Midnight (MYG 18+)

Endless Nightmare

I'm fighting for my life, digging my nails deep into the hands that are tight around my neck. The strength of the hands was too much for me and my eyesight was narrowing. Breathing became harder and harder before it was impossible.

"H-He..l..p..." I try to croak out into the void, I could no longer see clearly. My vision became blurry at first and then diminished to a pinpoint, then black. Nothingness. Terrifyingly cold darkness. 

I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears lessen and lessen. The rhythm of my beating heart became merely a whisper and before I knew it, my consciousness faded into the darkness.

 ***

I lunge forward, gasping for air and grasping to my bare neck. I rapid blink as the vision of my room comes into view. I place my palm to my chest and feel my heart racing, banging against the cage of ribs. 

It was a dream..

My bedroom door is forcefully ripped open and my brother rushes in. "Sarica!" He rushes to my bedside and sits on the edge of my bed, taking one of my sweaty hands in his. "You okay?!" 

Rubbing my eyes with my free hand, I stare at the worrying expression my brother is giving me. His hooded eyes hung a little lower and the wrinkles in his forehead were deep with concern. His mouth was slightly ajar from jogging into my room in the middle of the night. 

"Yes, Jimin, I'm okay." I say with a sigh and a single bead of sweat rolls down the side of my head and to my cheek. I take a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. 

Jimin drops my held hand and smacks the top of it. "You scared the shit out of me! I thought you were getting murdered in here!" I let out a cough and then laugh breathlessly. "You weren't wrong, I was getting strangled in my dream." Jimin drops his head. 

"You are having those dreams again?" I only nod my head before he lifts his eyes back to mine. The corner of my brother's mouth raises slightly with sympathy. "You need to take your Ambien again. When you knock yourself out with sleeping pills you don't have these dreams." I cross my arms defiantly. 

"No! I hate taking pills." Jimin's eyebrows furrow at my words and he snorts slightly. "Fine then sis, keep dying in your dreams then!" He huffs at me, irritated with my stubbornness. I turn my head away from him and cross my arms tighter, holding my ground. 

"Night then." Jimin sighs and slinks off my bed and heads for the door before disappearing from my room. 

Falling backwards, my head smashes into my pillow and I blink at my stark white ceiling. 

I've been having these dreams my whole life. They come to me in the peak of night, in all different forms. But the end result is always the same, I die. My breathing and heart stops. I've seen so many therapists and psychologists, no one can figure out why this is happening. So instead of trying to destroy the root of the problem, they just throw endless prescriptions at me. Just sedate me, that's their solution that my insurance paid thousands for. 

My psychiatrists would accuse me of lying about my childhood. They think something happened that causes these repeating dreams. But that wasn't the case at all. 

My childhood was a simple, normal one. 'Normal' indicating that no event occurred to me that would cause these nightmares. My parents were a happy, healthy couple, a little strict at times, but nothing abnormal about them. I wasn't beat, starved or emotionally broken from them. 

I was raised as any normal kid, went to school, got decent grades, I wasn't really bullied or picked on. My older brother Jimin was always looking out for me and made sure no one ever mistreated his little sister. Jimin was always popular because of his looks and his sweet personality so no one ever went against his word. 

Being inseparable, Jimin and I grew up closely together and even share a house together now in our twenties. We attend the same college and split expenses. 

I was attending college for performing arts, I wanted to be an actress. It has been my dream for as long as I can remember. I was obsessed with it from the beginning. I'd watch movies and study the female leads, mimicking their behavior and lines. To the point that I even drove my parents insane with it. So, when I turned five years old, my mom opened a savings account to pay for my college because everyone knew that's what I would be when I grew up.

And tomorrow I had an audition for a leading role in an upcoming thriller drama. I'd be auditioning to play the role of a nurse who witnessed a murder in an alleyway and has to go into witness protection.

Countless hours I spent rehearsing and memorizing the lines needed for the scene. I had to shed tears and have a panicked look in my eyes. And I had nailed it. I pulled my emotions from the nightmares I constantly had. I emitted the fear I felt from the dreams and would display my acting ability.

But speaking of the audition, I needed to get sleep!

I grab an extra pillow and throw it over my eyes. I needed rest to be properly prepared! I need sleep!

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Welcome to 'Midnight.' This will be a supernatural and dark book.

Musical inspiration for this book are;

Music Box: Reflection

Interlude: Shadow

The Truth Untold

Pied Piper

Sarica is pronounced Suh-Ree-Cah

Enjoy!

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