Nightmare City

I see myself reflected in my bathroom mirror. A pale face stares back at me. My eyes look dull and sunken in from weeks of not sleeping, and as I keep staring at myself, I wonder what's happening to me?

    It's not that I'm 'not sleeping' exactly, but I'm having such horrible nightmares that I might as well not be sleeping. I've tried everything. Therapy, medication- nothing works. They seem so real. It feels so real. And I always wake up terrified.

    They're coming. They're coming. They're coming. Who's coming? I'm running, but the ground has turned into mud and I'm sinking in, trying to get away from this unknown threat. Suddenly, I see a figure in the distance. They're running towards me- really fast. The ground isn't mud anymore and I realize that this is the person I'm supposed to be afraid of. I can run now, but my vision has turned blurry. My heart starts racing as I run blindly, trying to find a way out. Every way I turn just looks like another gray hallway. The figure is close. He's right behind me.

    The scene changes. I'm back in my room, but something feels off. I feel terrified. Everything gets eerily quiet, and then I hear it. Shh...

    "It's her..." I whisper to myself.

    "Shh..."

My eyes are wide with fear as I whip my head around, looking for her. I've only seen her once. She has long black hair. She's pale and when she's close it feels like I'm being touched by static. She sounds like static. She always tells me to be quiet- she never says anything else. I don't know why it scares me. She is the scariest thing I've ever seen.

    When I don't see her, I decide to just lay back down. Still terrified, I pull the covers over my head and try to hide under them. That's when I hear someone calling my name.

    "Who's there?" I scream. No one answers.

    Suddenly my bed is gone, and I'm left sitting in an empty room. I still hear it. That voice calling my name- no- screaming my name. I begin to panic. All of a sudden, faces start to form in the walls. They're laughing at me, as if my pain is somehow hilarious. All I hear is screaming and laughing and crying, and it's overwhelming me. A figure appears from the shadowy corner of my room. I realize it's the figure from before. He starts walking towards me, and all of a sudden all of the faces and voices are screaming my name. Crying, I try to cover my face. He's not real, this isn't real, this is a dream, I need to wake up.

He's coming. He's coming. He's coming.

I jolt awake and look around. He's sitting right next to me, smiling, and this time I know I'm not dreaming.