Nightmare's Echo. By StoryLord.
The flickering light of the television cast long shadows across the room as I sat on the couch, the only sound the soft hum of the late-night program. Suddenly, a piercing scream shattered the calm, jolting me from my half-awake state. My heart raced, recognizing the sound as my son's voice. His nightmares were relentless, haunting his sleep night after night.
Without a second thought, I leaped off the couch and hurried down the dimly lit hallway toward his room. The wooden floor creaked under my weight, adding an eerie soundtrack to the tension in the air. As I reached his door, I paused for a moment, bracing myself for what I might find inside.
Turning the knob, I entered to find my son huddled in his bed, tears streaming down his face, his small frame trembling with fear. "Daddy, there's a monster under my bed," he whispered, his voice barely audible amidst his sobs.
I knelt beside him, the cool air of the room sending shivers down my spine. "There are no monsters, buddy," I reassured him, my voice filled with false bravado.
His eyes widened as he pointed for me to look under the bed, his fear palpable in the room. I followed suit, my heart skipping a beat as I saw my son somehow under the bed, tears in his eyes as he has his mouth covered, he gestured his eyes upward, he removed his hands from his mouth, and his words trembled.
"daddy, there's a monster on my bed.
I slowly looked up on the bed the air grew heavy with a sense of dread as I realized the figure was like a twisted reflection of my son, but something was horribly wrong.
The creature's eyes were hollow voids, devoid of any warmth or humanity. Its smile was grotesque, stretching unnaturally wide to reveal rows of razor-sharp teeth glinting in the faint moonlight filtering through the curtains. It moved with an eerie grace, its limbs elongating as if defying the laws of nature.
A chill ran down my spine, a primal instinct urging me to flee, but I was frozen in place, unable to tear my gaze away from this nightmare made flesh. It let out a blood-curdling scream, its voice piercing my ears like shards of glass, sending waves of agony through my body.
I recoiled, clutching my ears in a futile attempt to block out the sound, but it was no use. The creature's hand closed around my throat with inhuman strength, and I felt searing pain as it tore at my flesh, ripping my face apart in a frenzy of violence.
The pain was unbearable, a torment that transcended the boundaries of reality and plunged me into a waking nightmare. Just as I thought I couldn't endure any more agony, I jolted awake, gasping for air, my heart pounding in my chest.
Relief flooded through me as I bolted straight up, realizing it was just a dream, a twisted figment of my imagination. I reached up to touch my face, reassured by the familiar sensation of intact skin. But then, a distant scream shattered the fragile calm of my waking reality, reminding me that nightmares, once born, can echo far beyond the confines of sleep.
I turned towards the sound, dread creeping over me like a suffocating blanket. My son's terrified cries echoed through the house, and I felt a heavy weight settle over me, dragging me back into the abyss of fear and uncertainty.
God help us both.
