Artemis 9

In 1989 a very prominent government in the western world created Project Artemis, a top secret extraterrestrial failsafe program to counter the influence of enemy alien species on Earth.

The goal was to create “superhuman” beings, incapable of being brainwashed by the grey and reptilian alien species that desire only one thing: enslave humanity and grow them like crops for harvest.

This story is the story of one of their creations

…

Screaming and soaked in an icy sweat, I awakened from the worst night terror so far.

Must I long for peace even in my dreams?

I looked around frantically as my heart pounded in my chest and I slowly realized where I was.

The dark apartment began to take a familiar shape as my eyes began to focus. My phone had died sometime after I had fallen asleep watching cat videos, so the light of the moon was the only thing I could use to discern my surroundings.

My cat, Lionel, insisted on coming to my aid without dropping the mouse he had in his mouth beforehand.

He placed it gently next to me as I very quickly realized… he hadn’t killed it yet.

I jumped from the bed as the mouse skittered across the quilt, down the bed frame and into the hallway.

“I appreciate the urgency with which you answered my distress, Lionel. But next time feel free to KILL the mouse first… or at least let it go somewhere OTHER than the bed?” I said to him as he began to chase the mouse from the room.

I turned on the lamp by the bed and guzzled the water I’d left on the nightstand. The alarm clock read 3:33. I had to be up for work in two hours.. “These damn night terrors are gonna be the death of me.”

I got up and walked into the dark hallway toward the bathroom.

*knock*

*knock*

*knock*

I stopped in my tracks and slowly turned toward the front door.

Who the hell is knocking at 3am?

I silently slunk to the door and peered through the peephole.

An empty hallway.

There wasn’t even someone at the neighbor’s apartment across the hall this time.

There was no one there to create the knock at the door.

I jumped back when the door handle began to jiggle as if someone were trying to open it.

But there’s no one there.

The jiggling stopped and there was silence.

I stared at the handle, afraid to even touch it, then I slowly leaned my face over the peephole again.

Maybe someone is playing a joke?

But still, no one. I retreated from the door and bolted to the bathroom, closing the door and locking it.

What the fuck just happened?

Open the door.

“I think not, thank you,” my voice shook.

Who the hell is talking?

I am.

I panic and fall backwards nearly missing the toilet.

“Who the fuck are you?!” I managed to say aloud despite a rather large lump in my throat.

I am here to show you the way.

“The way to where?!” I demanded as I began to pull my knees close to my chest.

The voice didn’t FEEL threatening but the fact that I heard it speaking inside my head and not with my ears, was terrifying.

Where you are supposed to be.

“What does that mean?” I said, now clutching my knees to my chest like a life preserver.

Open the door, I will show you.

Suddenly I found myself, no longer knees to chest on my apartment’s bathroom floor, but standing in a strange house, in a small room, in front of a narrow wooden door.

Open it. I am waiting.

“I knew I shouldn’t have had those extra spicy tacos before bed,” I say as I stare at the door, “Why should I open the door? You still haven’t told me who you are. How do I know you aren’t going to make this another night terror?”

You are perfectly awake and I am not here to harm you. But if you need reassurance, you may choose to believe this is a dream, as you say, and therefore recognize that I cannot physically harm you.

“So this isn’t a dream then? Interesting. Does this mean you’ve teleported me?”

Yes. And no.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Your body resides within your apartment still but your mind is here.

“So we’re in my mind?” I said, trying to discern if I recognized where I was.

No.

“Wait, what?”

What you are seeing is being seen, not with your body’s eyes, but with your mind’s eye.

“Alright. My head hurts. How do I wake up or go home or-“

Not until you open the door.

“Why? What’s on the other side? Some kind of horrible mind monster? Vampires?”

You will not know until you open it.

“Damn it. Now I HAVE to open it, you know that right?”

*Silence.*

Well if my body is safe at home then this MUST be a dream. Whether it turns into a night terror is likely determined by what’s beyond that door.

And if there IS something terrible, I’d have learned a valuable lesson in probably the safest way possible.

I stretched my hand out and noticed it’s shaking.

If I know this is a dream, why am I shaking?

I grasped the old brass doorknob and began to turn it. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest like a drum.

No wait. Those ARE drums.

I felt the click of the door’s latch and gently began to pull it open. As I opened the door I could see a set of old, slatted, wooden stairs leading downward into darkness. A darkness unlike what I’d ever seen and it seemed to stretch into infinity.

I started to notice a new sound coming from the darkness. Soft like a whisper but I couldn’t make out the words. I listened harder, straining to hear what it was saying. Suddenly the whisper crescendoed as if the source were approaching with great haste.

I quickly tried to slam the door closed but for whatever reason, the door only closed to about two inches from the doorway and refused to come any further. The corroded brass cut into my hand as I pulled on the door.

I panicked and fell back against the wall and down to the floor.

There’s nowhere I can go!

“Oh yeah this looks great! Thanks for showing me but I’d like to go home now!”

The sound reached the door at a scream and I clasped my hands over my ears and clenched my eyes closed in fear of what would be coming through the door.

I don’t want to see it coming!

A sudden deafening silence and the feeling of freezing cold tile against my back ripped my eyes open.

I was back on the floor of my bathroom, huddled against the wall with my knees to my chest and my hands over my ears.

I tried to collect myself but I could do nothing save for sit in shock and confusion.

What the hell? I’m randomly falling asleep on my bathroom floor now? What a fucked up dream.

I noticed a cool, wetness on the side of my face and reached my hand up to touch it.

As I watched my hand move toward my face, I saw a large, bloody, gash in my palm… and I remembered the doorknob.