Skin

I needed a good night's sleep.

I was looking forward to it, after many nightmares about my skin peeling away.

I laundered the sheets that day and cleaned my room. I had read a book that explained that this was the key to a good night's sleep, but my night did not go very well,

and this time I wasn't dreaming.

I laid my head on my pillow and smiled. I had laundered during the day, and I indulged happily in the soft feather-down caressing my cheeks, and the luxury smell of magnolia that hit my nose. I smiled and breathed a happy sigh as I closed my eyes, drifting slowly to a place of sleep.

I was asleep for about an hour when I woke up in shock.

The delicate skin on my face and arms felt like it was on fire. I felt the burn piercing through me like someone had stroked a hot lighter up and down my arms, and all over my face.

I shrieked and headed to the bathroom, franticly splashing ice-cold water all over my face and arms to cool them.

I was sweating and shaking heavily. I had no breath, even when I breathed in the air, my breath was red hot. It felt like someone had set me on fire from the inside out.

I drank gallons of ice-cold water, in an attempt to cool the burning. One hour later, the burning stopped, so I got back into bed.

I thought that I was dreaming when I heard a rip and a crackle which sounded like my skin cracking and peeling. I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep because I was used to having nightmares of this kind.

I woke up to a feeling that I can only describe as someone tearing a white-hot needle through my skin. I screamed loud and ran to the bathroom, when I looked in the mirror, pieces of my skin were falling off, and the flaky- flesh was cindered around the edges.

I vomited a few times and lay on the floor shaking because my body could not take the heat that was radiating from it.

I couldn't feel my face, arms, or feet, and my stomach felt like it was eating itself away, and burning up from the inside.

I was losing consciousness, but I managed to keep my eyes open for long enough to look around the floor. The floor was covered in huge amounts of burnt flesh.

Shaking, but not crying because my tears had evaporated due to the heat cursing through my body, I reached to touch my face. All I could feel was the watery, bloody flesh underneath, mixed with loose torn muscle and sagging skin.

One of my eyeballs appeared on the floor below me, and I screamed louder this time.

I had no idea what was happening to me.

I finally lost consciousness, and my eyes closed.

I woke up in the morning, feeling dizzy, weak, and sick. I had no idea what had happened last night. I spent a few minutes pondering whether I should look in the mirror, but I didn't need to; I only had to look around the floor at the piles of horribly burnt flesh around me.

I decided to crawl into the bedroom because I could not walk. The skin on my legs had burned off completely, and the burn from the carpet was horrendous as I crawled into my room.

When I entered my room, I let out a louder, piercing scream as the whole of my room had been burned to ashes.

I realized I was dead. Killed by a nightmare, in my sleep.