Nightmare

It stood in the corner, staring at me with the reddest of eyes. It had two slits for its nostrils and a wide gaping mouth. It wore a long black cape, around its thin neck, flowing to the ground. The cape was made up of the oddest material. Was it velvet? It looked more like silk. Flowing, like water… Black water, to the ground, ending like a small puddle near its bony feet.
It beckons. ‘Come, come…’

I stood rooted to the ground, unable to move. My legs numb with fear and my entire body paralyzed. I wanted to turn around and flee. I wanted to run away to nowhere in particular, but everywhere except the place that I stood.

Red ribbons swirled through the air between us, and the scene before my eyes was engulfed into darkness. Burning heat surrounded me, and I could feel my skin prickling because of it. A large white screen materialized out of thin air and stood blank before me. It was a movie screen, but there was no movie. Just vast emptiness in which I was yearning to dive into, so that I could leave this and enter a world of fantasy.

Somewhere from within the surroundings, sound blared through the speakers. “Come… Come…” I could hear the same raspy voice vibrating through the thick moist air. I twirled around and ran for my life, never turning back once to look at the white screen which looked so inviting.

“I’m waiting…” Its words echoed through the walls, as if it were truly longing for me. But I knew it was lie. Or maybe I made myself believe it was a lie. I did not know. All I knew was that I wanted to run away, and that is precisely what I was doing.

But I slipped and fell and I was plunged into a bottomless pit. The funny thing was that I could sense that I was running toward danger, but the only thought that ran through my mind was that I wanted to run away from the danger that I perceived myself to be in. I didn’t care that I was throwing myself willingly into a pit.

Did I make a mistake? Was there real danger? What did it want? Would it have told me? Probably not… But what else could I have done? I needed to save myself. Or I thought I should save myself. The pit looked much more comfortable. Safe, almost. Even though I was falling forever, at least I knew what would be happening to me. But what if the other side wasn’t as harmful as I thought?

I probably will not know… unless I miraculously dream it up again…