josh, the house is haunted

nightmare

Tyler had what he liked to call a normal amount of nightmares and the ones he did have were only stress-inducing. He had been woken up before with a bad dream fresh in his mind and cuddled into Josh to comfort himself. All of them he could brush off easily, even if it took a few hours.

Not this one.

He was back in that tower. The markings on the floor were glowing, he could hear a chanting in the distance, and he was sitting directly in the middle. Then there was a sound like the hatch door had slammed shut. As he was about to stand up to get out of there, a creature came out from the deep shadows. The figure lunged at him and he didn't have any time to react. The wind was knocked out of his lungs as his back collided with the floor. The wooden boards underneath collapsed and he fell through the floor, landing on the bed in the room below.

Tyler woke up terrified, searching for the floorboards that had fallen with him in the dream. He kicked off the blanket and clawed at the collar of his shirt, trying to get some air. A choked cough came out as he quickly sat up. He squinted as he surveyed the room, feeling like he was being watched.

He leaned forward and pulled at his hair with shaking hands, which was greasy from sweat. When he closed his eyes he saw the creature in his mind again and jolted back. He scrambled for his phone and used the light to check the bedroom once more as a precaution. No monster. Everything was normal. Josh was still sleeping.

He was fine. It wasn't real.

Since the coast was clear, Tyler shakily turned the light off and checked the time. It was just passed three in the morning. He carefully laid back down with a huff. He wasn't tired but he attempted to close his eyes again, he needed to get a few more hours of sleep in. The peace lasted about 5 seconds before a thud was heard above. Tyler let out a yelp and subconsciously grabbed the arm lying next to him.

Josh lifted his face off the pillow. "Hm?"

He sounded worried. "Josh."

"Wha..?"

"There's something in that room."

"What room?"

"I heard a noise above us." He rushed, "It's in that room."

"Oh." He laid his face back down. His voice was muffled, "There's nothing."

"Something's in there!" He whisper-yelled.

"We looked. No one was there. Not even a sign of an animal."

"No, no. That's not what I mean."

"What?" He groaned in confusion.

"Josh, the house is haunted."

"Haunted?" He laughed a little.

"I'm not kidding! I think it's haunted."

He rolled over so he had his back to him. "I'm going to sleep."

"Josh. I'm serious. I had a nightmare about those symbols on the floor and then there was this de-demon thing like choking me. After I woke up there was a thud! Explain the thud!"

He sighed. "You probably were still dreaming."

"I know what is and isn't a dream... it scared me, Josh..." He was honest, "I'm still scared."

Josh sighed again. He could hear how shaken up his boyfriend seemed. He turned to face his Tyler and pulled him close. "There's nothing to be scared of. You're freaking yourself out."

"But I..." He put his forehead to his chest. He was glad he wasn't able to see if something was behind him. "It still freaked me out."

"I can tell. Just go back to bed. I'm right here with you."