Night Terrors

It's one of those nights again.

You stare at the ceiling above, wondering what will happen in today's episode of night-time hallucinations. But maybe they're not hallucinations; maybe these are nightmares or, dare you say it, real.

In your bed, surrounded by the dark of the night, you stare blankly into the black patches that creep across the room. You used to be certain that it was a trick of the eye, but now you're not so sure. They seem so real now, so alive. They're taunting you – how does that make you feel?

It doesn't matter anymore. You've grown accustomed to it. You used to be petrified of these creatures, but now you accept them into your room. It's not like you had a choice as to whether they entered or not, but you decided to accept their presence nonetheless.

Your peripheral vision blurs and becomes completely non-existent – the corners of your eyes are now blinded by the engulfing darkness. It was starting, the routine was replaying itself like it would do most nights. You'd be lucky if you had a couple of nights off, but tonight would not be that night. It would always escalate time after time, so you wondered how things would pan out today. Where would it lead? What would happen?

A dark, clouded patch started growing above you, but you weren't afraid. This would always happen, and tonight was no exception. The swirling darkness expanded slowly, almost as if it was pulling itself from the ceiling above and reaching down towards you. And it was. A dark hand crept out from the black 'portal' and grasped at the air in front of your nose, just missing the skin. After all these nights, it hadn't made physical contact. You're somewhat relieved.

Another hand followed, and they both rested upon the ceiling, using the leverage to push out its black torso. The chest had two orb-like shapes to represent that the gender of this creature, if it had a gender, was that of female nature. The torso pulled the head of the being out of the same clouded portal, and you could now see the entity's half-body clearly. Its entire body was a blurred-black, making out any other bodily or facial features was near impossible. The eyes, however, clashed with the entity's body – two pulsating white lights that almost soothed you into comfort. It was beautiful, in one aspect, but also terrifying. The origins of this being was unknown, and that would bother you for months on end. But, as you've now accepted these occurrences within the night, you've grown to welcome everything you've experienced and have yet to experience.

Slowly, it leant forwards from the ceiling and down towards you, tilting its head as it stared at you with intense curiosity. “Hello again,” you murmur, a light smile appearing on your face. You've grown to become fond of this being, for some reason or another. And just like the night before, it stopped just above you. Its face hovered above yours by only inches, intently staring into your eyes. This was how the last night had ended, and you waited to see what happened next. You had no idea what would follow this.

It leant forwards even more, resting ice-cold hands upon your face. It had finally touched you, and you felt uncomfortable for only a moment, the hairs on your skin rising. Its fingers felt like frozen ice-lollies resting on your skin, forever cold to the touch. Then you felt icy lips upon your own. It gave you a long, slow kiss. At first you're taken aback, but you welcome the moment. You've never felt this way before, this warmth flowing through your body. You wanted to bask in it for a bit longer before morning came.

You start floating up towards the clouded portal it came from, the contact between your lips not breaking for a moment. You think nothing of it, you're too caught up in the moment to even care what else is happening within your surroundings. Everything was going dark as you were being taken to whatever destination lied beyond the dark. This being was pulling you up without any physical exertion, its cold hands still resting on your face and its lips still firmly planted on yours, not moving in the slightest. You felt another rush of warmth through your body as you contemplated the possibility of experiencing this every night. This feeling of love and the feeling that you belonged. Finally feeling like you had a purpose. Your lips finally parted and you exhaled slowly, a rush of an ice-cold sensation flooding through your body; Everything went black.

Your mother screams the next morning as she sees your body hanging from your bedroom ceiling, the make-shift noose from your bedsheets tightly wound around your neck.