The House at the Edge of the Cliff

Nightmares

I was running through the woods again. Trying to get off of the mountain and away from my kidnapper and his hungry dogs. I knew somehow that I was dreaming again, but that did not make the moment any less real.

The dogs were somewhere behind me. I could hear the sound of their paws on the ground as they chased after me. I could hear them snarling. I could practically feel their teeth at the back of my neck.

No matter how fast I ran though, I never seemed to get far at all. Always I was too slow. Always was I bought up to by my pursuers. I could never escape. I was doomed to be trapped here for eternity.

Suddenly I was no longer in the forest, nor was I running from the dogs. This time I was back in the house. My long, curly, red hair flowed around me as if a windstorm were raging through the halls.

A tall angry man was at the end of the hallway where I was. He was after my baby. I could not let him take my baby! I turned and ran through the endless maze of hallways.

His footsteps thundered after me. For every five steps, I took he only needed to take one. I would not last long, he was going to catch me and take my baby away.

I had to keep running. No matter how long it would take, I could not stop for both of our sakes. I could not let him have this victory. Not again.

Suddenly the doors in front of me slammed open, and the dogs came running through at me. There was nowhere else for me to run. The dogs were in front of me, and the man was behind me.

I turned to look at him, but it was not the same man. That other man had brown hair and eyes. This man had white hair and eyes, this was the man I was afraid of. I was no longer the woman from the journal, I was me again. I was no longer holding the baby either.

Either way, Woman from the journal or not, there was no escape. I collapsed to my feet, hiding my head underneath my hands. The hounds descended on me before the man could. I could feel my warm blood splash over my forehead as their teeth ripped into me.

I did not feel the teeth though, I only felt the blood. That was what woke me up. I had suddenly gone from being torn apart by dogs, to laying on the bed. I was covered almost completely in thick, heavy blankets, and a wet, warm rag was placed over my forehead and eyes.

I could not feel the cat next to me anymore, but I heard her purring somewhere else in the room. My breathing was starting to slow down since it was rather heavy from my nightmare.

I tried to lift my hand up from under the blankets so I could remove the rag, but I could not. The blankets were heavy and layered upon me. I also had little to no strength at the moment.

There was a sound somewhere to my left that caused me to freeze though. Like a chair moving across the floor before the sound of footsteps approaching me.

I completely froze. My limbs went still as my shoulders hunched up around my neck. It was my weak attempt at trying to hide I guess. The steps stopped next to me at the bed before the wet rag was removed from my head.

Flinching back slightly, I had to furiously blink and flutter my eyes to try and get all of the excess moisture out of them. Then I could see again. Though I could tell who was standing over me even without a clear vision.

He simply stared down at me for a long moment, and I up at him. For a continuous, while there was no movement, only studying and breathing. A sharp bolt of pain ran up my leg, causing me to hiss and break eye contact.

His large hand reached out, grabbing onto the blankets that covered my shivering body. He pulled them off of me and grabbed onto my wrapped leg, examining it carefully.