Obscura Fabula (Dark Shorts)

A Demon on My Bed

1-A Demon on My Bed

That summer night, I was all by myself in my house. A particularly quiet and hot night and the wind didn't blow like it always did, hollowing it's sweet lullaby for me. After closing the windows, I turned on the air conditioner, its humming soothing enough to fall asleep. Several hours passed of tossing and turning in my bed when Morpheus finally appeared and wrapping me in his silky tunic.

It was three o'clock in the morning, I knew well. The green light on the cell phone screen blinking the digital numbers marked the time illuminating vaguely the room.

In some sort of dejavú, my body, light like a feather and death cold, floated above the bed, where I, another me, still slept. Above, I feared. Below, there was so much ease and serenity, my lips curving up with a hint of happiness, as I had the most pleasant dreams.

The front door of the house opened and then closed and it was not loud to wake my alter-ego up nonetheless, yet my spirit shook when a chilling gust of wind made my spine shiver.  There was something, something dark, an amorphous entity lurking through the darkness, crawling over the shadows on the walls... and I sensed it. On bed I jerked, moving uneasily as if having a nightmare, but this one was real... too real.

A pair of red eyes beamed, insidious, dreadful as it advanced towards my bedroom. Danger! Fright! Pain! My heart hammered frantically inside my chest. I knew what it was, somehow humans know good from evil... and this one was pure evil. A humanoid, long arms and beast-like legs, the fiend was covered in black thick hair. Besides the bright scarlet eyes, there were no particular features, no mouth neither a nose protuberance.

My stomach twitched with nausea. Eyes, wide-opened, the other me in bed fully awakened stared blankly at the ceiling. The lighter me plummeted, heavy like iron, hard like a rock, clashing against my own self.

The demon passed through the door and I tried to get off the bed, but I couldn't, it was in vain. I saw it, when that think leaped over my body, pressing me so hard I wasn't able to move. My arms extended to each side of my torso and my legs down straight taking myself the shape of a crucifix.

I fought and tried to scream, but when I opened my mouth no voice came out. Despair, impotence, anguish and fright engulfed me, as tight as the tense and heavy weight crushing my bones to the mattress.

Opening my mouth was the worst thing I could do. It just opened a gate, a pathway beneath my body and darkness. The demon convulsed, flapping on top of my while it tried to slip through my open mouth. It's freezing touch numbed my face and arms. My jaws distended, hurting at they opened wide. My face took different forms, chin reaching low to my chest.

I fought to stop that thing from possessing me. I knew what the demon wanted: my soul. Against it, I was nothing. I was only a human, weak, powerless. The more I tried to resist, the more I sank in the mattress and cold and dampness, petrified me. Asphixia! I wasn't even able to breathe when the entity block the flow of air to my mouth.

There was no route of scape as I succumbed under the fiend's powers. But there was some sort of external influx, a connection from out my body and the creature's presence. It was when I remembered some Psalms from the Bible and I began reciting them. Those still echo freshly in my mind, 'But You, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high... I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because The Lord sustains me. I will not fear though ten thousands assail me on every side...' All this in my head for my voice was muted, yet every fiber, muscle, nerve inside of me repeated eagerly the versicles I recalled the best I could. With authority and faith, taking as granted that hope -with a hint of survival instinct- is the last thing left, my head was screaming the Psalms one time after the other.

All of a sudden silence... emptiness, and darkness. My body was light again. The heaviness, the coldness and the dampness vanished gradually. Where did the demon go, I wasn't sure, but it wasn't over me anymore, or at least I didn't feel it. But then I saw it, levitating parallel, a foot apart to my body.

It was horrid. The room filled with a stench of sulfur and roses and the air was warm. Then it screamed. The demon shrieked and it was as if a thousand deep and guttural voices howled at the same time. It fought, but not with me. It fought to stay. Something hauled the demon away. Swiftly, it was dragged sucked down by a second and more powerful force until it disappeared into the floor.

Shaking I sat up straight on the bed. I moaned, panting, while my heart hammered rampantly inside my chest. I looked everywhere, hoping not to find that thing still in my bedroom. Immediately I turned on the bedside table's lamp and took a deep breath. It was gone.

But something I can tell you: It was an experience I will never forget... And I never turned off the lights when going to bed. The demon never came back, and it never will.