Screams Unheard

The Cackle Still Haunts Me

What you're about to read is based on a dream that I had to experience for three months straight. Once again: Be cautious; graphic and disturbing content.

Most children dread bedtime; it's quite common and natural, actually. Well, as a child, I was terrified of bedtime. I wasn't afraid of what was lurking in the dark, monsters hiding in my closet, or what was creeping under my bed; I was afraid of what was in my head. As a child, around 7 or 8 years of age, I would wallow in fear, in the silent darkness of my room, doing anything to keep myself awake. I knew what was going to happen had I let myself slip and fall asleep. Unfortunately, sleep is inevitable, especially for a child. Though, I would soon regret letting myself slip.
In my dream, I would wake up in my bed, as if I had never even fallen asleep. An uncontrollable urge to walk to the corner store a mile down my road consumed me, even though I lived in the middle of absolutely nowhere. The mile long walk had no street lamps, about 3 neighbouring houses, and fields. As I walked, I felt no fear, only childlike curiosity, and after walking for what felt like forever, I reached my destination. The flickering light above the gas pumps was the only thing illuminating the property. Under the dim, flickering light, I saw... something. I couldn't make it out from where I was standing, so, I approached it.
What I saw should've terrified me, but somehow didn't. I had walked up to flesh, laying on the pavement. I mean flesh; no bones, no organs, no blood, not even eyeballs. Just the remains of some unfortunate human being. I turned around to walk back to my house before my family caught me, but when I turned around, everything was gone. No roads, only fields. I faced the store again, and that was gone as well; everything turned into fields. I was somehow still not scared, until I heard it... footsteps. They were coming from all directions. I ran as fast as my little legs would take me, but the footsteps got closer, and I heard a high-pitched cackling following me. The footsteps got clser, and closer, the cackling was getting louder and louder, until suddenly, I was hit on the back of the head with a blunt object. I went down, and everything went black.
When I came to, dizzy and disoriented, I was being dragged down what felt like a dirt road. Two different men were dragging me by my feet; holding onto my left foot, was a man with dark brown hair, brown eyes, tan skin, and several very noticeable deformities. Missing fingers, a cleft lip, and hardly any teeth. He remained silent. Holding onto my right foot, a man with longish blond hair, with a receding hairline. His deformities were much worse, but followed the same description. He giggled and cackled when he noticed I had became conscious. A third man followed us. He was wearing a black trench coat, leather gloves, had long brown hair, but no deformities. He was huge, probably 6'7, and wide. I wanted to squirm my way to freedom but I had no strength. I could only take what was coming.
A light was getting brighter as we approached it, but it was still dim, as if the light bulb was dusty, or muddy. We were heading straight for a beat up, broke down cabin, in the middle of the woods. Once they had lifted me into the house, I was set onto, and chained to a kitchen table. It had red stains all over it. I tried squirming, but got nowhere. Suddenly, the blond man was making small stab wounds in my sides. I screamed, and it fueled his disgusting cackling. This went on for about five minutes, until the smaller brunette male smacked him on the shoulder, and pointed to something behind me. The blond male stopped stabbing me, but continued to giggle. A shadow fell over me, and when I looked up, it was being casted by the big man in the trench coat. He was absolutely stone-faced. He slung a sledgehammer behind his shoulder, and I began begging for my life. The cackling grew louder, and the smaller brunette male began making encouraging grunting noise. Suddenly, the largest male quickly slammed that sledgehammer right onto my face, but before it could hit me...
I woke up.