A Noise

It was 00:30 am when I heard the noise. It was like the sound of a door opening, except for the fact that it was followed by heavy breathing and the echo of distant footsteps, slowly creeping to my bedroom door. I didn't dare turn on my light, lest I disturb whatever was lurking outside my room and cause my possibly inevitable death. As I lay there waiting for the creature, or whatever it was, to do its deed, I realized a dreadful silence had fallen and after what seemed like an eternity of lying still, I decided to creep out of bed and face whatever lay outside my room in the darkness bound hallway. I opened my door ever so slightly, the smooth wood rubbing against the palms of my hands. I slowly tip-toed into the hallway, its cold, hard, tiles sending shivers up my spine, as if trying to warn me of the hidden dangers that lay within the shadows stretched across the walls. A thick mist had enveloped the hallway, breaking me into a cold sweat. I heard the floor creak in the distance and the very distinct sound of the scurrying of feet on a tiled floor. I continued further into the hallway, slowly and steadily I moved, not wanting to upset the unknown intruder.

I walked forwards towards the noise coming from the kitchen, one step at a time, with the feeling that someone or something was watching me, and that was when I saw it. Its glowing eyes, green and spiteful, which seemed to pierce through my body as it inspected me and gazed at me with a deep rage. Moonlight shone on to the creature and cast its shadow on to the wall, a long dark shadow with a threatening stance, as if it were ready to pounce. It suddenly lunged towards me and I prepared for the worst. It was then that I realized that the creature was smaller than I had thought, it was now in front of me and I suddenly felt something on my leg. I turned on the light only to notice that my cat had been trying to open the slightly ajar kitchen door, and succeeded in it, making noise in the process. This wouldn't have been strange save for my cat bolting out of the room as soon as there was enough space between me and the door. I turned the light back off and that’s when I knew why my cat had ever so anxiously and desperately hurried out of the kitchen. I felt a hand stroke the back of my neck; if you could call it a hand. Its touch felt like a cold breath, paralyzing every muscle in my body. I desperately ran into the kitchen, tried to reach the door and shut it behind me but I was frozen on the spot. The creature grabbed me but despite my struggling, it overpowered me and made my efforts to escape its grasp futile. My body turned around unwillingly and I was face to face with the creature. Its body was composed of smoke and ash, hovering a meter above the ground; it reached the kitchen ceiling in height and had to hunch over in order to face me. Its eyes were fiery and flashed images of death and despair, images of apocalyptic landscapes, as if it were showing me my future. I felt a deep jolt of pain enter my stomach; it ran over my spine and spread throughout my body. I felt my arms and legs become stiff, my vision blackened but somehow, I could still see into the creature’s terrorizing eyes, two endless pits of nightmares and fears that burned through me.

I felt everything slowly fade away. The battered landscape I witnessed in the creature’s eyes came closer and closer, until I could feel the jagged rocks beneath my feet and the scorching, suffocating heat; until I could hear the distant moans of desperation and screams of terror. I tried to run away from the screams but they seemed to come from every direction, nevertheless I kept running. And then the ground gave way. I was falling into an abyss; the macabre land I had been in was disappearing with every passing second until it was no longer visible under the infinite darkness I was falling into. After what seemed like an eternity I smelt a familiar air and felt something soft greet me as I landed. I awoke and sat up immediately. I found myself in my bedroom again, just as I had been at the start of this nightmare. I lied down and rested my head on my pillow, thankful it was just a dream; that is until I laid eyes upon my clock, which read 00:29:55 am and just as if triggered by my realization, I heard the noises again, and soon enough, I was running from the screams. But this time, the ground never gave, and I never came back.

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