I’m trying to scream at the top of my lungs now, hoping that someone in my house will come and wake me, but all I can do is let out a heavy breath. I need help. Won’t Bubbe have stayed awake to patrol us in our sleep? I’m hyperventilating. I can’t let him take me. I feel him back up. Is he retreating? No, he bends down so I can see his face… or I can see where his face would be, if he was an actual man.
He has no face. It’s all blackness, and I can only look for a second before my eyes burn. I guess it is not possible for the human eye and brain to process the visual input of this being from another dimension It’s just so… wrong… that trying to look directly at it results in a disconcerting vision like a combined effect of a strobe light flashing on static. I instinctively close my eyes to dull the stinging pain, but immediately realize my mistake. Now I can’t open my eyes anymore. Its static grip grows stronger and now it’s becoming painful. I can sense his face get even closer to me and the closer his head gets to mine, the louder the static ringing gets. I feel my head vibrating as if hearing something this unnatural is going to burst my eardrums. It’s resonating throughout my mind, as if it’s trying to say something to me. I can make out syllables. It’s saying something. It’s saying, “Alyssa!”
13: The Nightmare
“Alyssa! Alyssa, wake up! I need your help,” I hear. I open my eyes. I can still feel the static immobilizing me, but it’s receding. I look and see the monster still looming above me, but I recognize that voice. “Alyssa!” I hear again and the monster leans in, this time touching me with hands, Shana’s hands. Shana!
I jump up, but immediately stumble forward and fall forward off the bed at Shana’s feet. My body is numb. I can still hear the howling wind. I try to move, and can see my body responding, but I can’t feel what I’m doing. I can’t gauge the amount of strength I’m putting into pushing myself off the floor, and I certainly can’t feel enough to balance. I stumble over again. Shana bends down and puts a hand on my arm. I feel a jolt. It’s not exactly electricity, but the shock courses through my veins and I can feel a bit of control return. It’s only a bit, but it’s enough for me to let Shana help lift me up.
I rise to my feet and look at her. She looks… dark and scared. I feel the impulse to lean forward and hug her, but I know something is wrong. I look around and see how dark the place has gotten, yet I can see. “Am I dreaming?” I ask Shana. Shana shakes her head.
“I don’t know, but he’s had me here for a while,” she answers. I take a few steps, trying to get used to the lack of coordination this… dimension, gives me. “I need your help Lyss. I can’t stay here,” she says. As I move around I notice a field of illumination follows, as if I’m holding a flashlight or something. I look around for the source of light, but everything more than ten feet away from me is immersed in almost total blackness. I look at myself and realize that the light is emanating from me! I am still in the pajamas I was wearing, but my body is distorted and shifting, like, like him. It’s almost like I’m not solid. I look at Shana and notice that her body is doing the exact same thing, except she is dark. Most of her form is utter blackness.
“Where are we?” I ask. Shana bows her head and moves toward the door. She opens it, and I can see part of the hallway, but everything else is dark. With great effort, I walk through the doorway and look around at my house. It looks almost the same as it usually does, but it has the same eerily dark quality, kind of like it’s lit with a black light, but without the illumination. And, it feels empty. I feel a surge of fear as I realize that the monster must have sucked me into his realm-into the shadow world Bubbe told me about. What if I’ve just disappeared from my bed?
“Alyssa!” Shana cries.
“I need you to help me. I need to get out of here,” she continues. I feel the longing I’ve had to see her well up. Has Shana been watching me from here the whole time? I have to use the wall for balance as I move through the hall. I have to check on Adam, but as I push on his door, I think. What do I want to see? Do I want to see Adam lying in bed or not? If he’s here that could mean the fiend has sucked him in as well, but if he’s not then it could mean the same thing. I push his door, but it won’t open. As I push I feel surges of static pushing back against me, through my already numb body. I can’t get through.
“Alyssa, come here,” Shana pleads.
“I can’t! I need to get in here!” I shout with frustration.
“It won’t work,” she says. I look back at her long enough to see her face distort a bit and wince in response. Shana waits at the top of the stairs and I move over to her, not quite ready to descend. Why can’t I get into Adam’s room? I turn and look back at it when I feel a wave of the howling static hit me. I can hardly keep my eyes open as I tumble down the stairs. I feel like I’m probably injured, but the pain is dulled by the strange numbness. I can’t say that’s good, because it’s hard to tell if my injuries are serious.
I’m a little dizzy from the fall, but as my vision returns I see the shadowy Shana atop the stairs. She’s not even rushing to help me. I close my eyes, taking a breath before I pull myself up on my own. I open my eyes and am shocked to see Shana already at the bottom of the stairs. She’s standing over me with the same posture she was at the top of the stairs. It’s the same stance she’s had since she woke me up. Something tells me she didn’t just jump down the steps, and I didn’t hear any footsteps.
She bends over and helps me stand up, but before I’m even in a full standing position to make sure I’m still okay to walk, I feel her push me toward the door. The front door? Where does she want me to go? The door is ajar and I pull it open. I’m surprised that when I open the door I can see more than ten feet ahead of me. I can see the shapes of houses, mailboxes, hedges and everything in my neighborhood. There’s no moon or apparent source of light, but I can see them. It’s such a weird sensation to see without light that it only adds to the confusion I’m already feeling.
Shana pushes me again, but when I turn angrily to look at her she’s already in front of me. It’s like she tackled me in a rush to get ten feet in front of me, but that doesn’t make any sense. I want to help her, I really do, but it doesn’t seem like she’s as scared or upset as I would be if I’d been stuck in a place like this. I know she’s been here for days, so maybe she’s gotten used to it, but still I can’t see her behaving this way the first opportunity she has to get my help. I follow her down the street, but as I do, I look around. I notice some of the areas, particularly other streets, don’t illuminate as I pass by. It’s as if I’m not supposed to venture down there, like my path has already been predetermined.
I get the eerie feeling that something is watching me, and I’m starting to be afraid of the way Shana is leading me. She doesn’t appear scared at all. She doesn’t seem like she’s desperately trying to attain my help, and even if she really is, what does she want me to do? I stop walking. What does she want me to do? It’s only now that I actually stop and think about it. I’m a fifteen year old unarmed girl who is barely capable of walking normally. All I can do is run. I remember Jason and Shana- at least normal Shana in the normal world. Both of them claimed that their siblings appeared to them pleading for their help and then both of them disappeared.