“Elliot?” my voice shook, examining him intently, waiting for his trick to end… but after what seemed an eternity of a cruel joke, tears began blurring my vision. I slowly stretched my hand out towards him, but before making contact, his body flung into an upright position, his eyes opened wide, completely white. I unexpectedly yelped, jumping back, staring in awe. His eyes and gaping mouth began to drain thick, dark red liquid. My brain couldn’t wrap around the horror I was witnessing, shaking and clenching my chest, I was frozen. Abruptly, sounds of bones breaking and lungs gasping for air filled my ears as Elliot’s body dropped to the floor. Blood pooling around his pale form as it continued to flow out of him. Removed from the haze I stared at Elliot’s lifeless body in disbelief. An urge to vomit made my knees weak, causing me to collapse to the floor. The thump of my body hitting the wood jolted his figure into a sitting position, facing me with his head cocked to one side. Eyes still white, the red liquid continuing to emerge from them. His face distorted with an over stretched grin, reaching across his entire profile inhumanly. The skin surrounding his lips seemed to quiver as to restrain them from releasing the smile.
“Are you sleepy yet?” his tongue hissed from behind the wicked, blood-filled smile. My heart pounded through my chest, waking me from the dreadful nightmare. I sat up quickly examining the dark bedroom, eyes adjusting, jetting back and forth not remembering how I got there. Lying next to me, snoring per usual lay Elliot, deep in slumber. My brain pulsated as I tried to track the nights events, but all that resonated was Elliot’s smile, that lip splitting smile. I shivered and tried to shake the image from my memory. These night terrors had started to feel more like reality every time I had one. Rubbing my temples, I slid on my house slippers and incased myself in the fluffy, plush bathrobe draped on the armchair near the door. With winter approaching the house became chilly come night fall and walking on the freezing hard-wood barefoot wasn’t on my to-do list. Glancing at the side table clock, it read 03:07am; I decided to head downstairs, attempting to wipe the disturbing scenes of the nightmare from my memory.
Arriving to the kitchen, I poured a glass of water, and downed three Advil. Hoping that I would get back to rest since I couldn’t remember how long I’d been asleep after jogging the sparse recollections of the night. After placing the glass in the sink, I turned to head for the stairs, but stopped dead in my tracks. Through the hallway I saw our grand front door swung open, letting the cold draft spill inside. Terrified, my heart began racing, head spinning with what from the kitchen would work best to fight off an intruder. Just beyond the porch I caught a glimpse of Elliot walking towards the end of the driveway; a heavy sigh of relief along with a nervous chuckle, relieved it was just my husband. He had on only the gag gift boxers I gifted him for Valentine’s Day two years prior; how is he not freezing I thought to myself. A bit confused as to why I didn’t hear him descend the stairs. I made my way to the open door, leaning my head out, clamping the robe tight as the frigid air engulfed my flesh and bones.
“Elliot, what the hell are you doing?” I snapped, shivering from the cold. He said nothing, facing towards the end of our driveway, not moving a muscle.
“Did you hear something?” I paused… waiting for a response, but none came. Stepping out onto the porch, taking baby-steps knowing the frost made the planks slick, I stayed silent. Thinking he saw something and was possibly investigating; I inched my way in silence. Entranced by figuring out what he was focusing on, I didn’t notice the door behind me shut close and lock with a single click.
“Baby, what’s going on?” I pressed harder. Finally, to the edge of the porch, I stepped off onto the first step.
BOOM BOOM BOOM… a loud pounding came from behind me, I whipped around so quickly that I nearly lost my balance on the icy step.
“Cat, who the fuck is that?” Elliot screamed through the closed window, pounding on it from inside the living room. Instant fear began crawling over my body as I slowly turned to face my husband’s imposter in the driveway. I could hear Elliot’s muffled screaming as he frantically tried to open the windows and front door, but nothing would budge. There, standing before me was the creature from my night terror; its body covered with the oozing dark liquid just as I remembered it. Its head cocked paired with that menacing, skin ripping, blood-filled grin. Its white eyes locked on me, piercing my soul. I stood frozen as hot tears poured from my eyes down my frosted cheeks, I didn’t dare take them off the monster that loomed in front of me.
Elliot continued to bash on every window and door to escape the house to save me, doing everything possible but he was trapped. Screaming my name, begging me to move. Everything inside of me wanted to turn and run, but all I could do was stare in horror. Howls poured from its mouth, at first sounding human-like, then morphing into an animalistic growl. That same spine-tingling smile overtaking its face, exposing its gums and bloody spikes for teeth. It began to out stretch its limbs, bones cracking with every single movement as it creeped toward the porch steps. Only a foot away from me now, it’s hot breath creating vapor as it hissed,
“Are you sleepy yet?”