We Gave Ourselves to the Night

I fell into a restless sleep. I tossed and turned in the sheets. I would throw them off of me, then pull them back up and repeat every few minutes. Too hot, too cold, too hot. Every time I closed my eyes I heard it. I heard that scream. Not even having Brian there was helping to comfort me, and that was a first.

Was I going crazy? Possibly.

After a couple hours passed, I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I couldn't deny my mind sleep any more.

I woke with a start, gasping for air. I had thrown the blankets off of my body once again; a shiny coat of sweat was all over me. I looked down and grabbed my ankle, examining it. Nothing seemed to be wrong with it.

I had heard a child's screams for help, and then something grabbed my ankle. I needed Brian to be awake with me. I shook his arm gently, saying his name a few times.

His eyes fluttered open a bit, squinted at me, then closed his eyes again, "what’s up?"

"Something just grabbed me," I was on the verge of hysterics, "it followed us!"

He sat up quickly, no longer seeming sleepy. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close, "nothing followed us. You just had a bad dream."

I shook my head. I felt something pull me, I heard that scream. I just tried to keep calm. I took deep breaths and Brian rubbed small circles on my lower back.

"I know what I felt, Bri." I protested.

“Ok, but I know I’ve felt things in dreams that seemed real,” he kissed my forehead, “it just seemed like it was real. You’ve gotten yourself really worked up, so you had a bad dream. That’s it, I promise.”

Maybe he was right. I had had dreams where it felt like I was tripping and woken up with a start because of them. I really could just be letting my imagination get the best of me, it wouldn’t be the first time. It just felt so real.

“Are you ready to try and sleep again?” he asked, stroking my hair lovingly.

I nodded my head, and laid back down. He followed suit, pulling me close to his body. He was always so warm, it just went right through me, and I loved it. I knew I was safe when I was in his arms. It wasn’t long before I was asleep again. I was so tired mentally.

It didn’t feel like I was asleep for long before I was woken up again. This time there wasn’t anything there making noise or grabbing me. My mind just woke me up for a moment, in a slight daze.

I looked around the dark room, eyes still fuzzy from sleep. My mind felt sluggish, struggling to wake up. It took me a moment before I realised I couldn’t get my head to move. I was just lying on my back, unable to move. I tried to call out to Brian, but no words would come, I couldn’t even make a noise. What was happening to me? Was this another dream, or nightmare?

A tear made its way down my cheek and onto my pillow, as I continued to try and get control of myself again. Was I ever going to be able to move again? My heart was racing a mile a minute.

I was looking around the room wildly when I saw it. There was something on the other side of the room, it was odd, a shadow in the dark. As soon as I laid eyes on it, it started to slowly advance towards me. It was taking the form of something as it moved.

I struggled even harder to move, to make a noise, to do anything. It felt like I was being held captive in my own body. I needed to wake Brian up. I needed him to make it go away, to keep me safe.

The shadow finished taking form by the time it reached the foot of the bed, it was a beautiful woman. She had a wicked smile, her eyes were like black pits. She was wearing a simple black dress, her long blond hair was straight. If it wasn’t for her smile and eyes she wouldn’t have been scary in the least.

She tilted her head to the side, keeping eye contact with me. Expression never changing, she let out a long low growl and started to climb on top of me.

I was screaming as hard as I could in my head. This was not happening! What was even happening? I was silently bailing my eyes out, salty tears coating my cheeks, running down onto my neck. I was fighting so hard to move, but this thing was keeping me here.

She seated herself on my chest, still growling, still smiling, straddling me. Never breaking eye contact with me for a second. She slowly raised up her right hand, her fingernails were long and unkempt. She reached to the left side of her throat, smile getting even bigger, then quickly punctured her own flesh dragging her long nails across her throat.

Her mouth dropped open, letting out a high pitch inhuman scream with a low growl at the same time. Blood was pouring out of the wound. All over her body and mine. I couldn’t wrap my brain around anything that was happening to me.

I could taste her blood, it left a metallic taste in my mouth. I couldn’t take this anymore, I had to go, I had to get up. Why was this happening? I pushed so hard against whatever was keeping me from screaming, and I tried to get this thing off of me. Though she was so small, she was so heavy.

I haddent noticed the blood had stopped until she leaned her face in close to mine, I was too focused on moving. Her eyes were dark lifeless holes and I just couldn’t look away, it sent a strong shiver down my spine.

She cocked her head to the side, much like a cat, never breaking eye contact, “you cant escape us. We’re going to teach you a lesson for what your daddy did to us. Mommys going to make everything better.”

Brians weight shifted on the bed, and then the bedside light was flicked on, “Who are you talking to, Dee? It’s like five, try and sleep, please.”

I couldn’t speak; I gasped for air and began loudly sobbing. The thing was gone, but I could still hear it, two voices at once saying the same thing. I couldn’t stop myself from shaking, I felt like I was going to be sick.

Brian pulled me into his arms and gently rocked me back and forth, stroking my hair, whispering soothing loving things to me. My shaking started to slow down, but I was crying so hard now I was having trouble breathing. Gasping for air every now and then.

I couldn’t get her out of my head. When I closed my eyes I saw her, I could still taste her blood, the smell of something rotting lingered in the air, and worst of all I could still hear her.

“Bra-bri?” I choked out.

“Yeah, baby?”

“What have we done?”