The Darkness

Reegan was ready for bed. After a long day, she knew it wouldn't take long for her to fall asleep. She did her nightly routine and then crawled into her warm bed. After snuggling under her big comforter, she was asleep in under five minutes. Reegan never had nightmares, not really. If she did they were few and far between. But right now, she was experiencing a bad one.

Reegan was running through the dark. She felt as if something was chasing her, but she couldn't see anything. The darkness enveloped everything around her. She wanted to stop running, to catch her breath, as there was a sharp pain in her side. Though if she stopped running, she felt as if some creature would overtake her and kill her.

So, she kept on running into the darkness, with no clue what her surroundings were. The fear kept her going, her pulse racing, her adrenaline draining. There was a cold sweat upon her forehead. Reegan felt her body slowing down. She tried to push herself harder to stay away from whatever was chasing her, but it was no use.

She gave up, she stopped running. Why prolong the inevitable? Knowing what was coming, all she had to do was wait. The cold, putrid breath was on her neck in no time at all. She didn't want to turn around and face the evil that she felt surrounding her. So, she closed her eyes.

Reegan sat straight up in bed breathing hard. That same cold sweat from her dream upon her forehead. That same darkness in her room. Had her dream come out to the real world, she wondered. She didn't feel the evil presence that she had felt in her dream. For that she was glad. She flipped the switch on her lamp. Nothing happened. The electric must have gone out. Reegan got out of bed with a sigh. She looked out of her window and no street lights were on either.

Maybe there had been a storm. It was too dark to really tell if it had rained. And Reegan's dream had been so real. Too real. If there was a storm, she wouldn't have heard it. She wondered if she should just go back to sleep and try to forget about the nightmare that she had. She wasn’t comfortable going back to sleep in the dark, though. She decided to grab some candles and light them since the electric was off.

Reegan looked all around but she couldn’t find her lighter or her matches. They were probably in the kitchen, she thought. She swore that she kept some in her bedroom for emergencies but couldn’t find them. It didn’t help that she couldn’t see. She decided to feel her way to the kitchen and to the drawer where she kept her lighters.

As she was working her way to the kitchen, she thought it seemed like there was such an unnatural darkness in her apartment. It was probably because of the nightmare she had just had but she had a feeling something was weird. She made it to the kitchen without tripping over anything. The drawer that she kept her lighters in was right beside the kitchen entrance. So that wasn’t hard for Reegan to get to.

Reegan decided to use the lighter to get back to her room. She flicked it and nothing but a spark happened. She flicked it again and again, and after Reegan was ready to give up on getting it to light, the flame stayed. She held the lighter in front of her and slowly walked back to her bedroom.

As she was approaching her bedroom she heard a thump and her lighter went out. She ignored the thump thinking it was probably something outside and continued to her room. She used the lighter to light all the candles she had in her room and it only gave her trouble a couple of times.

Once all the candles were lit, the shadows in her room from the flames seemed so ominous. They were dancing on the walls seeming to try and draw Reegan in. Whispering ever so slightly. Reegan shivered. Ignoring the shadows, she crawled into bed.

With a sigh, she closed her eyes. The whispers she had imagined seemed to get louder. She shuffled down more under the covers. All of this was invading her head because of her nightmare she knew it. It was making her imagination run wild. Reegan opened her eyes and saw total darkness again.

Somehow, all of her candles had blown out. Okay, Reegan thought, that wasn’t creepy in the least bit. She got up to relight the candles and couldn’t find her lighter, even though she had put it on her bedside table. She looked all around the table and on the floor and it was no where to be found.

There was a thud sound, and another thump. Then the sound of footprints coming towards Reegan. Thump, thud, thump, thud. It kind of sounded like something with a limp. Suddenly, Reegan felt a negative energy surround her. The same negative energy she felt from the evil being in her dream. Thud, thump, thud, thump.

The footsteps stopped right behind her. Curiosity that Reegan didn’t have in her dream, made her turn around. Nothing but darkness, except… There was glowing red eyes, just above her head. They seemed to be angrily glaring at her. She backed up against her bedside table, nearly tripping over herself. There was nothing between her and the darkness.

Reegan started breathing heavily. She heard herself whimper with fear. Her dream was becoming reality, except here, she had nowhere to run. With that realization, she thought she saw the eyes smile a little. And come closer. She felt the darkness that was surrounding her began to envelop her soul.

She needed to try to run. At least trying to escape would make her feel better. She would go out fighting.

Reegan thought for a second. Maybe, just maybe she was still dreaming. So, she closed her eyes, expecting to wake up again. She squeezed her eyes shut as tight as she could. She felt nothing different though. She opened her eyes and the glaring red was still staring her down.

She tried to run through the darkness like in her dream. She ran into what felt like a wall. Right into the red eyes. There was a heat radiating from the being and a cold. It was so unnatural and Reegan was frozen in place staring up at the eyes.

She felt the darkness seeping into her soul. Taking over her body. She was becoming one with it. The more the darkness seeped into her, the more she could make out the being with the red eyes.

She first saw his mouth with super white, sharp teeth. Smiling evilly down at her. He was entirely made out of shadows except his mouth and eyes. He was terrifying and the more he came into view the more Reegan was frozen in place.

Before the darkness completely devoured Reegan, she saw more eyes and more smiles, hidden all around. And she heard whispers, saying, join us, join us.