Notes

Nightmares Dec 15

Nightmares
She ran like the wind. At first. Leaping over things blocking her path, ducking, swerving, zig-zagging like a hunted rabbit. But then as she grew tired and her pursuer did not, her silhouette became less of a blur and began to resemble something more like a mouse running a lab maze, and getting shocked every few seconds. Cold sweat trickled down the side of her face but she didn't notice. She stumbled and for a moment, dared to look back. Nothing but darkness. Yet she scrambled back up and began to run even faster, her lungs burning, her entire body screaming with pain, because it was not the darkness that terrified her but the screeching wail coming closer and closer by the second. Her breath was coming in short gasps now but she dared not take a second to catch it. The only sound was the pounding of her heart, the thudding of her feet, and the occasional shriek some terrifyingly short distance behind her. She had been running for hours now, it seemed, yet she knew it could not be possible because they would have caught up a long time ago. Her hands flew up and flailed about, knocking away the thin scraggly fingers reaching out and twining themselves in her hair, around her shoulders, anything, to slow her down. She did not notice the sharp pain that tore through her chest, and the blossom of blood that appeared and quickly spread on her blouse, or the fact that her heart had suddenly stopped thudding like a drum, or the sudden cold draft of wind that felt like it was going straight through her, that whistled and moaned as she ran, as if it was blowing through a hole. She could not think, as prey instinct took over and the only thing on her mind was survival. All she had was one thought running through her head over and over like a broken record. Don't let it catch you. She could not stop to think about why she was here, running for her life, or what had been happening right before she found herself here, all she knew was that she didn't want to dwell on the thought of what would happen if she got caught. Suddenly the landscape around her changed, and the darkness wasn't so thick anymore, and she gasped for air as she clawed her way out of the velvety mist. Suddenly she skidded to a stop, waving her arms wildly as she teetered on the edge of a ravine. Regaining her balance she looked ahead. Right across the ravine, just past jumping distance, was hope. The grass was green and lush and the sky was bluer than a robins egg. The clouds rolling across looked as soft and fluffy as cotton candy, so close she felt like she could reach out and touch them. In the distance, among the rolling hills, she saw her house, the way she remembered it as a child, bright baby blue with white shutters, nestled safely in a field of flowers. A beautiful young woman sat on the ground, playfully scratching a lamb's head as the sunlight caressed her flawless skin and lit up the soft golden hair spilling down her shoulders. "Mother-" she choked, for she knew it was her. The lovely angel whose presence she had felt whenever a breeze blew by, was her mother, and she knew the instant she lay eyes on her. This was the woman that brought her into this world, then before she could even catch a glimpse of her, disappeared from it. And there she was, young, alive, beautiful. The woman's eyes shone and her fingers slipped through the sparkling water of a crystal-clear stream. Then looking away for a moment, the girl saw someone floating down towards her, on what resembled a ferry boat with wings. "They're here to take me across." she realized, a joyous relief filling her. Then the moment of peace quickly ended as she snapped back into the present moment. She looked around wildly, the ferry was moving painfully slow, and the sounds of what had been chasing her were almost at the edge of the darkness now. Frantically, she looked down, and saw what she had almost fallen into. A river of fire crashed down steep drops and over bumps, twisting and turning around the bends in the gleaming white stone banks jutting out from either side like teeth. The white hot lava swirled together with a crimson current of blood, and the stones, she finally realized, where giant piles of human bones, jumbled together in a senseless mass of skulls and limbs gnawed bare of their meat. Fleshless creatures, composed of smooth, dried out bone that had once been covered in skin and flesh but had been long since devoured, writhed in the pools of blood and fire. Cackling loudly, they frolicked about in the river as the sticky, bubbling stream flowed over an edge and spilled down over their bodies, and jumping out with a loud hiss every once in a while when the heat scorched their limbs and blackened the splintered bones. They had no eyes, just hollow black indents, and long wickedly jagged teeth permanently stained red with the blood they feasted upon. They walked on all fours and seemed to have many useless bones sticking out at odd angles that didn't really function as limbs. When on occasion a part of them snapped, they waded over to the bank and ripped out the broken bone, immediately replacing it with a fresh, completely ill-fitting one, that quickly grew into the rest of their body. She shuddered in loathing and disgust, then looked across the ravine. The ferry was still coming across but not quite close enough to jump to. Once more, she dared to glance behind her and suddenly her eyes widened in the most inhuman expression, that not even the most frightening experiences on earth could have caused on a human's face. It was the true look of pure, blinding terror. She choked, trying to breath, but her lungs locked rigidly, for her pursuer had finally burst out of the trees, showing it's ugly face. She looked down at her hands and saw her fist had been clenched around something. Feeling sick, she opened up her fingers and realized that this whole time, she had been clutching her heart, that was still beating weakly, and instantly knew that this is what It-or they- wanted. She needed just a few more seconds, just so she could jump across and possibly land on the ferry, but those few seconds were not available. With a sob she swung her arm and flung the beating piece of her across the gap, throwing it over with the skill of an athlete. Squeezing her eyes shut and willing herself not to look back, she jumped, diving down into the depths of the ravine, smelling burning skin as the waves of the river rose up to catch her fall, and the frustrated shriek at the edge of the cliff. Moments later she was gone, and a deathly silence settled over the two lands for a few moments. The man in the ferry that had taken so long to reach the other side, held the girl's heart greedily, just out of the woman's reach, as it beat out it's final moments. ...He was her father. And the beings chasing the girl had not been some hungry animal, for no animal, monster or thing could have scared her enough to jump to the indescribably terrifying fate she had chosen. No, the things that had been chasing her... were her dreams.