Is it all in my head?

All in my head Part 2

Startled, I sit up. I reach into the darkness, scrambling for the lamp string, sending all the items from the night table crashing to the floor. I finally find what I am looking for and pull. Yellow light illuminates the room, as I look around frantically reassuring myself that the old man is gone. That I was only dreaming, and it’s all in my head. I let out a heavy breath, I can feel the panic leaving my body as I breath deeply, exhaling the pain away.

I feel too warm lifting the blanket away from my body, I get a chill in my lap. I look down, embarrassment washes over me as I realize that I have wet the bed.

Great. It’s like I am a kid again wetting the bed every time I have a bad dream.

Those dreams.

I quickly look around the room one more time. For the first time feeling glad that I live alone. No one to see my freak out over dreams that don’t mean anything. My inner child slowly ripping me apart like a doll from the inside out, twisting at the seams until one day I just might break.

I sigh heavily as I swing my legs off the edge of the bed, my feet coming in contact with the smooth, cold wood of the floor. A shiver runs up my spin, waking me fully. I shake it off and stand up, feeling the bones crack in my feet as I walk to the bathroom. I look at myself in the mirror, I look different. I look...

Weird?

Examining myself in the mirror I can’t shake the feeling that there is something different about my reflection. It doesn’t look like me, it looks like someone else. I turn the sink on and splash cold water onto my face. The cool water seems to wash away the weird feeling.

You’re ok. The dreams always come back but then they stop for a few months at least. You’ll soon get your release.

I feel myself relax at the thought and head back out to my small living area.

I have lined the walls with different colored lights. They twinkle in the dark cave-like apartment. Casting a dim light onto the walls through out the space. The oversized clock on the wall reads 11:45 AM. I guess I slept in more than I thought.

I pull the curtain up quickly, the afternoon sun momentarily blinding me. I blink until my eyes are clear, looking out the window and observing a homeless man digging in the dumpster looking for cans. A smile spills across my face. The way he is so frantic is very animalistic, like a raccoon digging for a meal at the bottom of the full dumpster. He is making quite a mess. He glances up at me scowling. Surprised that he looked directly at me, as if knowing that I was watching him, I give an awkward wave as I drop the curtain quickly and walk back to the bed. Stripping the soiled sheets and replacing them with fresh clean ones. I remove my wet clothes and add them to the wash and start it. It’s familiar hum comforts me.

I turn the water to the hottest setting, and climb in the shower. The water slightly burning my skin. As I close my eyes and enjoy the heat, my mind wanders. The dream, echoing in my mind.

You are so weak. You just let this old man tell you to hurt your family and you just follow blindly! You are pathetic.

“It was a dream!” I hear myself shouting. My eyes pop open, realizing the water has turned from hot to icy cold. I turn the water off quickly, reaching for a towel and wrapping it around my frozen, goosebump covered body. I guess I was spaced out for longer than I thought. I walk to the window and pull away the curtain. It’s pitch black. The clock reads 2:05 AM. I back away panicking.

How is that right? I just—

Knock. Knock. Knock.

My thoughts are interrupted by a knocking on my door. Who could it be so late? Nobody knows where I live.

Maybe it’s the old man. Maybe he has found you and wants you to finish what you started.

I am frozen with fear. I try to walk towards the door, but my feet won’t budge. I look down gasping. My feet have fused to the floor like they melted, spreading across the floor, filling the cracks in the wood. I stare confused.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The knocking is growing impatient and louder. It turns into pounding.He’s pounding so hard on the door you can see the splinters flying out of the old wood. Raining down onto the floor.

A scream escapes my lips as the door bursts into pieces and shatters. The loud sound of the wood falling onto the ground makes me jump. Dead silence follows the noise.

It’s too quiet. Something is wrong.

I try to steady my breathing but It doesn’t work. It fills my head like a sudden loud song. I can’t think. I can’t hear.

“Who’s there? What do you want from me?” I ask too quietly, voice muffled with fear.

I feel a wave of panic rain down on me as I see a shadow. His shadow, emerging closer. Growing smaller, the old man walks into the room. His face is hidden in the darkness. I can see his rotten teeth appearing one by one as his face comes in to the light slowly with every echoing step. His smile spreads wider, like we are old friends and he is happy to see me.

I told you it was him, that he was coming back to get you.

As panic sets in, I try to scramble away as he walks closer, but my feet are still somehow melted to the floor. I pull my foot up hard, the skin stretching like melted gum. I can feel the agonizing pain of bones breaking one by one as I pull on my leg to detach the melted foot. I reach down and try to rip the skin apart. I can feel it stretching, feeling the skin tightening so tight and then snapping like a rubber band. A searing heat pulses down my leg, as I fall back. Finally breaking free. I scream in pain and frustration as I pull on the other leg snapping this one quickly, releasing myself from the floor, leaving my detached melted feet on the floor like abandoned bloody ice cream, they spread across the floor. Making a huge mess. I stare down in horror and confusion. The old mans laughs, it fills the apartment, sending chills down my spine.

I start dragging my lower half as I crawl to the bathroom. I make my way through the opening, slamming the door and locking it behind me. I can still hear his menacing laugh coming from behind the door. Blood is spilling from the stretched out saggy skin. The sight of it makes me woozy. I feel like I have been drugged. My vision starts to fade around the edges, the darkness over taking me.

 Pulling me in.