I woke up chained on a bed in a dark room. No, I don’t think it was a room. We were floating or falling towards the oblivion of darkness. It was pitch black. Then figures started to appear around me, then eyes started to open, one by one. There were ten Stephenson’s around me, this time they didn’t wear a suit, this time they were naked. All they were was flesh, pink was the color of their skin and their red veins were clear to be seen, from the back of their arms to their feet. They didn’t have any privates, their arms were elongated as their fingers, and they were all staring at me. I started to scream, I started to try and break the chains, but to no avail. Then I heard footsteps. Two Stephensons in front of me made way for something or for someone. Then there, in the darkness I saw Maria, with her gruesome teeth and long sharp nails. She too was naked, but she had the same body as the Stephensons. She walked, no, she danced, sporadically and eerily towards me. She looked like she was smiling. My voice was gone. I closed my eyes and accepted my fate. But nothing.
I open my eyes and saw that I was standing on desolated grounds.
The ground was grey like our moon. I saw huge planets in front of me and stars around them. I was in outer space. In front of me was a silhouette of a dark humanoid. He was tall, and he was slim, but he was facing away from me and towards the planets. I can’t tell which planets they were.
“Soon, they will all be mine.” An eerie voice spoke. The voice was scratchy and it was deformed in many ways possible. But it was clear that it was not from this world.
The humanoid started to turn. Tendrils started to form on its back. Its neck grew upwards, and the form of a head was replaced with a single but massive tendril. It started to look like a starfish with hands. On what used to be its face is a mouth, a giant human mouth with human teeth, and on the top of that were eyes. Many eyes up to the end of the tendril that used to be its head. It was a pink, tendril like creature with many tentacles on its back. I felt its malignant nature entering the very fragment of my sanity, twisting it, assimilating with it.
First it smiled, then it opened its mouth. It then rushed towards me.
My vision blurred similar to that of an old television. But the monster’s figure is forever carved into my mind.
I woke up to a puddle of my sweat. It was dawn and the sun was just about to rise. I was heaving and I could feel my heart pounding on my chest, as if it wants to escape my rib cage. I was cold, my body was cold. I could never perceive that hell could come in form of nightmares.
I always have thought that dreams have a way to fight away the nightmares tucked deep inside the recesses of the mind. I never knew that it was the other way around. Nightmares consume dreams and later on, it consumes us.
I knew then that I could not fight this alone.
Out I went into the room in front of me. Room 273. I hesitated to knock. My desperation got the best of me. I knocked once, and then twice and then thrice. No answer. I have never felt so alone in my whole life. The doorknob turned and I was greeted by a familiar but sleepy face. She looked like sanctuary in my eyes. She was my escape from my overwhelming and inevitable doom. She’s closest to what an angel would be.
I did my best to smile, but I guess my frantic look got the best of me. She looked worried.
“What happened?” She asked.
“Worst dream ever.” I replied. “Do you like coffee?”
Denzel’s coffee shop is right down the corner of our apartment. It was my go-to place if I needed coffee, but considering my precarious position during the previous months, I never had a need or want of it. But Leslie looked like the kind of girl who likes coffee, and I assumed right, thankfully. She told me how many times she would get coffee from the same shop and how she liked the coffee there very much.
Once we had sat down we talked about various light topics, but it was clear that it was only inching towards that one unavoidable question.
“What happened?” She finally asked and of course, I had to answer. I mean I did ask her out for that reason.
“I was just thinking about you.” I said. And yes I did avoid or maybe even lie about the topic. I can’t tell. It was partially true though because I had been thinking about her ever since Kristoff brought out the topic of companions.
She blushed. Her face turned completely red, her pale white complexion does nothing to hide that fact.
“I-uh-Dan I don't think-uh,” she looked plastered. I knew that was a bad idea. I sighed.
“You have a boyfriend, don’t you?”
“No-no-no, I'm single.”
“Is it because I'm way older than you are?”
“I’m not even that young.” She replied defensively. “Maybe younger than you are but not that young.”
I couldn't help but smile. She really looked completely red.
“Is it because I look like a rapist?” I said.
She stared at me for a second and then hilariously laughed. Her laugh was enough to turn a few heads into our direction and it’s enough to make me smile.
nice. . The humanoid started to turn. Tendrils started to form on its back. Its neck grew upwards, and the form of a head was replaced with a single but massive tendril. It started to look like a starfish with hands. On what used to be its face is a mouth, a giant human mouth with human teeth, and on the top of that were eyes. Many eyes up to the end of the tendril that used to be its head. It was a pink, tendril like creature