Sinister Tales

Nightmares

Nightmares

2016 © All Rights Reserved

When two individuals experience terrifying nightmares, they soon begin to wonder if they will ever be able to escape it.

Laying in his bed, Nolan felt mentally exhausted while the rest of his body was alert. His hands folded together on top of his stomach as he looked at the blanket folded neatly at the end of his bed. The heat where he lived would only make him sweat if he allowed something to cover him. Looking at the time on his phone, he sighed with frustration. 2:36am and he hadn't yet felt the need to go off to sleep. His hesitance came from the constant paranoid lurking around in the deepest corners of his mind. The repetitive feeling he was being followed and watched like some kind of lab rat.

Getting out of bed, he walked down the corridor to his living room. If he couldn't and wouldn't sleep, he thought to entertain himself while he was at it. His mind went to his favorite channel where all day, everyday would be horror movies playing. Tonight, The Children played, a British horror film where children seemingly lost their minds. Most people in situations as he was experiencing would think the horror movies would worsen the thoughts, but in a odd way, it soothed him like a mother.

The softness and television playing in the background had his eyes slowly closing only to snap them wide awake as his brain registered the fact that he was falling asleep. Stay awake! Nolan yelled inside of his mind, hoping his brain would listen and force him to be alert.

Curtains covered the windows since the beginning of the paranoia started, but one window in the living room had a curtain that no matter what he did, it would always stay open just a little. It gave a good view inside of the living room, anyone could come by and see Nolan sitting on the couch while watching a horror movie. His attention could barely stay focused on the movie as his mind was focused on that little section of the curtain someone could be watching him through. Not an ounce of confidence let him turn his head look towards that window, afraid he would see the face he feared was stalking him.

I should fix it. He would debate in his head, but then his thoughts would go to, Then they'll know I know they're following me. He couldn't and didn't want to risk the slim chance of giving away his knowledge of a stalker away, fearing that they would react and hurt him. The idea of calling the police dawned on him at one point, but he didn't even know if he actually had someone following him, it could have been his paranoia and his therapist would agree. If someone had actually been following him as he expected, Nolan knew exactly what the police would say. I'm sorry sir, but if this person hasn't attacked you or hurt you in anyway, there's nothing we can do.

As Nolan slowly dozed off, barely acknowledging the feeling, he was asleep within minutes. The movie continuing to play in the background.

The dead silence of the television switching off yanked him out of the deep sleep. The low humming  of the TV disappeared, not allowing to keep him suppressed in his dream world.

His eyes shot open, greeting the darkest night he's ever faced, blindly he looked around hoping to pick out shapes in the dark room while the anxiety in his chest started to slowly rise. His ears picked up on every little noise within his hearing radius, each made his anxiety pile up like a stacks of papers ready to topple over.

Using his shaky arms, he lifted himself off of the couch then using his memory to lead him to the bathroom. Closing the door behind him and turning on the light allowing him to breathe a little better now that he could actually see, he opened the cabinet above the sink, looking at the few pill bottles. He skipped past the Zoloft as he went for his Ambien. Opening the top, a noise distracted him from reaching into the bottle. The sound of a door closing. It was faint, but as his senses were on high alert, it sounded like a door slamming.