All Alone | Stanley Uris

Chapter 8 : Damn Asthma

✎ 𝓮𝓭𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭

I quietly get out of bed, careful not to make any noise. My hands fumbled around the dark, searching for my glasses. Unfortunately, I have to stop as I remember dad broke my glasses and I left them in the hallway. I sigh deeply at both my misfortune and my mistake. Only I could forget my glasses in my own house.

I softly call out for Chucho, however, there is neither any noise nor any movement within the dark. I groan and get up, trying to feel around for him but I don't find anything. Damn it! I have to take him outside or else he will pee in the house, then mom and dad will get mad, then I'll be in even more trouble than I usually am. 

Since my bedroom door is closed, I pull it open. I don't see anything in the pitch-black hallway. But this type of darkness is completely different from normal. There is literally nothing else but darkness outside of my room; no light coming from the kitchen windows, nothing. How strange, perhaps my eyes haven't adjusted to the lack of light just yet? Not likely but still, it makes more sense than... literally anything else. 

"What the fuck?" I groggily mutter, trying to rub my eyes and see if that fixes anything-- which it doesn't. I turn back around and see the same thing behind me-- darkness. I turn in a full circle but don't see any difference. I'm all alone.

"Chucho? Mom? Dad? Stan?" I call out. There is no answer, just my voice echoing in the abyss. A tall white blur of a figure appears far away, walking closer to me slowly.

"Hello?" I call out to the figure but its only response is silence.

The figure keeps coming closer, which frightens me, causing me to start to back away. In the blink of an eye, the unknown figure is right in my face. My vision is a bit blurry but I know it is the clown from earlier. I scream in terror and scramble to escape. I turn and run as fast as my legs can carry me. I can't breathe, so I stop and wheeze, trying to gasp for air. However, when I turn around, I see I didn't move at all.

Shit, I need my inhaler. I start to gasp for air-- I'm hyperventilating, that's not helping at all. The clown pushes me to the floor. I fall back onto my tailbone. He's in my face, now his features are clear, his red-painted nose, his ugly yellow teeth, his big, cracked forehead and his eerie smile.

"Hiya Deidre. Do you want to float?" He asks with the same smile.

"No thanks. I already know how to swim, but the invitation was nice," I say between gasps for air.

"You won't be alone, we all float down here," The clown smiles.

"No," I say sternly. His smile drops instantly.

"This is a dream, you are not real," I yell and close my eyes slowing my breathing. I am able to lower my heart rate and finally open my eyes to find myself sitting up in my bed with no sign of any weirdness that just transpired. What a weird nightmare. I grab my inhaler and take a few puffs, holding them in before gasping out again.