The Nightmare Convergence

TW: violence

Nathan Davis stood alone at the corner of Acorn and Lake streets looking up at the building that loomed over the block around it.

The house had a light grey brick exterior with a wide bay window that overlooked the street, a two-car garage, fronted with an immaculately cut lawn, and a flower garden that could have been on the front of a home and garden magazine. It looked identical to the dozens of other McMansions that Nathan had passed on his ride through the windy streets, but a darkness seemed to hover over this particular house.

Though the day was bright and warm, the shadows that hid among the eaves and arches were dark and menacing, the curtains were drawn with the intention to keep out prying eyes, it was as if the house itself were looking down upon him, like a boot hovering over an ant. 

167 Acorn.

Since childhood, Nathan’s dreams had been vivid and lucid, and as a young child he had struggled with differentiating between reality and his dream state, commonly referencing experiences that to him felt like memories, but his friends and family would look confused and say those events never took place.

The older he became, the more his two realities became intermixed, eventually forcing his parents to send him to undergo dozens of tests and analyses to determine what could be wrong with him, and how to fix his fractured mind.

Nathan had hated every minute with the doctors. 

He didn’t feel broken, and instead knew that it was the world around him which was fragmented, not him.

The doctors had prescribed him medication to help him sleep in a bid to break the dreaming and reality cycle and clear his mind.

The medication worked for a time, his ‘Real’ memories became more focused and clear, but the longer he was medicated the more it left Nathan feeling empty, as if he were missing a part of himself.

When he secretly stopped taking the drugs, Nathan began to journal events to be clear in which reality he was operating, and try to fake normalcy.

But as the drugs wore off, an avalanche of the dream reality which had been locked away crashed over him, and he clung to the edges of his mind as if gripping to a broken board in the ocean of his mind as a hurricane crashed over him with waves of memories.

Slowly, Nathan adapted to his dual reality, the journals keeping his mind sharper and focused, and keeping the two distinct planes separate.

And now he stood at the crux of his two realities, looking at a building that he hoped wouldn’t exist and yet stood before him nonetheless.

Withdrawing the carefully folded picture from his pocket, Nathan forced himself to stare at the image, though the pain cut him to the core, the picture transfixed him to his current reality. Flipping it over and he read the address that was scrawled on the back “167 Acorn.”

In his years of dreaming, he knew his two states of consciousness could merge, what he called Convergences, situations where his memories and current events combined into a mutated reflection of one another. These times were the hardest, as his mind became foggy as it tried to meld the two parts together.

But he had never experienced a Nightmare Convergence.

With shaking hands Nathan folded the picture up and slipped it back into his pocket.

Setting his shoulders back, and holding his chin up, Nathan closed his eyes and took a mindful breath as he inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. Not everything had been a waste of time with the doctors.

You know that doesn’t work.

Finally, knowing what he had to do, Nathan walked down the hot asphalt driveway and around to the narrow walkway between the house and garden.

The depths of the front porch swirled with hungry shadows that reached out with smoky tendrils, desiring to consume him.

He stood at the threshold of the porch, his left foot resting on the first step.

You have to do it. Take the step, you coward.

You can’t. 

You wouldn’t. 

Don’t.

Gripping the railing, Nathan’s stomach churned and legs and shoulders tensed, preparing for a blow as he took the first step into the dark porch.

You did it.

Now what?

Nathan crossed the porch and instinctively knocked on the door, which ended up much louder than he had intended.

Why are you knocking?

Don’t be stupid. Go through the back. 

You know what’s inside.

Nathan peered through the window in the door, but the interior of the house was obscured by the black blinds. Pressing his cheek against the window, Nathan listened for several breathes, when he heard what sounded like the scuttling of dozens of fingernails across a tiled floor.

You’re in it now you idiot.

Don’t go in.

Try the door handle.

Listening for another minute more, as the scuttling sound receded, Nathan’s hand drifted down to the door handle, and slowly turned the handle, which to his surprise wasn’t locked as he pushed the door inwards.

“Hello?”

