Dreamless

Nightmares

The TV blurred in the background. Two bodies laid asleep on the couch. 

The wind howled outside the locked door. The windows flashed bolts of lightning as thunder roared from the gray clouds. 

In a small bed,in a tiny room, at the end of an extra long hallway, a body rested. A young girl acted asleep, when her mind was rushing to far for her to fetch it. She turned to her left. The flashing red of the old alarm clock indicated the time. Her fear never left her mind, but she simply couldn't fall asleep.

 She never could. Her mother, irritated by the fact told her the story that would haunt her mind for years. 

"... And at night, every night, the nightmare would visit every home. He would arrive at midnight. always finding a hiding spot in a disorganised closet. If the child wasn't asleep, he would start to sing a lullaby.

As the child opened their eyes after the first hour of the new day, he would move to a window. His long claws would look like tree branches to the adult eye, but to a child like long fingers clawing for his pray.

When the clock tower would sound the second hour of day, he would move underneath their beds. He would whisper unsettling words. He would whisper awful things that would happen if they didn't fall asleep... 

Three am would be the final bell the would hear, for three am is the devils hour. 

The moment the clock struck the devils hour, the nightmare exited the haven beneath the child, crawl to their eyes... and..."

Daniella blocked the final words from her mind. She didn't want to hear the ending... ever. 

Slowly her eyes gazed at the red blinking light. The alarm showed a simple two. Two am. 

Beneath her bed, a voice started to whisper. 

sweat leaked from her forehead.

Her heart started racing. 

She locked her brown eyes shut. 

The tiny body shivered under the mermaid blankets. 

There she laid silintly, for what seemed like an eternity. Her mind was racing. Her body was trembling. She knew He was in front of her. The argument of opening her eyes bounced between the walls of her mind. 

Sadly the choice wasn't her's.

A ear piercing scream echoed through the hallway, reaching her parents ears. They rushed in fear to her bedside. The darkness was chased away by the fairy lamp stuck behind the alarm clock. 

"Honey, are you okay?" her father asked. 

She turned to face her father. Her once chocolate eyes had turned to a gray. She said nothing. Her arms slithered around her father, embracing him in a bear hug. 

Shyly she answered in a whisper. "It was only a nightmare daddy,"

"it's okay honey... Mommy and I are just in the next room." He hugged her, said goodnight and left her room. Darkness overtook the room. Finally she could sleep. The only problem was that it wasn't her anymore.

 The sweet little girl was replaced with the nightmare.