**I couldn't concentrate. The page of math homework was staring back at me; it was blurry and incomprehensible. Such a simple problem, yet it had seemed like rocket science at that moment. My mind was drawing a blank (which it'd seemed to do a lot of), and I had to rest. I'd hoped that maybe, just maybe I could wake up feeling extravagant and ready to tackle the homework, though, of course, I knew it wouldn't result like that. So let's just say I was being remotely lazy, committing to another episode of procrastination. But, I still found myself stacking my books and folders and things onto the mini table standing in front of my bed, and dozing off.
Sleep was what I needed, to relax for once.
Once fallen into a dream, I felt peaceful, like I was floating against a cooling wind and flying through clouds. Of course that all too quickly ended as the dream transited into the same, repetitive nightmare I'd had night after night a lot before then. The dreams consisted of nothingness, just blurs of hate and confusion, filling my mind and scaring me on many levels. The floating then turned to falling, sinking. This went on forever, it seemed, making my dream-stated mind want to hide, striving to wake up.
And then I did. And it was all over. Just like that, it had happened many times. I never had thought much of it, considering I always forgot about it one minute after waking.
The night following I had the same dream again. Yet this time it hadn't even given me even the faint happiness in the beginning-no, it went straight to the good stuff. And when I awoke, I was confused and frightened. It'd never hit me quite that hard before. And, I remembered it. Night after night after night, the dream kept coming back. Each new night it deepened and expanded, seeming to last longer than the one before. The nightmare frenzy went on for months, and I had had no idea what to do about it. I'd just hoped it'd straighten itself out given time.
The only hope I had once captured in the inescapable, never-ending dreams was the eerie sounding of my alarm clock. It woke me up; it saved me from the nightmare abyss. The ambulance-sounding drone-which is enough to drive most people insane-was my savior, it stopped everything in its tracks, it ended the dream altogether and set me free. It felt great to wake up, getting away from the horrid dream world. Well, after I calmed myself down, at least.
Throughout my days I was becoming even more timid than normal. I felt an unwanted, unseen presence around me. I couldn't pay attention, I could only panic. Hours would just fly by, and I would spend them staring at the wall, afraid to move, afraid to unlock myself into the room surrounding me.
But, one day, after another sleepless night, something clicked in my mind and I woke up. I told myself I was being stupid, and that there was nothing there. I snapped out of the scared coma and breathed a little. It worked for the moment.
I managed to content myself watching re-runs of a television show. I felt my eyes become heavy. I needed to sleep, I couldn't resist the urge. Nights before that particular day were restless. So, no matter how hard I fought to stay awake, it was no use.
I felt my body being dragged across the ground by some great force. My feet began to burn, as faster and faster the force took me. Then my own two feet started moving without effort; they just took off. I felt a burning feeling take over my whole body this time. I screamed and struggled and dug and scratched for any possible grip I could obtain to pull myself away. There was nothing but darkness. I couldn't feel any object, I couldn't feel warmth or coldness, and I could not tell if I was in the air or on the ground. I was just being pulled by my own mind, forcing my feet to keep up with it. I suddenly felt like I was falling again. I was completely numb all the while, trapped by my own mind. Slight screeching noises emerged from behind me, then from above me, from all around me. The noises grew, getting louder and louder, turning into high-pitched screeches. The noises surrounded me. Bounded in my own invisible stance, I still couldn't feel a thing. The screeches became whispering voices, gutting and growling, circling me in. The sound was so horrible, I could feel my ear drums burst, it seemed. I couldn't bare it any longer, the pain was too intense. I found myself kneeling onto the ground, cupping my hands over my ears with fatal attempt to block the sound out.
Then it all stopped.
I looked around and found that the darkness had left in exchange for the setting of a room: my bedroom. Except, this room didn't feel like my room, it felt like a prison. I felt as unsafe as possible, even more-so as when I wasn't dreaming. I stumbled forward, feeling the objects around me to gain stamina from being so used to the nothingness. Slowly, steadily I crept towards the door, struggling to open it once I approached it. It wouldn't budge. I banged my fists against the door, tried the knob over and over, and screamed in attempt for someone to rescue me from the outside. It was no use. I broke down, falling to the ground, sobbing in fetal position. I felt so trapped. I had the idea that I was never going to get out, and the claustrophobic feeling I was getting as if the walls were closing in on me wasn't helping it. The walls seemed only a few feet away from touching each other then, as I remained in my place against the wall. I closed my eyes and breathed in, startling myself as I heard the droning call from out of the sky: "Beep-beeeeeep, beep-beeeeep, beeep, beeep, beeep..."
And I sat up, breaking out into a sob, I felt so paralyzed.
I spent that next day huddled at the corner of my bed. I had always liked sleeping there because it made me feel more safe and secure. But at that moment nothing felt safe or secure.
My nightmares were controlling my life.
Since weeks before that, I'd sensed things amongst me. I felt an orb of evil flow around me everywhere I went, which was why I couldn't calm down. I was sure that I was being haunted, but I had no idea how to fix it. I started going insane, as literal the term as possible. I'd sometimes talked to things that weren't there, screamed at them to leave me alone. I thought I'd seen bodies, and spirits. It was nonstop. I quit going out (even simply going outside), I just sat in my room for hours rocking myself back and forth.
One night I'd lost it completely. I swore I saw a creature come from the window. It slithered down so easily, I was mesmerized. I snapped back into consciousness (as much as I could have) as its body scampered across the floor like a lizard, nothing ever thought possible to be seen through human eyes. Like something from a dream.
My body began growing tense. It's only in my mind, I'm just hallucinating, that's it. I told myself as the creature inched forward. I couldn't escape its presence, I couldn't run, I couldn't scream, I couldn't move.
As its face reached mine I could feel evil swarm around it. I closed my eyes and swallowed.
In response, the creature let out droning scream... But the scream sounded more like it was coming from an ambulance. As soon as it let out, the thing was gone. Then...everything disappeared. Everything. The room went pitch black, and I could only feel my body suspended in the air. It felt like I was flying, but at the same time, I felt like I was falling.
The screams became more organized and reachable, almost as if they were coming from a place so near to me. But I couldn't feel or see a thing. Louder, louder, louder they became, as, finally, light hit me.
I opened my eyes quickly to a white abyss. I blinked and found that it was my molded bedroom wall staring back at me. I sat up in panic, and turned to my wailing alarm clock. It was morning time. I had just woken up.**