The Haze
1
It’s there again.
I’m not looking directly at it because there’s no way to do so, but I can see it out of the corner of my eye. That slightly uncomfortable feeling I had last night has exploded into full-blown paranoia by now. It’s a blot of ink in the corner of the room directly opposite me, stretching from the floor almost to the ceiling and blossoming out from there, a giant haze slowly spreading and taking over everything.
I don’t want to have nightmares again. I try to rationalize and tell myself it was just too hot in my room that night, so I only pull the sheet over my head and bury my face in my pillow, hoping by some miracle that it won’t notice me. I turn the radio off because it’s playing another song by Panic, and that’s the last thing I need right now.
I feel the dark cloud sweep over me, and suddenly it’s standing right there. I haven’t looked at it yet, but I don’t have to because I just know what it looks like. I put my pillow over my head this time, willing it to go away, even though I know it won’t.
It reaches out one clawed hand and punches its nails into my back, going straight through to my lungs. I cringe under the pressure as it tries to suppress my breathing, controlling it and making each gasp slower and slower by the second. I’m terrified, but not as worried as I should be. Maybe it’ll let me go to sleep before it kills and devours me like I know it’s going to. Maybe it won’t torture me tonight.
Maybe.
But I know I’m wrong.
Images from the nightmare fill my head and make me squirm under the creature’s hand. I can feel it laughing at my pain; I don’t hear a sound, but I know it’s laughing at me, enjoying every moment of this, because that’s what it always does.
Suddenly, everything stops.
My mind goes blank as I regain control of my breathing. I turn sideways and curl up into a ball, shaking and on the verge of tears because I know exactly what it could’ve done to me. No doubt the same will happen tomorrow night. Its cold words echo in my mind as it retreats to the other side of the room once again.
“I am the Haze. You will never escape.”
And I know it’s right.
I’m not looking directly at it because there’s no way to do so, but I can see it out of the corner of my eye. That slightly uncomfortable feeling I had last night has exploded into full-blown paranoia by now. It’s a blot of ink in the corner of the room directly opposite me, stretching from the floor almost to the ceiling and blossoming out from there, a giant haze slowly spreading and taking over everything.
I don’t want to have nightmares again. I try to rationalize and tell myself it was just too hot in my room that night, so I only pull the sheet over my head and bury my face in my pillow, hoping by some miracle that it won’t notice me. I turn the radio off because it’s playing another song by Panic, and that’s the last thing I need right now.
I feel the dark cloud sweep over me, and suddenly it’s standing right there. I haven’t looked at it yet, but I don’t have to because I just know what it looks like. I put my pillow over my head this time, willing it to go away, even though I know it won’t.
It reaches out one clawed hand and punches its nails into my back, going straight through to my lungs. I cringe under the pressure as it tries to suppress my breathing, controlling it and making each gasp slower and slower by the second. I’m terrified, but not as worried as I should be. Maybe it’ll let me go to sleep before it kills and devours me like I know it’s going to. Maybe it won’t torture me tonight.
Maybe.
But I know I’m wrong.
Images from the nightmare fill my head and make me squirm under the creature’s hand. I can feel it laughing at my pain; I don’t hear a sound, but I know it’s laughing at me, enjoying every moment of this, because that’s what it always does.
Suddenly, everything stops.
My mind goes blank as I regain control of my breathing. I turn sideways and curl up into a ball, shaking and on the verge of tears because I know exactly what it could’ve done to me. No doubt the same will happen tomorrow night. Its cold words echo in my mind as it retreats to the other side of the room once again.
“I am the Haze. You will never escape.”
And I know it’s right.