Before I begin my story, I’d like you to know that English isn’t my first language, so I apologize in advance if you find any mistakes here.
Alright, so… A quick introduction about me. I’ve always been fascinated with horror stories and started listening to podcasts about paranormal experiences from the age of 10. I myself however, haven’t encountered anything paranormal in my life, except for the few instances of mistaking a pile of clothes for a monster or the howling of dogs at night to be the call of ghosts. Things that happen to pretty much all of us once in a while. I haven’t seen or experienced any “ghostly” entities. At least that is what I’d like to believe. You see… lately, I’ve been having these nightmares which are starting to come to life. And if I start believing them to be real, very soon, they WILL be real.
It all started with the horror stories. Stories that would keep me up all night and yet I always wanted to hear. And growing up, I know why. Kids always have a weird fascination towards things that are not meant for them or could possibly be harmful for them even. And I wasn’t any different. As a kid, I’d find ways to gather stories from the web or listen to radio channels that had people talk about their paranormal experiences. Although these were thrilling in their own ways, in my country, the best way to enjoy a spooky night is to gather around with your cousins and take turns in telling horror stories. All of which were made up of course. Just for the scares. But it was worth the while to say the least. You might be wondering why drag the story with such irrelevant information but please bear with me. Because it was these “horror story sessions” that shaped itself into my first living nightmare.
I remember it being November, 2015. I finished dinner, brushed my teeth and went to bed like any other day. Being a 16y/o teenager who had to attend classes everyday for 7 hours straight, it didn’t take long for me to doze off and fall asleep. And I did. I was asleep and soon fell into the dream-like state, like most other days. Now, having nightmares weren’t anything new to me. I’ve had plenty of nightmares before and none of them were any less scary than this one. Dreams or nightmares, whatever you call it, are all very much realistic. That is, until you wake up from it. And that’s what made this particular nightmare different from the others. I don’t exactly remember how the dream (yes, I’m calling it a dream because it wasn’t remotely scary at first) started but I found myself joining a cousin of mine in one of those story telling sessions. Except, it was only me and him. I didn’t have any new stories to share and so he went on to tell a story of his own. It was about a bride in white saree, a traditional clothing in Bangladesh and the neighboring countries like India and Nepal. The story itself wasn’t that long and only had details of how she was murdered by her husband and how she came back to life to haunt other men who fall prey to her traps. Typical Bengali horror story I’d say.
Everything was okay until this point, but if you’ve had vivid nightmares, you know that’s not how a dream or nightmare works. Very soon I found that things around me were starting to disappear. Not vanish in a single instant but fade away into nothingness. Even my cousin was not around me anymore. And a few moments later, I was back on my bed. The very bed I remember falling asleep in. Even at that moment, I wasn’t sure if I was asleep or not. It was my bed after all.
Sure, surreal things like this happen all the time in dreams but it’s the faint cry of another person beside me in my bed that turned this into a nightmare. I was startled by the cry and out of curiosity, looked back to see a white figure sitting in my bed. I couldn’t see well without my glasses so it took a few moments for me to realize that it was in fact, a person sitting beside me. A woman, I sensed from the cries I kept hearing, wearing a white saree. Now, I’ve usually been the type to run away if it comes to a fight or flight situation in order to avoid risks. This time however, I felt intrigued by the figure in front of me and I placed my hand on her shoulder to ask if she was okay? It took a few moments before she stopped crying and started to turn her head. God I wish she didn’t. Because what I saw next was enough to give me weeks of unending paranoia. The woman turned and looked at me straight in the eye. And she started smiling. It grew so wide that at one point, she was smiling from ear to ear. The white saree, the bridal makeup, everything was almost perfect, but her eyes… They were empty, completely empty. And yet I was sure her eyes, or what should have been there, were locked into mine. The sight was gruesome enough to wake me up. I jolted up in my bed drenched in sweat and breathing heavily.
End of the nightmare? That’s what I wished. But I was wrong. Because the explicitness of the events that took place moments ago had me look behind to make sure I wasn’t alone. And I was met with the exact same sight that made me wake up. It was like I woke up to see the nightmare all over again. This time however, she was closer to me, smiling. As if the mere seconds that passed between me waking up from the nightmare, gave her time to close the distance between me and her. Before I could react though, she let out the most horrific and blood curdling laugh that I’d ever heard. It was enough to make anyone scream and run for their life. But I couldn’t move an inch. Y’all ever heard of getting so scared that you lose your ability to scream? That’s what happened to me at that moment. Despite all my efforts to bring out any audible sound that could alert my parents, nothing came out of my mouth. It was as if I lost all the ability to move my body. As she continued laughing like a maniac, I slowly started gaining control of my muscles little by little and with every strength I had in my body, I threw myself away from my bed and ran. To my parents room.
I wanted to wake them up but decided against it. Partly because they wouldn’t believe me and would be mad at me for waking them up at the middle of the night, and partly because as much as I thought it was real, I wanted to make sure it was still there and then alert my parents. And so I did that. I tiptoed myself into my room and peered inside to look at my bed. It was empty now. I washed my face and drank a glass of water before going into bed again.
I wish I could tell you that was the end of it. I really do. But the woman in white made a few more appearances. And the more it did, the more I got into spirals of me waking up and finding her beside me. Each time, closer to me. Each time, me losing the ability to move myself from it’s clutches.
In the title of this story I asked if nightmares come true or not. And I really want to know if it does. Because that’s what I think will happen if I don’t find a way around this living nightmare of mine. It’s not the woman in white I’m afraid of, it’s the realization of not being able to escape my nightmares and falling into it over and over again that’s driving me insane. And at this state, I don’t think I’ll be able to protect myself much longer. I’m writing this because I needed to get it off my chest and find any possible answer to what exactly is going on in my life. Anyway, it’s been a long day so I need to lay down for a bit. I think I’m starting to doze off…