Chapter Text
You sit alone in your room, curled up on your bed with a big comforter wrapped around you, reading a book you picked up recently. You think you hear your dad call for you for dinner. Good, you think, because your stomach is growling. Something warm and delicious like your dad's homemade chicken noodle soup sounds great right about now.
You unwrap yourself from your blanket cocoon and stand off your bed, stretching and sighing in slight relief. As great as sitting down and reading a good book is, it sure locks up your muscles from sitting in one place for so long. That relief your muscles get is pretty relaxing to you, so you smile.
You suddenly notice something in your peripheral vision. Something black, something large. You turn your head toward your window quickly, only to find that nothing is there. All you can see through your closed window is the night, a stray streetlamp lighting a spot on the street in its fainted yellow glow.
Maybe you just imagined it? Or misinterpreted the blackness of the night as something else? Yeah, that's probably it. It was pretty blobby, you couldn't make out a real shape from the black.
You shake your head; you've been reading about fantasy stuff for a few hours now, your mind is making things up, what with the last words you read still fresh in your mind. As cool as it would be to see a real life monster, that would never happen. Its all fiction, fakey fake stuff made up for entertainment. Its still fun to think about, though.
Your stomach erupts in another growl, drawing your attention away from your thoughts. That's right, food. Food is a thing that you were about to get, but you got sidetracked. Enough with thinking about fantasy stuff you definitely did not see and that does not exist, its time to go downstairs and join your dad for dinner.
You step to your bedroom door and open it, immediately getting hit with the delicious smell of what could be soup with chicken in it, and possibly something sweet smelling? God, you hope your dad didn't bake another cake. You'll have to think of an excuse to get out of there before he starts serving it up before dinner is over. You exit the room and close your door behind you.
====>
Dinner passes by pretty uneventfully. Your dad asks you how school went, you ask him how work went, some small talk and a few jokes follow, then you fall into a comfortable silence for a while, just enjoying the great meal your dad prepared for the two of you. unfortunately for you, when you try to slip out of your chair when your dad turns his back to you to start cutting the cake, you end up with a face full of cake.
You hadn't thought that he would throw the piece in your face when it seemed that one was made for eating, but you think maybe you shouldn't expect anything less. This is your father you're talking about here, the man that taught you all your tricks. This is also the man who's pretty adamant to get you to eat his desserts. You think if he were anyone else, he would just be shoving the cake into your mouth against your protests.
You shudder; the last thing you need is another person shoving desserts into your mouth. Dave is already guilty of doing that to you with cookies. At school, even! That was a pretty embarrassing day, and you still can't quite live it down. Too many of your classmates had seen the blonde pushing you against a table and shove a large, gross cafeteria cookie into your mouth to live it down.
You head upstairs and to your room. You're just going to take a shower, because the frosting is in your hair and you don't really want to sleep with that caked in your hair, smelling of vanilla frosting. It'll probably be harder to wash it out in the morning too. Bluh bluh, stupid parents and their stupid prankster gambits.
You grab some fresh Ghostbuster PJs and head to the bathroom, where you take a slightly longer than necessary shower to wash out all the frosting and cake bits from wherever they ended up on your body.
You return to your bedroom after your shower, throwing your dirty clothes into a basket infront of your bed. You realize its actually kind of really cold in your room, wow what happened? Before dinner and even when you got your clothes it was warm and cozy, but now its almost like you're standing out there in the October cold. You had left your glasses on your dresser, still covered in cake.
You take your dirty towel out of your hamper and retrieve your glasses, wiping them on the towel gently. After you think you've cleaned them enough you set the wire frames on your nose and walk back over to the hamper, dropping the towel in. You can clearly see what the problem is now and how did this happen?
Your window, which you are quite sure was closed before, is wide open. Letting all the heat out and too much cold in.
Did you open this? But you don't remember opening it. Did your dad? But why would he, when its so cold out. He wouldn't do this as some failed attempt for a prank, would he? You know your dad better than that.
Suddenly you hear a low noise from somewhere in the room. Um. That definitely wasn't a growl, like you think it was. Nope, that was your computer whirring probably, maybe someone is pestering you and springing your desktop back to life-
It happens a second time, a lot louder. Its kind of hard to deny that definitely was a growl like from some feral animal. Okay you know what? Maybe your dad is pranking you again, setting up some kind of machine to let out growls and make you think something got into your room. Haha Dad, good job on that one, got you there for a moment. Yup, that is what this is, and you're going to find that whatever it is and show it to your dad, have a laugh then go to bed.
