Shadows

I open my eyes.

I don’t know what woke me up. I was dreaming of nothing. There wasn’t a noise outside and now that I’m awake I still can’t hear anything. My phone didn’t ring, otherwise the screen would be lit up right now. None of my surroundings have changed since before I fell asleep. My books still sit perfectly straight in their certain order on the shelves. The shelves are perfectly horizontal so surely a hook didn’t loosen. My electronics haven’t fallen. The TV is still on its stand. Closet doors haven’t creaked open. I’m still curled up in bed, wrapped in my cotton pajamas. My room is dark, but because of the door that is slightly ajar, it’s light enough to see objects moving.

They’re shadows.

The dancing shadows are misshaped blobs rather than straight lines, so they aren’t from the branches scraping against my windows. They can’t be anything from my walls or my furniture either, since the shapes are random and not precise. They move from behind shelves, through my door, up from under my bed, and wherever else they happened to be hiding.

One shadow slithers into my room and over to the foot of my bed. It only takes seconds for it to shape itself into a woman. Her long, ebony hair sashays down her back and her clothes are formal – a red, satin dress that stops just below her knees, a bracelet, and high heels. She smiles at me, waving as well. I try to wave back. To my utter surprise, I can’t pick up my arm. I try my other arm. It’s too heavy to lift up as well.

Suddenly, the woman jumps onto my bed, causing the mattress to squeal in response. Her icy hands wrap themselves around my neck but don’t squeeze. She turns me onto my back and forces my eyes to meet hers. Her big, round eyes shrink in length and elongate into slits. A yellow glow shines through them. All of her teeth grow into sharp fangs as her hair withers away, fading black into a light gray, and then dropping next to me. I open my mouth to say something but nothing escapes.

My heart beats violently against my chest.

I can feel heat on my face.

My hands become sweaty.

I want to move, but I can’t. I’m stuck where I am.

Suddenly, the woman screams so loud that my ears pop and my blood boils. There’s a pain lingering in my ears and my blood feels like it’s about to sizzle through the pores of my skin and drip onto my bedsheets.

Immediately, as if the scream was a signal, all of the shadows in the room begin to bounce off my walls. Some land on my TV and shelves while others hang from the top of the door. They screech and hiss as their forms change. A tarantula creeps up my arm – its fury legs tickling my skin – while cockroaches crawl across my face. Tiny planes crash into my walls, creating a black fire that doesn’t spread from its spot. Mythical monsters one can’t even describe dance across my room, howling. I can see horns and claws, but I still can’t make out what they’re supposed to be. Hellhounds? Deformed Greek monsters? A strange creature crouches in the corner, its flesh melting off and skeleton turning into dust. One of the monsters ran through the pile, pushing the dust anywhere he could in the room.

The screeching, hissing, howling, and the woman’s screaming grow louder. Saliva drips onto my face, but I can’t tell which creature it’s from. The woman’s grip around my neck begins to tighten. I want to flinch, push her away, punch her face, something, but I can’t move. My body is stuck. It’s impossible for me to make a sound, no matter how many times I open my mouth to try. All that comes out is a huff as I feel the insides of my throat rub together. I begin to panic. My palms are shaking, my breath haggard. There’s a pounding in my head, as if something is using my skull for a drum. I would be shaking if I wasn’t frozen in my spot.

The woman stops screaming, but her voices lingers in the air. With one wave of her newly formed claw, the deformed shadows creep towards me. They are centimeters from my face, all growling. They scratch at my skin and their puke-worthy breath fills my nose. The more wounds that are made, the more my face stings. I want to puke. I can feel the vomit climbing up my throat. Together, the shadows put their arms around my neck and squeeze along with the woman. I can’t pry them away. Blood rushes up to my brain, causing a pain that feels like a knife dug its way into my brain and someone is twisting it around, one turn per second. A faint feeling gradually washes over me. My mouth is forced open by my tongue as they squeeze harder.

I try to lift my shoulder. Nothing happens the first time because a small creature decided to use my shoulder as a perch. I try again. It was enough for the creature to fall off, but not to get the others to leave me alone. Black and white spots are beginning to block my vision. Faces are moving in and out of my view. I can’t tell if the noises are from the shadows or they’re me choking.

I continue to try to jerk my shoulder, and after an umpteenth amount of attempts, I jerk it harshly, throwing myself off my bed. I lift myself up with my arms and try to steady my breathing. The screeching echoes for a few more seconds before silence pierces my ears. The shadows are no longer blobs, but in the shapes of the trees tapping my window. They aren’t moving.

I lay curled up on the floor, staying awake for the rest of the night.