The Monster Gene

Ch. 1

The date is Friday, October 27, 2023:

Casey is tucked into bed, staring at the ceiling, unable to fall into a deep slumber. Things happen when she's awake during the night. 

She sees things in the black that aren't there, the clothes on her chair turns into a person, the guitar leaning on the wall another person. She flicks on the lights, but there's nothing there. She turns them back on, there they are. 

On, off. On, off. On, off. 

Casey's breathing grows heavy, the more she turns on and off the light, the closer the person gets—

She squeezes her eyes shut as someone grabs her shoulder—

Casey wakes up with a gasp, her skin coated thick with sweat, 3AM in the morning. She wished she could go back to sleep, but then she'd be stuck again in the endless loop of the nightmare of someone in her bedroom—she wanted to know why. 

Casey had never been scared of the dark as a kid. She was always the good girl, the child easy to take care of, the daughter that never gave her mom a problem. Until now, when the nightmares came. They'd start a few months ago, the same horrific dream over and over, never giving her rest. She'd head to school with sharp bags under her eyelids, looking like she hadn't had a wink of sleep. She did, actually, but she always woke up at 3AM.

Like her nights were repeating themselves over and over again. Casey sighed and snatched her dream journal, turned on a lamp on her wooden desk, and wrote about her nightmare. She had this ever growing hope that if she kept writing in her dream journal, one day she'd be able to become a lucid dreamer. Hope still held out even after two years of nothing.

Casey wrote in her dream journal. She studied for her AP human geography test. She studied for her other classes. She did her homework. All to avoid lying back in bed, closing her eyes, and reliving the nightmare.

Three hours later, Casey's mum creaked open the door. Casey was the spitting image of her mum, especially now they were both tired. Casey remembered the days when her hazel eyes used to be bright and lively, her mood energetic, olive skin tanned after having fun under the sun, curly chocolate hair perfectly straightened. Now she was like her mum, tired hazel eyes with bags underneath them, her mood exhausted, olive skin paled from spending so much time indoors, curly chocolate hair untamed. 

"Afraid of sleep again Casey?" Her mum smiled worriedly. 

Casey turned in her black spin chair to face her mum. She nodded carefully.

"It's not very smart to skip sleep," her mum replied. "I always thought Kara was the troubled child, but..." she shrugged.

Casey winced, stung by her words. She knew her mum didn't think it hurt, but it did. Ever since her dad left, she'd promised to herself to create as little trouble for her mum as she could. Trying to win scholarships to get less tuition, studying becoming her life (which is why she stayed indoors so much). In truth, waking up at 3AM every morning had actually improved her grade.

"Skipping sleep actually improved my grade. Those straight C students should try it, actually." Casey hopped out her chair, following her mum down for breakfast.

"Lucky Charms?" Her mum asked, offering a bowl from their tight kitchen.

Casey nodded, getting out the gallon of milk, pouring the cereal, and then the milk. She scarfed up her cereal quickly, just so her mum wouldn't have time to interrogate her about seeing like, a sleep therapist or something (was that even a thing?) and quickly dressed. It was chilly in October in Minnesota, so she wore vintage dark wash ripped jeans, a burgundy hoodie, and Converse white sneakers.