Don’t say anything. Be quiet.

Get out of here.

Go in, you pussy.

Though it was the brightest of days outside, the darkness in the house was near-absolute.

You’ve pissed it off, you idiot.

Pulling his backpack from his shoulder, Nathan withdrew the large camping flashlight and clicked it on. Directing the light inside, it pierced the darkness as if it were a dense fog that consumed the light instead of letting it pass through it, barely illuminating the small entry room and closet on the other side of the door.

Now’s your chance, get out of here.

You’ve come this far, go in.

Stepping carefully through the doorway, Nathan suppressed a shiver as soon as he entered the house the temperature in the house was at least fifteen degrees cooler inside than outside, his breath lightly misting in front of his face.

You’ve been here. You know what it is.

Get out. Get out.

You’re an asshole.

Nathan shined the light around his surroundings, though he already knew what he would see. Nothing. The bare walls were painted in their primer white and nothing hung from them. No pictures of a smiling family, no mirrors, or trendy catchphrases in block letters.

Are you going to go? Just go there.

The foyer opened into a large open concept with the large kitchen and island on his left and what would be a living room in front of him.

Like the walls, the cavernous room was devoid of furniture or other belongings. Though Nathan walked gently across the tile floor, each of his footfalls echoed like gunshots through the barren room.

How many times have you been here? And yet you still go?

Why are we here? Why?

Nathan paused and looked behind him at the open door with the bright shining light, knowing the warmth of the afternoon sun, which now seemed so distant, a world away and yet only half a dozen steps.

I need to do this.

This is stupid.

What are you thinking? Get out. 

Turning away from the comparatively bright light of the outside, Nathan took the path he knew by heart, as he navigated the labyrinthian home passing empty bedrooms and bathrooms, to the narrow wooden staircase at the end of the hall, which led down into the basement.

The air at the tops of the stairs stank of a combination of smells that his nose had never known before, a mixture of sweaty socks, damp earth, and rotten food.

Setting himself once more, Nathan closed his eyes and took another breath.

Fuck off.

You don’t have to do this.

Go. Go now. And don’t come back.

Nathan swallowed in a parched throat, taking another deep breath, before opening his eyes to complete darkness.

Panic set in, as the air was sucked from his lungs at the unexpected inky blackness that engulfed him. His thumb flicked the flashlight on and off in vain as he shook it violently.

This is new.

Go. Go now.

Stripping the backpack off, Nathan clawed at the zippers and pockets of the bag until finally, he felt a couple of loose batteries at the bottom of one of the compartments.

What was that?

Did you hear that?

The sound echoed down the hallway towards him, a thousand fingernails scraping against the tile floor. A tingling crept up his back and his shoulders tightened defensively as he thrashed about himself in the darkness, the batteries clattering to the floor.

It’s getting closer.

Hurry. Hurry. Hurry.

Nathan knelt on the cold floor, and with blind quivering hands felt out around him as the scrapping and clawing grew closer.

Finally, his fingers found the batteries, and he quickly uncapped the flashlight and deposited the batteries into the handle before clicking the light back on illuminating the narrow hallway around him.

Shining the light down the stairs, Nathan clutched his backpack and scampered through the doorway to the stairwell, slamming it shut and locking it behind him, just as something crashed into the other side with a loud bang.

Whatever was on the other side began to scratch and scrape at the door which divided them, as Nathan hoisted the backpack over his shoulders, and hastily descended into the basement.

The odor was somehow worse in the pits of the basement, adding a layer of burnt ashen and rotting decay.

Find a way out. You can still get out.

Keep going. Don’t back down now you coward.

The basement was where the Dream reality diverged into an open-ended number of outcomes.

Reaching into his pocket Nathan pulled the picture from his pocket again and shined the light on it. The picture was colored in black wax on lined paper of a young girl cowering in a corner, obviously terrified.

Folding the picture and putting it back in his pocket, Nathan withdrew the multicolored gun from behind his belt. He had practiced with it for hours and had become a good shot, and he felt more confidant with the grip in his hands.

