Night terrors (Hiatus)

1

One might think that after experiencing this every night for years that you would get used to it. That's what I thought in the beginning. I had hoped that one day I would fall asleep and wake up unaffected...

Oh, how wrong I had been.

Lying in the dark, suffocated by its weight I would have laughed at the idea had the fear not been choking my voice back.

The sound of the monsters lurking just beyond my sight echoed in my ears. Tears burning to be released from my eyes and my lungs screaming to be granted the relief of air. Every part of my body begged for freedom.

Knowing I just had to wait to wake up was the hardest part. Now, don't get ahead of yourself, I'd tried the whole 'waking myself up' thing for almost a year before giving up.

Night terrors are the cruelest waiting game.

A close-by huff of air drew me from my inner monologue. I knew I shouldn't look, nothing good could be waiting for me, but my eyes betrayed me.

Glancing towards the noise a strange wave of calm washed over me as my eyes landed on it. A tall figure, barely distinguishable from the dark, stood watching me. The empty sockets of the bird skull bored into me, yet this ominous presence relaxed my exhausted body.

A feeling so foreign it was almost uncomfortable in this setting.

I took my first gulp of air in what felt like a decade and used this moment as wisely as I could think to,

"Help me."

The figure tilted its head before dissolving out of existence.

My eyes flickered open and I shot up from my bed, my mind swimming with too many thoughts to be comprehensible. The most prominent left my mouth to greet the cold morning.

"What the fuck?"

—

If you made it through this short chapter, thank you! I'm rewriting a story I had published before but was unhappy with - hopefully this edition will stick around! I wrote this at work because I literally have nothing to do, maybe I'll be able to whip out another chapter while I sit here. Thanks for reading! :) - Author