I woke up in a sweat with no memory of what dream I'd been having. The room was pitch black — not even the light from under the door cut through the darkness. I wiped the sweat off my brow, my breaths still coming quicker normal. I made some attempts to breathe slower and after a few minutes I was fine. My face still felt weird and groggy, so I tried to get up to go splash my face with water, but I couldn't get out of bed and my eyes still hadn't adjusted to the dark.
Something started to ooze out of the ceiling and at first I thought it was a leak, but my dorm room was on the second floor of four and it hadn't leaked even during the big rainstorm a couple weeks ago. It looked too thick to be water, and I realized too late that if I could see it, the room was no longer completely pitch black. I looked around the room to get a better sense of my surroundings and whilst doing so, I saw a figure in a billowing white dress. It was a girl, around my age, with dark hair and pale skin and she was saying something that I couldn't quite hear. White noise filled the room and the wind picked up, so her shouts were drowned out before they reached me.
She disappeared and the room swirled a little, knocking me to lie back down in bed. I sat up and looked at the ceiling and walls which were still oozing the mysterious substance, but now the light from under the door reflected off it and it glowed a dark, muddy red. Blood. The room swirled again, this time faster, and I was knocked down again.
When I opened my eyes, the blood was gone, but something still felt off. Something was under my bed. I didn't know how I could sense it, but I could, and it felt like I was back in my four year old body, swearing to my dad that there was a monster under the bed, so convinced in the thought, that nothing would quench the fear but my dad. This time there was really something under my bed, and my dad wasn't here. I shut my eyes tighter to try to go to sleep and wake up in the real world. It was no use. I had to fight my own monsters now.
I leapt from my bed to far enough away that I hoped the thing wouldn't be able to get me. I scrambled through my dresser drawers for the bag my dad had made me pack. Hopefully, bear spray would work on monsters, too. The room turned to black before I could get to it.
...
I woke up with vague memories of the dream, but the ever haunting memory of the fear I'd had. The room was now engulfed in light from the window, so I quickly checked under the bed. Nothing except my extra cookies. I made sure none had been taken and ate one for my nerves.
I looked over to the other bed, but Carmilla wasn't there. I half hoped she would be, just so I didn't have to be alone. I checked my phone for the time and figured ten would be a reasonable time to go over to LaF and Perry's to try to sleep more soundly. After the creepy dream, I was worn out. I took my phone, then debated bringing bear spray. I pocketed it. Best to be safe. I made sure all the lights and water were turned off and my key was in my pocket before closing and locking the door and walking down the hall to the more welcoming room.
I could hear faint voices as I got closer to their room. I realized LaF was yelling once I arrived. Their voice had gone a bit higher pitched and strained. Perry talked in a low, calm voice, and somehow that was worse.
"You're my best friend! I want you to be supportive of me the entire way! Is that too much to ask?" LaF was saying.
Perry stayed silent, and when LaF continued, it was with a shaky, quiet, broken voice.
"You're my best friend, Perry."
It sounded like LaF was moving to the door to leave, so I used the entirety of my energy to sprint back down the hall and back into my room. Somehow during the past couple minutes I'd been gone, Carmilla had appeared.