You quickly turn around as another growl comes out from behind you, and it does not sound closer or anything, nope nope nope, this is all a prank, you're sure-
That... black mass sitting in your corner...Its just a prop, okay? No different than the harlequin doll your dad bought for your birthday once. nope, those red piercing eyes and long claws and bright white fangs are fake, fakey fake shit to scare you. Wow its suddenly pretty dark in your room, and all you can see is the blood red of those cat-like eyes staring a hole straight into you. The growl coming from it is loud and kind of scary but hey its just dark and its fake and good job dad, good job on scaring the shit out of your son-
You don't have time to think anymore, as the next moment the black mass sitting in your corner lunges for you, going way faster than you'd think should be possible. It reaches straight for your throat and you're thrown backwards onto your back--Until suddenly you're not, and you're sitting bolt up in your bed, panting and shaking.
Goddamnit, you think. That dream, nightmare, whatever- again. God, why do you keep having the same dream over and over? You hold your head in your hands and rub at your eyes. This is getting pretty bad. That dream was very, very vivid. You don't remember when you fell asleep, you don't know what time it is-you peek at your clock then and see that its 3:12am, again-you don't understand why you keep having these dreams.
Its been months now, and you have had this same dream over and over and over again, rarely getting any break from it. It plagues your subconscious, haunts you in your waking moments. You can't get away from it. Just the sight of those blood red eyes staring at you, those long claws attached to hands that, that just- hang there, not moving, not twitching. The thought of those huge fangs digging into your flesh; its almost too much to bear anymore.
Sometimes the dreams vary. Sometimes you dream you're in your bed at night, and the- the thing sits at the foot of your bed, staring you down, daring you to make a move. To do something. But you don't, because you're terrified it'll attack you if you move. Sometimes you dream you're out in public and see those eyes staring at you from dark corners you pass. Hell, sometimes when you're walking in school or through stores and you look down hallways or aisles, you swear you see those eyes glaring at you from too far away for you to be able to see them.
Sometimes the growling coming from the dark places in your room almost... almost sounds like its trying to talk, trying to say something to you. You're pretty certain anything it would say would just result in "you're going to die", though. You can't imagine something like that-something so much like a demon-would be trying to actually talk to you. You're absolutely terrified of it. You're almost convinced that its real and that its haunting you because its actually going to kill you one day.
You really need help. You know you do, this isn't normal, its not natural- Its not like you haven't tried telling people about the dream. You tried to tell Rose, and she tried to give you a therapy session but you couldn't figure out anything about why you keep having these dreams, and they didn't stop either. You've told your cousin Jade, but she just waved you off and said that it wasn't anything big. She has weird dreams all the time, apparently. So its nothing to worry about.
But it is. It is and its taking over your life. You don't hang out with your friends like you used to. You try to, to get your mind off this dream. But its not the same. You've not had bro bonding time with Dave in forever. You feel terrible about that, about not giving enough time to your friends but you can't, not while you feel like you're being watched and always looking over your shoulder, looking for the demon you're sure will come for you one day.
You sigh loudly and throw your covers off of you. You swing your legs over the side of your bed, getting hit with a sudden rush of cool air. You shiver, but push yourself up anyway. You're not going to get any sleep, not for a bit anyway. You have to do something else to distract yourself from the dream long enough for your tiredness to take over and force you back to sleep.
You walk over to your dresser and grab the hammer and flashlight resting there. You've taken to carrying a weapon and a source of light with you when you leave your room at night, more to give you comfort than anything. You switch on the flashlight and point it at the floor, then you leave your room as quietly as you can.
You first stop at the bathroom, being very careful not to shine the light near your dad's door or make too much noise. Just because you can't sleep doesn't mean you have to keep your dad up, too. After that, you shuffle down the stairs and to the kitchen. You take a glance at the digital clock built into the oven and see that its 3:20am. You let out a puff of air quietly and set your items on the kitchen counter.
You open a cabinet door to grab out a cup, when you suddenly don't feel like you're alone anymore. Its almost like someone is standing right next to you, warm breath hitting your exposed skin in slow puffs. Your eyes widen slightly and you quickly shut the door, only to find that no one is there.
You hit the side of your head with the palm of your hand, literally trying to knock the thoughts circling in your brain out the other side. Calm down, John. There is no red-eyed demon in here with you, there is no monster trying to kill you, this is real life not a dream you NEED TO CALM DOWN-
You sit down in a chair next to the kitchen table and take deep, long breaths. You can't have a panic attack out here in the kitchen, you can't freak out and pass out on the floor. You'd have all kinds of fun trying to explain that to your dad in the morning.
After a minute, you decide that you're good, you're fine now. Everything is perfectly okay and you're just going to get a glass of water like you planned, drink it, and go back to your room where you'll probably go on your computer and see if anyone else is awake. That is the plan and you are sticking to it because god damn it, there are no demons in your house.
You stand up and open the cabinet again. You take out a glass and close the cabinet, then you run the tap to fill your cup. You turn around to lean against the sink when you notice the cabinet door to the glasses is open.
Okay, you're kind of sure you just closed it, but its fine you probably didn't close it all the way and it just kind of swung open on its own. Gravity does that to wooden cabinet doors, you've seen it.