The basement was unfinished with a gray concrete slab as the floor and chipboard walls were built up. Dark stains discolored the floor around a drain near the stairs, from which the worst of the gut-wrenching smells seemed to be emanating.

She’s here. You have to get her.

No, you don’t. He is here. You have to get out.

Don’t be stupid. You are here. Get her.

Nathan maneuvered as carefully and silently as he could through the wood-paneled halls, both the light and gun raised before him.

He heard her before he saw her, crying and whimpering softly.

She was always in the same place, handcuffed to a pipe, bound and gagged exactly as the smudged drawing in his pocket.

He had been here many times. And the desire for flight had overwhelmed him every time, which was no different this time. 

These weren’t the happy Dreams of summer fun or the sad dreams of the death of a non-existent dog. This was a Nightmare.

He had prepared for it, but he wasn’t sure he had prepared enough.

Building the nerve, he rounded the corner into her room, and like every time the horror of what had happened to her was a gut punch.

Go to her. 

Get her

 Comfort her.

The girl squealed when she saw him, whether in hope, terror, or a combination Nathan didn’t know, but he moved to her side.

“It’s okay. You’re safe now. I’m here now.”

The girl’s eye widened in disbelief. The other was gone.

Putting the gun and flashlight down beside her, Nathan pulled the chisel, hammer, and small saw from his backpack and got to work on the handcuffs. Every time the Dreams were different with what worked in time, and what didn’t. He hoped he didn’t need to use the saw. That was the worst.

He worked grimly trying to hammer at the links in the chains, but his hands had begun to shake uncontrollably as soon as put them to work.

Nathan closed his eyes once more, taking a deep breath.

You have done this.

You can do it.

No. WE can do it.

Nathan opened them once more, placing the chisel between the links once more, and hammered audibly snapping the link, and the girl began to squeal hysterically beside him. Turning to reassure her, a sudden inhumanly powerful blow landed across Nathan’s back sending him crashing into the wooden wall in front of him.

The taste of wood and copper filled his mouth as he felt his nose crush and snap.

Knowing that the second blow was imminent, Nathan ducked and rolled along the cold hard floor, as the wall where his head had been a moment before exploded into dust.

The figure that towered over Nathan was shrouded in a misty black aura, hollow lifeless eyes with gaunt and twisted features. A face that he had seen countless times in the Nightmare.

The third blow didn’t miss as its foot connected with Nathan’s ribs, knocking the air from his lungs and sending him spinning across the floor.

As Nathan laid on the floor collecting himself, an inhuman roar echoed throughout the basement, the girl had stood behind the creature and buried the chisel into its back. The roar turned into grotesque laughter as it whirled on the girl slapping her with the back of its hand, and descending upon her with a snarl.

Finally, as breath returned to his lungs, Nathan crawled across the floor, the pain lancing from his ribs with each foot he moved, his hand reaching out to the gun that lay discarded on the floor.

Raising the weapon up, as he had practiced hundreds of times, by spraying the water gun at the balloons in his backyard from roughly the same distance, Nathan pulled on the trigger releasing a stream of water that sprayed true.

This won’t work.

What are you thinking?

He had bought the Holy Water off the internet with his parent’s credit card, he didn’t know if it would work, or if it was Holy Water, but it was the best he could hope for.

The scream that reverberated through the chamber cut to Nathan’s core as he clutched his chest, feeling like his insides were splitting apart. When the pain eased, Nathan saw that the creature was gone and he crawled to the girl who laid deathly still on the floor.

She’s dead.

She can’t be dead.

Nathan reached her side, and saw her chest rising slowly.

********

Her name was Elizabeth, a teenage girl who had been missing for several weeks. The newspapers spoke about her daring escape from her kidnapper, though her tales of her tormentor were chalked up to hysteria.

Nathan had pleaded for her not to tell of his involvement and hadn’t given her his name. Instead taking solace in the fact that this Nightmare could be over for him. And her.

They hadn’t seen the creature again that day, but now it knew about Nathan, and he was sure he would see it again.

Because his Dreams told him so.