Into the Old Barn

Its cold. I feel a damp pillow against my cheek. I can hear the wind outside as it crashes against my window. I’m fighting off this need to get up out my bed, although I know I can’t hold it any longer. I sit up in bed and let my eyes adjust to the darkness. I focus on the doorway and although I have made my way from this bed to the doorway countless times in the light of day, I have to precisely plan my route at night.

My feet hit the hardwood and I quickly but quietly make way across the old creaky floor. Just as I am about to reach the door, I feel her. Her cold hands wrap around my ankles. She pulls with such force that the floor is taken away from me for a moment before my chest hits the floor. I gasp for the air that has been knocked out of me as she pulls me towards the hallway. I don’t know where she intends to bring me but I resist going there. My hands helplessly palm the floors while my nails scratch at its surface. Her hands are freezing cold but burn at my ankles with her tight grip. Between both ends of my body my chest heaves with fear. So heavy that I feel weight blocking my ability to cry out to my family. She pulls me down the staircase. I continue to claw away grabbing at each step that my body crashes against. But each hand slips away as she tugs at my body. I can hear her breathing.

I begin to realize that I have never been here before. I always wake up when we get to the stairs. A rush of panic floods over me. I tell myself it still must be a dream though. Her breathing is getting heavier, as if with excitement as she is dragging me to the front door. I look down the hallway towards my parent’s bedroom. I’m internally screaming at them for help. I raise one hand upwards and push against the floor with the other, reaching out towards a small table that sits at the bottom of the staircase. I feel the thin rug bunching below me into a bundle below my ribs as she continues to pull me to the front doorway. The small table is getting further from my reach. I let my arm back down and prepare myself for the concrete steps behind me.

I feel the cracks and divots of the porous hard surface. These steps are no easier to grab hold of. Its not long before I feel the gravel of the walkway beneath me. I turn my face to sacrifice one side to the harsh ground. Its not long before she pulls me off into the grass. I try to ignore the dull pains of my bruising, the sharp sting of my cut flesh and the cold air weakening my bones as I continue to fight against her. I helplessly tear out handfuls of long overgrown grass. I feel for a stick to stab her with or a rock to bludgeon her through the blanket of grass that has flattened beneath me. She is grunting so loud now. It is as if her lips are pressed to my ear. I finally give up on this strategy that has never worked.

I flip over onto my back, legs twisted in her grip. I look up to see the old barn above me in the light of the moon. I can see its weak frame slightly move with the brisk wind as I am dragged inside. I feel her hands move up my legs and feel the force of a stronger pull. The smell of moldy hay and rotting wood surrounds me.

She begins to slow her pace as we reach the center of the barn. I start to lift myself up but can feel her crawl onto me at the same time. She pushes her hand onto my chest. I feel all of my energy leave my body. I lay motionless looking up to the rafters. She presses her face against mine and I fall into complete darkness.

Its cold. I can feel damp hay below me. I let my eyes adjust to the morning light as I watch a figure rise above me. She’s standing now, looming over me. A large smile stretches over her dark face. As she turns to walk away, I try to push myself up. I feel my heart sink as I look down to nothing. No feeling, no pain, no legs. They are gone. The demon disappears into the light that pours in through the barn door. I let out a loud piercing scream, one that I can’t make when I am dreaming.