Sleep

Bob was being chased, and by fire of all things. It exploded behind him, pushing itself through the halls of the hospital. It seemed to find fuel in the air itself, not even touching what little furniture littered its path.

But it wasn’t necessarily the fire that Bob was running from, that didn’t scare him as much as the burned hands that reached out of it, grabbing at his jacket. He desperately searched for a door, an escape from the inferno that was closing in on him. But there were only sharp turns, making it less like a hallway and more of a tunnel, he could only hope that he didn’t run into a dead end.

Sadly though, that’s exactly what he could see up ahead of him, a complete dead end, a wall of concrete. But, something else caught his eye. In the bottom corner of the wall was a small, jagged hole, offering his only way of escape.

And so Bob ran faster, trying to but some distance between himself and the inferno. The wall got closer, more promising, and he took a desperate dive. Tumbling through the wall and into a cool, safe little dark room.

And, for just a moment, he felt safe once again. The fire couldn’t reach him, neither could the burned hands or anything else. He was safe in his little room, until a figure appeared out of the shadows.

“Thank God” He breathed, “The buildings on fire, and there’s something-“ Bob paused, deciding not to mention demonic hands reaching out from the flames to grab him. “We need to get out.”

Just then, the figure grinned and Bob was face-to-face with a mouth full of needle-like teeth.

For the monsters that I’ve been.