Captivated

The Nightmare

To @DikshaAgarwal040

Thank you for reading my book, it means the world to me!

For some reason, since my encounter with Jessica, that shaky feeling had not gone away. I felt an irrational sense of fear and worse, I had the small nagging voice in the back of my mind which would not let me go from what she said. Deep down, I knew something was going on, especially from Nurse Carter's reactions about her patient. As soon as Jessica mentioned a beast being locked up, I pretended as if nothing had happened, gathered my belongings, signed out and headed home.

I was bundled up in my warmest jumper even though the weather was hot outside but I could still feel the bone-chilling cold fear surrounding me.

It just didn't make any sense to me. Why was I so affected and scared?

My phone vibrated a few times. Messages from Karl. I put my phone on silent and shoved it under my pillow. I just didn't have the energy to deal with anyone right now. Now, I needed to sleep.

I curled up underneath my blanket in a cocoon of warmth and allowed the darkness to drag me down.

I woke up cold, my blanket nowhere to be seen. Apart from that, although my room looked normal, something felt... off. I couldn't quite put my finger on it and apart from my vanished blankets, nothing was ringing any bells. I hesitantly got up. I could see but at the same time, everything was enshrouded in thick suffocating darkness. I reached out for my phone and blindly felt along the bedside drawers. It was gone? I always, always put my phone in the same place. Reaching for the floor, I felt around that area too. My phone was gone.

"Stay calm", I whispered to myself. "The lamp should be fine".

It wasn't. There was no source of light. The panic slowly began to increase and grip my whole body. It was freezing and goosebumps erupted all over my skin despite my clothing.

Creak.

If I was scared before, I was terrified now. None of my floorboards have ever made noises when I -or even Karl -have stepped on them. Which must mean that whoever was downstairs must be heavy or big. I stood up as silently as possible, trying to avoid any rustling sounds.

Creak.

That was closer than before. I slowly backed up against the wall and inched my way to the corner of my room where I had dumped the cricket bat my dad gave me 'just in case'. My palms felt sweaty and clammy as I gripped the bat with both my hands, my heart beating so hard, every beat appeared as if it was echoing around the house.

Creak.

I headed to the door and positioned myself just behind it so that I could take whoever was in the house by surprise.

Creak.

Even closer. I could hear some deep rumbling noises and the wall vibrated with its resonance.

Creak.

The door slowly swung open and with it a draught. I waited and held my breath. Any second now.

Silence. I couldn't hear anything. From the rumbling noises to the creaks. All I could hear was my own heart.

I gripped my bat even tighter and with bated breath, checked the door.

No one was there. Not a soul. I sighed in relief and turned around. Only to see the most beautiful molten gold eyes shining in the dark. The eyes appeared almost feline, with millions of specks of colours swimming in a sea of gold, pure gold. I had never felt such awe in my life. The bat fell from my hand, hitting the door with a thud.

The creature blinked owlishly and purred contentedly.

My breath caught in my throat. I could see the red flags waving frantically at the back of my mind, but they were ignored by the sheer, raw magnificence in front of me.

It was too dark to make out any features except the golden hypnotic eyes and I began to feel my body sway.

The peace in the house was disrupted as it let out a majestic roar that echoed around the house and rang in my ears. Everything shook from its power, including me.

Suddenly, it lunged forward and the last thing I saw was a huge gaping jaw with canines so sharp that they could cut through anything and my body would be nothing but mere paper.

Thud.

I fell off my bed in surprise and looked around. My blanket was intertwined around my legs and my phone was resting on my bedside drawer. Sunlight streamed into my room and my room was cast in a heavenly warm glow. I hesitantly stood up and looked around. Everything seemed to be in place. I could still feel the remnants of the nightmare, my breath was coming out a little faster, my palms were slightly sweaty and my back was drenched in cold, sticky sweat.

After that crazy nightmare, I just had the sudden urge to thank my dad for his extravagance such as giving me something as crazy as a cricket bat. I grabbed my phone and sent out a quick text about how I had a nightmare but his bat saved me in my dream to which my dad promptly responded with a smug emoji and 'Dads know best'.

Feeling better, I decided to go for a shower to get rid of the aftermath of my nightmare when suddenly I tripped over and landed face-first on the floor. Rubbing my nose, I twisted my body around to look at the culprit and felt my heart drop.

I had tripped because of the cricket bat. The cricket bat that was supposed to be in the corner of my room where I kept things I didn't know what to do with. The same cricket bat that I had grabbed in my dream and dropped exactly where I tripped over...

SO

I am a horrible person. Since my life has started, my schedule has flown out of the window.

I am sorry 😢

Life just sucks and there nothing you can do about it except eating chocolate and crying.

Well,  that's how I feel anyway.

Question:

What did you think about this chapter?

What do you think about me?

What is your most embarrassing or funniest moment? 

Now that I have got used to life, I think it will be easier for me to write which is good.

Anyways, 

Vote, Comment and Share.

I would love for my book to reach new people and it would low-key keep me motivated.