Night Terrors

April 1

God. God, oh God. I don't think I will forget, ever. Right now, it is 12:23 in the morning. And I am awake! What the heck, I'm so tired I can barely move. But I can't sleep! For the past two nights, I have been having terrible dreams. Oh, god! Never in my life have ever experienced such terrifying things. I didn't write about my dream yesterday because I thought it was nothing. But now? I am so tired, but I can't close my eyes. Every time my eyes feel as though they can stay open no longer, the ghastly images flood back into my vision! How terrible they are!

My dream tonight was the same as last, and I will never forget how it went. It starts with me in my room, and I am trying to fall asleep. It's all very eerie because it feels like I am still awake, lying in bed and experiencing insomnia. Just before I close my eyes and doze off, a clattering sound of breaking glass echoes down the hallway. My eyes flutter open, and I walk out into the hallway to find where the noise is from. But before I can reach the entry to the kitchen, another crash sounds. It doesn't come from the kitchen, so I continue to sweep through the rooms, as I clutch my favorite blanket around my shoulders.

After thoroughly searching every room for the culprit, I give up and go back to my room. But alas, this is where every fright comes into the story. I notice that my door is shut tightly when I come back, which is not how I left it. Now sweat seeps into my clothing. The house is suddenly very hot, so hot that I can't stand to have my protective blanket near me any longer. I frantically throw it onto the floor and decide to go into my room. I had the window open and it would certainly be cooler in there. I thrust my hand out and realize that now the door is slightly cracked open. I was certain that the door was fully shut only moments ago, and now it is slightly ajar. Nonetheless, I continue into my bedroom.

It is almost too terrible to recall these dreams for you! But I will keep going, so that you may all know what I am dealing with. The door squeaks an unnatural squeak, and it seems to open without me giving any sort of effort to push it. The window is still open, but the wind outside is stopped. It is very silent in the room, so silent that you can hear every soft step that I take. A dark shadow-like-thing is spread across the floor in the corner of the room, flat as a piece of fabric.

While keeping my eyes focused on the black thing, I shuffle slowly towards my bed. The room is very, very cold, and I wish that I had brought my blanket with me. The soft sheets of my bed are stiff and almost as cold as the rest of the room. I still pull the sheet over me, shivering and shaking. My eyes are still fixed on the big black shadow, when, DING DING DING, DONG! The alarm screeches so loud that my ears start to ring. My alarm clock is electronic, but in the dream, it sounds like church bells.

I am trying to stay focused on the black thing, but big, bright flashes of color erupt from the screen on the clock, which I can see out of the corner of my eye. I cannot help but let my eyes wander to the screen of the clock, leaving myself defenseless against whatever thing sat in the corner of the room. In a bold font, the device read: 12:00.

That’s when I heard a sharp hiss and ripped my head back towards the shadow. The lights in the background faded, as did the loud noises. When my eyes finally adjusted to the new darkness, I could see it. The shadow was no longer stretched out flat. It stood big and menacing in the shape of a very tall and giant man. I could not notice any features due to the pure black that it was colored, which was much darker than any night sky. And as it stood there, I could hear it say:

“The dark we come from; The dark we are. Come to look for us; You shall never be far. Your master calls; You can hear it hiss; The time has come; When we stab, we do not miss.”

And with that, the shape splits apart, starting from the feet and ripping last at the head. It multiplies itself until the room is filled with clones of the first shadow. Next thing I know, the room is enveloped with darkness, and my bed is no longer beneath me. The chant that the first thing uttered was now being sung by multiple wispy voices, and it became louder and louder. The black floor below me drops away, and even though I can no longer see, I can still feel my stomach come racing upwards and the air pummeling my skin.

That’s where the dream ends, but there is still one more important detail. Today and yesterday when I woke up, everything seemed normal, but the minute I woke up, the alarm clock next to my bed read 12:01. Despite my inability to slumber, I think this is where today’s entry ends. Goodnight to you, but I believe that I will stay up and watch the news. It has to be better than whatever awaits me in my subconscious mind.

April 2

Lord help me! I think I might be going insane. I am at work right now, but I am hiding this journal so that no one can see. As you know, I have been having these frightful terrors, but last night was the worst of all! Yesterday, I did as I said I would and spent the rest of the morning with the television on. The daytime went fine, but as nighttime rolled around, I sat in the living room of my apartment and decided that I would wait one more day before sleeping in my room. For a while, I sat there, but I couldn’t stand to keep my eyes open any longer. I fell asleep, and just like that, I was back in the dream. It was almost the same as the last two, only the verses that the shadows sang were different:

“We know your soul; We were once you. The fear is present; We had that too. Your time is here; Do not resist. The master wants you; Just hold out your fist.”

But that was not the end of the night! When I read my watch, it said 12:01. But what troubled me was the temperature of the room. The thermostat said that it was 72 degrees Fahrenheit, but that could not have been right because it felt like an oven in there. And then I heard a crashing sound. Of course, it came from my bedroom, which had a tightly latched door that I did not remember shutting. Instead of investigating, I decided it would be best to simply wait out my time in the living room. The television was shut off, which was strange to me because I had never turned it off myself. I was so terrified by then that I was shaking all over and covered in all of the pillows and blankets that were on the couch. It was hot inside, but they were the only protection that I could find nearby. I used my trembling hand to switch the TV back on, and the night went on completely normally from that point on.

So here I am now, sitting slumped over in my cubicle, keeping this diary hidden beneath me. Who knows what people would think of me if they read this! I have no idea what to think of myself now, either. But I refuse to return to that house tonight. Instead, I asked to stay the night at my brother’s home, which is only across the town from where I live. I hope that my next entry is a bit happier.

April 4

I don’t know what time it is, but it’s probably close to 1:30 in the morning. I don’t think I will ever check the time again. I had to leave. I thought that this might be the way for my family to know what happened to me. Yesterday night I returned home with the confidence that no bad dreams were going to haunt me today. I spent the night before at my brother’s home, and everything went very well. I didn’t have any dreams at all, so I thought it would be okay to return home and sleep the next night. I went home and fell asleep in my bedroom. And of course, I had the dream once more. Only when I woke up, it was just 11:09. I was paralyzed with fear, and I watched as the clock switched to 12:00. My door flew open and smashed into the wall behind it. A huge black shadow just like the one that was in my nightmare flew through the door and started swelling up bigger. Its hissing voice was as loud as ever as it said:

“Four times you have disobeyed! The master wants you NOW, and you WILL come! The darkness in your soul is greater than others’. You are DESTINED to join us! Do not fight, this is what you are!”

And with that, it thrust its body forward and wrapped its slithering fingers around my neck. In a desperate attempt to hold myself in place, I reached for the bedside table just as the creature lifted me and tried to pull me towards the door. I slapped my hand down and a faint light appeared. The creature vanished as quickly as a hummingbird’s wings can flap, and I was dropped to the ground. I realized that I had hit the top of my alarm clock, which had a button that shined a light to help you see.

I left as quickly as I could. I am in a taxi right now, on its way to the river. I plan to jump in. I just cannot be alive when this is what I am living with. I’m sure you can understand. Wait. Now the car has stopped. The driver is not moving. He won’t respond to me. The headlights just turned off. The whole car is shaking, holy crap I

When we stab, we do not miss.