Gingerbread House

Chapter Seven: Nightmares

He shifted in his sleep, his mind wondering to a place he has never been before... To an old basement...

It was cold and dark; the floors were made of compacted dirt, the walls were stone while the ceiling was made of wooden beams. In the middle of the room was a large wooden table. There were ropes attached to it, it was stained with dark red stuff that had a foul smell...

On the stone walls were metal chains along with metal hooks. The wall near the stairs had chains, whips, knifes and other items made for torture... Yet, that wasn't the worst...

Sitting in a dark corner of the room was an old furnace... The furnace was black with two large metal doors... Both were swung open, its hellish fire blazing brightly as the smell of burning flesh, bones, and fur went into the air... Just as the large screams of pain and mercy rung out...

"𝙎𝘼𝙑𝙀 𝙐𝙎! 𝙋𝙇𝙀𝘼𝙎𝙀! 𝙒𝙀'𝙍𝙀 𝙎𝙊𝙍𝙍𝙔, 𝙈𝘼𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙍! 𝙋𝙇𝙀𝘼𝙎𝙀 𝙎𝘼𝙑𝙀 𝙐𝙎! 𝙒𝙀'𝙍𝙀 𝙎𝙊𝙍𝙍𝙔! 𝙎𝙊𝙈𝙀𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝙎𝘼𝙑𝙀 𝙐𝙎! 𝙎𝘼𝙑𝙀 𝙐𝙎 𝙁𝙍𝙊𝙈 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙒𝙄𝙏𝘾𝙃! 𝘽𝙐𝙍𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙒𝙄𝙏𝘾𝙃! 𝘽𝙐𝙍𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙒𝙄𝙏𝘾𝙃! 𝙎𝘼𝙑𝙀 𝙐𝙎, 𝙋𝘼𝙋𝙀𝙍𝙅𝘼𝙈! 𝙎𝘼𝙑𝙀 𝙐𝙎!" They screamed, the fires roaring towards the frightened child.

"No... No! Stay away from me!" He shouted as he tried to run back up the stairs as the hell's fire consumed the basement.

"𝘿𝙊𝙉'𝙏 𝙇𝙀𝘼𝙑𝙀 𝙐𝙎 𝙏𝙊 𝘿𝙄𝙀! 𝙎𝘼𝙑𝙀 𝙐𝙎!" The voices cried, a cold hand grabbing hold of the inky skeleton's ankle. "𝙎𝘼𝙑𝙀 𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙈! 𝙒𝘼𝙆𝙀 𝙐𝙋! 𝙎𝘾𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙈! 𝘾𝘼𝙇𝙇 𝙁𝙊𝙍 𝙃𝙀𝙇𝙋! 𝙎𝘼𝙑𝙀 𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙈! 𝙎𝘼𝙑𝙀 𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙈! 𝙎𝘼𝙑𝙀-" The voice yelled once more, only to just... Stop...

Daring to look down, the boy screamed! The thing holding his ankle was a being made of different types of flesh and bones, even monster fur and dust!

"LET ME GO! MOMMY! DADDY! HELP!" The terrified child screamed out, tears falling down his face as the dead thing started to pull the child down into the burning basement. "NO! LET ME GO!" He hollered, kicking at the creature, but it didn't budge!

The child clawed at the old wooden stairs as he tried to stop the being from dragging him to the furnace! Tears blurred his vision as he tried climb back up! He kept calling for his mother and father... They didn't respond...

"FRESH, PLEASE HELP ME! I'M SORRY FOR LEAVING!" He sobbed out, the tips of his fingers bleeding. He couldn't think of anyone else to save him... He wanted to be saved! "FRESH!" He called out, falling onto the dirt floor.

His body turned over by the vile thing above him, black goo dripping from its mangled mouth. Its teeth was just like its body; broken, mismatched and just simply thrown up in there... It was disgusting!

"𝘿𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙞𝙢... 𝙃𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙪𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙡... 𝙃𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪... 𝙃𝙚'𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙤..." The voices whisper, their burnt hands slowly stripping the young being of his clothes.

"NO! MR. FRESH! HELP, PLEASE!" Paperjam wailed, fighting the being to the best of his abilities.

The monstrous creature hissed lowly, slapping its disformed hand across the youngling's face, growling at him to be quiet.

"M-Mr. F-Fresh..." The boy whimpered one last time as the beast finally was able to make him naked.

" 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢... 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮'𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪... 𝙃𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪... 𝙃𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪... 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙..." The voices whispered, dragging the blubbering child over to one of the hanging chains.

"N-No! S-Stop!"

At the last word Paperjam jolted up, tears falling from his eyes. He looked around the room, his room... Nothing was out of place... Nothing was there...

He glanced at his alarm clock... 3:38 A.M... He had only been sleeping for four hours...

The child's eyes widen when he saw the time... The devil's hour... The time, Mommy had always said to be careful of...

Quickly, the child rushed to his parents' door, needing their comfort. However, when he creaked the door open... He couldn't do it... They were sleeping soundlessly... They didn't need him to wake them up again...

Whimpering softly to himself, he went back to his room. He pulled his knees up to his chest, his strange eyes taking in everything... Slowly, the sweet child wiped his teary eyes with the long sleeve of his night gown... His parents must've changed him into his favorite one... That made him feel a bit better...

Gradually, the baby bones laid down in his bed again and passed out, unware of the two flaming eyes in the darkness... The eyes that heard his shouts... The eyes that wanted to go to him... To soothe his nightmare... Yet, the owner of the eyes knew that they just had to wait for morning... Then they would be able to protect him... Protect him forever and ever... To keep their precious monster safe from everything, even nightmares...