Nightmares Alive

The Nightmare

Glancing down at her bound feet, she bit her lip, determined not to cry. She was dripping from sweat around her neckline from trying to struggle free. When she looked up at the man in front of her, harsh, bright light from the man's flashlight shined into her teary eyes, causing them to glimmer. Her mouth was sore from being gagged for too long. She appeared brave, but her eyes showed a different story as the mysterious man reached for his pocketknife.

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Gasping for air, I quickly sat up in bed. My heart was pounding and my body was sweating from my previous nightmare. With shaky hands, I lifted my scratchy, beige sheets off of myself in attempt to let the morning chill from the open window wake myself up. Yawning, I hit the snooze button on my blaring alarm clock. Squinting to read the red numbers on the screen, I realized it was 7:30.

UGGGH! I thought. My school bus comes to pick me up at 7:45 every morning so I can arrive to Sierra High School at 8:00 sharp.

I quickly, in record time, changed into a "fresh" change of clothes, grimacing when I had to sniff my clothes to find out if they were clean or not.

When I finally finished tying the end of my braid with a hair tie, throwing my watch and my mood ring on, I heard Mom yell from the bottom of the stairs, "Sarah Regina Martel! What is taking you so long up there? Your bus is going to be here in five minutes!"

"Coming Mom!" I rushed downstairs to find a plate of eggs and toast on the table-in my spot. What was the occasion?

"I decided to make some food for myself when I realized that you weren't downstairs yet," Mom said, almost like she was reading my thoughts. "And I am most certainly glad I did because you are running late."

"Sorry. I had a bad dream so I was unaware of my alarm going off."

"I forgive you. Now stop chit-chatting and eat your breakfast. Come on!"

"Yes Mom." I scarfed down my now cold eggs and toast like I hadn't eaten in years.

When I was mid-bite in my jelly toast, I started to feel faint. My eyes glazed over and I felt numb. All of a sudden, it was like my shoulders couldn't carry any weight because my head fell down to my plate, on top of my breakfast.

But before my head could hit the remainders of my meal, my body froze midair. My mom didn't seem to notice any of this, even though she was sitting right next to me. She was staring directly right at me and was talking to me. I couldn't hear or understand anything she was saying. My body was frozen in this awkward position for just a few moments until I saw a disturbing image pass in front of me, oddly reminding me of my nightmare.

There, I saw a person in a very dark room. I couldn't see if it was a man or a woman, for the person was covered in a black cloak, and the hood was covering their face. Their wrists were bound behind their back and their ankles were bound to the legs of the rickety wooden chair. This person was even being gagged with a tight handkerchief and rope. A masked man stood in front of the captive, drawing something metal out from his belt.

Slowly, the feeling started to come back into my fingers and I started to hear and see things more clearly. I lifted my head from above my plate and heard my mom say, "So what do you think?"

"Mhm? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention." Technically, that was a half truth, so I stuck with that.

"Oh, never mind. Will you hurry up? The bus is going to be here any second!"

"Yes Mom." I left my dirty plate at the table, and I heard a sigh escape my mother's lips. I didn't care though. What I cared about most was what happened to me at the dinner table.