Words On My Skin

Chapter 2

What's happening?

You were laying on the cold, hard wood of your old apartment. You knew it was your floor, because you could smell the natural wood cleaner you'd bought from the supermarket. The wood floor was hard against your back and your head, and you rolled onto your side to relive the discomfort. There was an overwhelming sense of fear, causing a knot in your stomach and bile to sit in your throat.

Why were you afraid?

Your tattoo was burning – a searing pain radiating from the skin of your wrist, up your arm. You could sense people around you, even though your eyes were closed. Your arm was cradled against your chest, and you curled up to protect it. Your body was curled up into a ball, and you forced your eyes to remain closed – terrified of the things surrounding you.

They want to hurt you.

Why did they want to hurt you?

Who were they?

Suddenly, there were hands. Hands all over. Hands grabbing at you, pulling you onto your back, pulling on your clothes, your skin, your hair... You tried to scream, but your vocal chords wouldn't cooperate. You felt no vibration on your vocal chords, just the exhale of your pants. Your eyes flew open, but you were met with a blinding light.

No, no, no. What was happening?

You thrashed against the hands – a futile attempt of an escape – and felt tears rush down your cheeks, as your silent screams turned to sobs.

Why was this happening to you?

One of the hands slithered its way onto your neck, pressing down and gripping you over your windpipe. You gasped for air, thrashing against the hands to try and free your neck. Panic started to seep into your veins, as something eclipsed over the blinding light. Your eyes widened in terror, as the figure's shape became apparent.

It was a large man below the shoulders, but his head was gone. It had been replaced with a foul, snake-like creature with multiple heads. The scales reflected against the harsh light, dripping red with blood. The heads resembled more of a dragon than a snake, all of its angry eyes focused right on you. It hissed, tongue flicking out and grazing against your cheek.

You tensed in pain, the tongue's saliva like acid against your skin. The creature's fangs dripped, venom splattering against your tank top-clad chest and burning through the material. You watched in horror as the skin began to bubble and bleed, the viscous venom seeping into your skin and burning into your lungs.

You couldn't breathe.

You couldn't think.

WAKE UP!!

You startled awake with a gasp, rolling onto your side and off your bed with a thump. Your hand flew to your chest, as you coughed from your sudden intake of air. Your heart was jackhammering in your chest, and your pulse was pounding in your ears. You shivered, feeling the cool air of your bedroom breeze against your damp, sweaty skin. Your hair was stuck to your head, and you felt a lump start to form in your throat, as the coughing began to subside.

You slowly opened your eyes, thankful that you'd landed on your blankets versus the floor, since you'd landed on your healing shoulder.

You sat up, glancing at the nightstand to see that it was only 2:30 in the morning.

"Fuck..." You sighed, leaning against your bed and running your shaking hands through your hair. You replayed your mantra over and over in your head, trying to focus on your breathing until your heart rate lowered back to normal.