden string that hanged from the bedside light. A brief and gentle pull to the string made the bulb illuminate the room and all of its dark corners. She softly lay both her feet at the side of the small bed. Her skin grew full of goose bumps when an unexpected wind entered through her window.

She lifted herself from the bed and walked close enough to reach the window handles. Just when she was about to close it shut, her lamp turned off. She put her arms to her sides and looked around helplessly. The makeup on her eyes from the evening party began to spill with the involuntary sweat flowing down her face.  Trying to keep calm, she climbed on the bed and pulled the string on the lamp again. But the bulb didn’t turn on anymore. She sneaked herself under the sheets and accidently rubbed some of her eye liner off her cheek and onto a pillow. She breathed heavily now, and her heart nearly jumped out from her chest. There she was, under the covers, scared like a child.

Then, she heard the entrance door creak open, followed by a series of footsteps that seemed to be coming her way. She closed her eyes and began to feel tears drip out through her face. In her mind, she counted the footsteps as they came closer to her. “1” she thought as the unknown foot placed itself upon the crisp wood. “2” she continued while the sound approached her. “3” she counted as the steps continued. “Fou…” she stopped interrupting her four. The steps where no longer heard. She let a breath of relief out of her system. She was just about to remove the covers from her head when all of a sudden she saw the shadow of a hand coming at her face as if to remove the covers for her. She let out a loud screech and threw her sheets to the side.

“Ha ha, Lin, what where you doing, you’re all sweaty and stuff” She heard her roommate Albee say while opening her eyes. “Nothing, it was just a nightmare, I guess” Lin said while rubbing the smudged makeup from her face. “Um okay, are you sure you just didn’t have a fit because you regreted not coming with me to Dan’s?” Albee asked with a smirk. “No, Albee, you still think I like him?” “Let’s be honest Lin, I’ve seen the way you look at him…and I’ve seen the way he looks at you” Albee continued.” Lin smiled and picked up her sheets from the ground where she had thrown them.  Albee looked up to Lin “Next time I go to Dan’s you’re not staying here alone, you are coming with me” She continued “Anyway Lin, we should get some sleep; we have to get up in a couple of hours”.

Albee laid on her bed a couple feet away from Lin’s bed. When Lin was finally comfortable, she noticed that there were no more breezes thumping against her skin. She turned her eyes to the window, but it was now closed, closed as if never open. Maybe it was all a nightmare, maybe that window had never been open. Or at least that’s what she tried to  convince herself to believe.