I'm Sorry I Had To Let You Go

I'm Sorry

Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock.

The steadily, rythmic ticking of the clock seemed to be the only noise in the room as I steadily swayed with each tick. Each tick seemed to lull me further into sleep with it's lullaby of insanity. Every creak in the floorboard, every howl of wind outside.

Every single noise sent my eyes staring in that direction as though I expected some grotesque creature to be there waiting to kill me. Paranoia filled my mind as fear made every muscle in my body clench. Should I be attacked right now, it'd be able to kill me swiftly and with ease.

A growl from outside my door sent a shiver down my spine. My mind told me, begged me, screamed at me to run, to get away. It sensed immediate danger nearby and my fight or flight instincts were kicking it. Of course, they insisted I flee.

I closed my eyes and let the memories come flooding back to me, filling my mind with vivid pictures of the days events.

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My day started off on the wrong note to begin with. I had forgotten to turn my alarm off on the weekend. So at 6 am, my alarm sounded and jolted me awake in the middle of a rem cycle. Which set my day off even more. Groggy and irritated, I slammed my fist on the snooze and turned off my alarm.

I collapsed on the bed with a huff. Pulling my winter blanket over my not-so-small frame, I tried to fall back asleep. Luckily for me, my dog decided it was time to get up. The 200 pound Saint Bernard jumped on me and I let out a pained groan.

His monstrous sized tongue covered me in slobber before I could protest. I covered my face with my hands, doing my best to resist him but failing miserably. After a few minutes he finally relented. Trotting out the door happily, he left me in silence.

Then I realized something was off. Not my room, not my dog. I was home alone that weekend since my parents had a business trip they left on. So that explained the silence.

Wait a minute...

This silence, something seemed... Off... About it. I closed my eyes, focusing solely on my hearing sense to guide me to the answer. My eyes shot open when I came to the conclusion of what had happened.

You know how there's always that ringing in your ears when there's silence? There was no ringing. This deeply unnerved me and I couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. I tried to think of all the times I've been in silence.

Every time...

Every single time, there's had been the ringing.

I stood from my bed and looked for my phone, grabbing it and jogging out my room to find my dog. I tried to click my screen on, to no avail. After a few failed attempts, I tried turning it off only to see that the battery was dead.

Had this been a less serious situation, I would've laughed and called today a day in a horror movie. But right now it really did feel like a horror movie.

I found my dog in the living room, sleeping on the couch. I shook the dog awake, throwing glances to the left and right every few moments. The dog finally woke up and yawned. He looked at me with a bored expression, his look seemingly asking why I had awoken him from his peaceful slumber.