You've also seen in all kinds of movies where the cabinet doors just open on their own and it was because of a ghost because, obviously in every ghost movie they like to play with kitchen equipment. No, fuck you brain and fuck yourself for liking ghost movies, goddamnit.
Why did you even like those cheesy movies in the first place? You suddenly start to regret ever having marathons of Paranormal Activity because you're just freaking yourself out for no reason.
You reach out and close the cabinet door, then lean back against the sink. Okay, its just a dream. Its freaked you out for a while, but come on monsters and demons? That's stuff you'd only ever see in movies or read in books. It's not real and you aren't dealing with such a thing right now. You're dealing with your overactive mind making you think you're feeling and seeing things when they aren't really there.
You drink some of the water then pour the rest of it into the sink and set the glass in. You grab your items off of the counter, keeping the flashlight Off, because you don't need it. You aren't some baby afraid of the dark, you're a sixteen year old guy who is going back to his room to waste some time on the computer before going back to sleep.
You carefully and quietly walk back up the stairs and to your room. You open the door and walk in, set the hammer and flashlight on your dresser, and close the door. You are sure you did not see a flash of two red orbs in the corner. You will not let your paranoid mind get the better of you tonight, because you're sick and tired of living in fear of nothing.
You huff in defiance, and scoot over to your desk chair. You plop down and shake the mouse, bringing the computer out of slumber. You open Pesterchum, silently hoping one of your friends is online so you can distract yourself. Two names on the chumroll are grayed out, but one of them is on.
-- ectoBiologist (EB) began pestering turntechGodhead (TG) at 3:27am --
EB: hey dave!
EB: what are you doing up so late?
TG: oh hey egbuns
TG: nothing wrong with asking but i always stay up this late bro you know this
TG: the real question is
TG: what are you doing up this late
TG: its very unjohnlike for you to be up at 3am
EB: oh. well i dunno i couldn't sleep?
EB: i kind of woke up and haven't tried to sleep again yet
TG: well whats eating at your ass then bro
TG: if anything
TG: you know you can tell me and i will 100 percent not judge you for it
EB: gross.
EB: nothings wrong dave! i just couldn't sleep so now i'm talking to you.
TG: you sure bro
TG: im not lalonde but i can listen to your egbertian troubles yo
TG: be that one friend that always has that shoulder dusted off and ready for any sad sack of shit needing a good cry
TG: we can feelings jam it out and youll feel like the happiest damn fucker by sunrise
TG: we can act out one of your shitty movies where we cry together as the sun rises and blinds us
TG: but obviously it wouldnt blind me with my kickass shades blocking it
EB: oh my god! if i tell you will you shut up already?
TG: i dunno probly
TG: better to do it then sit and ask questions
EB: sigh.
EB: okay, the problem is i had a nightmare.
EB: don't make fun of me for it! its this one that keeps re occuring and its actually really, really scary
TG: how scary we talking here
TG: like shitty jumpscare scary or about to be eaten by a dinosaur scary or
EB: i dunno, the second one?
EB: its been happening for months and i keep thinking i'm seeing red eyes looking at me from the darkness in my room.
EB: its like this black thing i can't ever make a shape of, but i can see the eyes and its claws and fangs so easily.
EB: its really freaky and i'm losing sleep and freaking out way more than i should over it.
TG: damn
TG: you really need to lay off the sugar and shit man
TG: i know your dad is basically only feeding you sugar over there
TG: that guy bakes way too much to be healthy and where does all that cake even go
TG: its like 10 cakes a day and then its gone there is no way you or he is eating all of that without getting like super fat jesus
EB: daaaave. this is not about how much my dad bakes and where the cakes go. to be honest i don't even know so don't ask me.
EB: thanks for not really listening to me just like every one else, jerk.
TG: no wait i was totally listening
TG: listen forget the cake maybe you just arent getting out of the house enough
TG: how about tomorrow you come over to my place and we play some games and order pizza
TG: have a bro bonding time like we havent in pretty much forever
TG: guarantee you after you get your ass handed to you in mario kart a dozen times youll never have those dreams again
TG: cause youll be dreaming about how badly you suck at video games
EB: i don't suck at video games! i've more than once beaten you in smash so suck it
EB: i guess i'll ask my dad later if i can come over.
TG: sweet
TG: right after school k
EB: okay.
EB: i'm going to try to sleep so goodnight.
TG: sleep tight cupcake
EB: ugh.
-- ectoBiologist (EB) ceased pestering turntechGodhead (TG) at 3:55am --
You rub under your glasses for a moment before signing off of pesterchum. Well, tomorrow you'll have something to keep your mind off what's been plaguing you for way too long. Maybe Dave is right, maybe you just haven't been doing enough fun things lately, so all you are left with is the dreams.
You put your computer into sleep mode and drag yourself out of your chair before flopping into your bed. You curl up in your comforter and let sleep take over your tired and overworked mind. You're just going to ignore everything around you for the next couple of hours before you have to get up for school. It seems to work as you don't feel like you're being watched when you fall asleep.