Nightmares

Nightmare

April 14th, 2020:

I'm sitting down on the trampoline in front of an old friend of mine from back in Sheridan. Her name was Rianna, and she had short brown hair and her favorite gray sweater on. I haven't seen her for the last three years, but somehow I still remember every detail of her. I look down at myself and I'm wearing my black and white shoulder less dress. I don't know how many years I had had it for, but it was one of my favorite outfits. It looked like Rianna was talking to me but I couldn't hear her.

I looked next to me and sitting along the edge of the trampoline were two people I didn't know, but they obviously knew me. The boy on the left looked like someone I've seen around RPA but I'm not sure. He looked about my age and was on his phone. He had short, dark brown hair, had glasses on, and was wearing black sweatpants and a colorful hoodie. The boy next to him I also didn't know. He had long hair and was light brown fading into pink. He too was also on his phone. He had some sort of hat on but everything started getting blurry as I looked at them.

The boy on the left started to say,

"Die! Come on, we have to beat that level!" The boy on the right was nodding. I stood up and started to jump on the trampoline. I didn't know what was happening so I just decided to have fun. I closed my eyes and jumped high into the air. When I looked around for the boys and Rianna, I couldn't see them anymore, but somehow I knew they were still there.

You see, the trampoline that I'm on is behind my house. To get to it, you have to go out the back door. There is a tall wooden fence that surrounds our house and on the other side are a whole bunch of smaller houses, at least 50 of them, all on the other side of the fence. But before that, there is a giant field that leads to the houses. It's sunny out right now and I jump again on the trampoline, forgetting about the people that were there.

I see someone in the distance when I stop jumping. It looks like someone standing at the edge of the field just standing there. I couldn't see his face though. It looked like he had jackets over his face. The person waved at me and I waved back. I was only trying to be nice and I didn't want to be too weird. The guy started taking off his jackets over his head one by one. Eventually, I could barely see his face, but his hair was as white as snow.

I stand there awkwardly and stare at him. I blink and then he's sitting on top of the fence, smiling at me. He looks about 28 years old and he's wearing a white T-shirt with some sort of black drawing on the front but it's blurry. I jump off the trampoline and the boys and Rianna are sitting right there again, except they don't seem to notice me. I look back at the guy who's staring at me smiling.

"Well, hello Hope. I've been watching you for a while." The guy says. I look him in the eyes and I'm terrified. His eyes look beautiful but it feels like he's paralyzed me. I couldn't move and I still stared into his eyes.

Seconds pass and the guy is still smiling at me. I eventually get my thoughts back together and run into the house through the back door. I hide behind the kitchen island and fall, exhausted and terrified. The horror surging through my body was too scary to explain. It felt like all my fears in one. If felt like no one could help me and no one could do anything to stop this terror.

I woke up screaming and crying, telling the man to go away. I sit up in my bed and look at my alarm clock. Right now it's 2:31 AM. I didn't know what to do. I swore I knew who the man was and he seemed so familiar. I've never had nightmares before, and this was the first time I ever did. I didn't know what to do, and I've never experienced anything like it before. By the time I fell back asleep, my heart was racing. The moment I shut my eyes, I was in a car in the middle of nowhere in Texas. I don't know how I knew but I just did. I was in the passenger seat of the car. I could not turn my head but I could sense that someone was next to me. I held my breath for what seemed like forever.

Then I was in a house. I saw my father in front of me and right next to me were my brothers, standing in a line from tallest to shortest. They looked ghostly, dead even as they stood there staring at nothing.

"Why am I here?" I asked, looking at my father who I hate so very dearly. My heart was racing.

"Your mother is dead, you'll be living with me for now on." He stated simply, with a smug look on his face. I screamed out loud, devastated at what I had just heard. My mother, dead. Me, stuck with my father and my brothers who I wished to protect from him.

Tears streamed down my face.

"It's going to be okay," A voice said behind me. One that I knew too well. I spun around to see the white-haired boy smiling at me.

"It's going to be okay," He says again, taking a step forward. I startled backwards only to see myself in the old house back in Sheridan. It was eerily silent. Then I heard the rain and thunder. There was a storm going on outside. It was dark. I was in our family living room. The TV was on static as the power went out. The hard splashes of rain made me nervous. It was dark outside and I was scared. Thunder boomed and I just stood there, not knowing what to do. I felt like I was in the time loop, experiencing this storm over and over again.

I kept seeing the white boy flash into my mind. I wasn't sure who he was, or what he was. Once again, I blinked and it was completely pitch black. I saw Dee Dee, my best friend, and Ryan, my crush. They were kissing. He had his hands around her waist. She had her hands in his hair. My heart cracked and I felt as if everything shattered. Ryan turned his head at me and smiled.

"It's going to be okay," I heard the voice whisper in my ear. As I stood there, holding back tears after witnessing the two people I cared about most betray me.

I felt hands snake around my waist and a light breath on my neck.

"Hope," He whispered.

"Hope," He whispered in my ear. I had awoken again with a startle, more tears streaming down my face. At this point, it was almost 4 in the morning and I didn't know what to do.

Ever since that night I became terrified of people, my home, my friends. I became paranoid with everything I'd see. I kept seeing the boy. The white-haired boy every day for two years after that nightmare. It was... electrify terrifying in a way. I cried so much. Every night having nightmares. I'd never had nightmares before. Until April 14th.

As the weeks turned into months, I learned that this boy's name was Damien. He was 23 years old at the time. His birthday being January 4th, died in 1973. I think. I never really knew. I just know. I would see him all the time and he would talk to me. He made me forget all the bad things and made me feel safe by making my nightmares increasingly more terrifying. In a way I felt safe.

To this very day as I finished writing this at 9:36 PM on April 14th, 2022, I still see Damien everyday. My best friend. My guardian angel. Or I should suppose, guardian demon.