Nightmare

Chapter 2

It was my 25th birthday a few days ago, we had a party, there was cake, candles, all the typical birthday equipment, it was fun, that was until I had to open the gifts.

I ripped and tore at the gift wrap until there was only one gift left, which I eagerly pulled towards me. The gift was soft, like a plush pillow, I thought it could have been a teddy bear or something like that, so I pulled the gift wrap off, and just as the gift wrap tore from the plush, my grin faded into a disturbed frown when I saw what it truly was, a 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐝 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧.

to my horror, I stared down at the little doll, it's limp, pudgy limbs, it's button eyes, and it's little plastic horn, something that would make a child feel delighted in its presence, only made me feel disturbed, sending a creeping chill down my spine. I, of course, acted to like it, after all, I didn't want to hurt little Denise's feelings. I put the unicorn on a shelf by the archway to the kitchen, just so it wasn't in my exact line of sight any longer.  a couple hours pass, and the kids leave, I liked the kids, but their farewell gave me a slight stroke of relief, I didn't have to put a filter over my outward thoughts.  My friend David walked in with the alcohol we kept hidden from the kids during the daytime festivities, of course, everyone else drank, but I wasn't feeling it, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, It was almost a primal fear, and I only felt that alcohol would worsen it.  My cousin, Arthur, was there, but he really wasn't, he just stared at his phone all night, and didn't say much beyond a shallow "happy birthday" among other empty comments. My friends left, some of them called cabs, some didn't because they were 'Confident in their driving skills', I had only hoped that they were also confident in their health insurance.

Arthur didn't leave, though, I had no idea what he was still doing at my house, until he inquired "Why are you staring at that unicorn so strangely?" I looked over at Arthur, but I didn't say anything, I simply couldn't put my feelings into words, "I don't know," I responded.

"Well, I'm going home, If you need anything, call me," Arthur replied, exacerbating his message with the cliche hand symbol of a phone. Arthur stepped out the door and closed it behind him. I sighed, and looked up at the stuffed unicorn, it's muppet face unthreateningly staring back at me, and I thought to myself "maybe i'm just tired" so I decided to head to bed, I was exhausted, and wanted nothing more than to sleep, I walked down the hall to my bed, and fell in, adjusting the covers to my liking, and drifting off to unconciousness. 

It was black, everything, all of my vision, I was formless, floating in a dark abyss with only my ability to process, when a voice erupted from the silence, the sheer force of which caused my formless mental state to shudder. "𝖀𝖓𝖎𝖈𝖔𝖗𝖓" it repeated, over and over, like a mantra, and a gargantuan bone, curved like a scimitar, rose from the pitch black clouds below, the inconcievable matter dragging along the borders of the bladed growth, and large eyes beamed a malevolent shade of crimson through the darkness, illuminating the entire surrounding area the color of blood, and just as I was able to realize the change, the full head of the creature rose from the crimson smoke, it the pitch-black head of a horse, only made visible by the scenery around, the horse bared it's teeth and spoke one final time "𝖀𝖓𝖎𝖈𝖔𝖗𝖓," It said once more, as it closed it's gaping maw around my bodyless conciousness.