I recommend that you stop reading this now. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
When I was younger, I would always get scared watching horror films and reading horror stories, just like everyone else. But, as I’m sure lots of other people will tell you, the real horror sets in after seeing the movie or reading the story. You just experienced a story with some monster, demon, or other force, probably one that kills people. The rest of the day, you are on your guard, especially at night. Every creak you hear, every flickering shadow, every slight sound in the darkness frightens you. When you are in bed at night, you hide under the covers and hope that you can just make it until morning, that the light of the sun will destroy any evil forces trying to harm you. When I was kid, I would always try to stop my fear by thinking about one thing: why would the monster attack me now? After I had seen a film or read a story, finding a monster’s weakness or at least how to identify and escape from it, I would have an advantage over the thing. If it had ever wanted to get me, it would certainly have come before I heard about it.
Many years ago, in my small town and other surrounding areas, several kids went missing. There was no evidence, not a single trace of anything that could tell where they had been taken to, or who/what had taken them. However, one warm summer evening, a teenager (about my age) was admitted to the local hospital by his parents. They said he hadn’t slept for days. The doctor recommended sedation, but the boy resisted violently. He said that it hunts you while you sleep, that it would get him. His parents and doctors questioned him about what “it” was. He refused to explain, warning that if he told the story, they would be next. After quite some time, the boy, exhausted, gave in and told them the same thing he had been told.
For an unknown amount of time, years, perhaps decades, a monster has existed in this world. No one knows the original source of this thing, but it has been taking people ever since it first came into existence. It has attributes similar to some other monster stories. For example, it haunts your dreams. You dream that you are having a normal day, your normal routine, and then you see it. Off in the distance, somewhere, and it just stares at you. Yellow eyes, and a figure that you can’t quite make out. The next time you dream, you are in an unfamiliar place, and it is very close to you now, and it begins to chase you. It is a large beast, with a menacing growl and those unmistakable yellow eyes. You try to escape, but it just keeps getting closer and closer, then you wake up. There are no accounts of the third dream, because that is when it gets you. You disappear; you’re gone. There’s nothing more to it. Well, there is one more thing, the most important detail. It only starts to haunt your dreams once you have heard of it. Once you have read this story. There is no escape as soon as you finish this sentence. The next time you dream, you will see it, off in the distance.
The boy soon disappeared, as did his parents and his doctor. I just recently heard this story from a friend of mine, a friend who is now gone. Soon I will be gone too. My old strategy of “why now, when I know what’s coming?” will no longer work. It attacks when you know. One more dream, and I will be gone.
Before long, you’ll be gone too.
