You are wandering down a dirt gravel road. To your right up a ways you see a line of trees. To your left you see a large field you assume farmers use for crops. It’s mid November so the crops have all been harvested. The fields are empty. You are walking down this road and you see another gravel path just past the line of trees. Your phone has no service. It’s getting late in the day. Down the gravel path on your right, you see a small brick farmhouse and an old barn behind it. You see a porch light on. A little desperate, you walk down the path towards the house. In the distance, you hear a siren. As you look behind you, you see the sky darken. The winds begin to kick and twist around you. You begin running toward the farmhouse. Now it seems so far away. The winds begin to roar around you. You run and run but the farmhouse seems still so far away. You take cover in a ditch as the winds tear around you. You look around quickly as the skies has suddenly gotten so dark around you. Trying to get a read of everything, but now it’s almost too dark to see. You put your head down as the only sound filling your head is the wind roaring around you. You close your eyes tight.
Your eyes open. They readjust to your surroundings. You are in an unfamiliar room. It’s a small room. Inside the room is an old tv on the far side of the room and a lamp. On the side where you are at is a twin sized bed. Next to the bed is night stand with a glass of water on it. And in the corner of the room, you see a bookcase with a Mickey Mouse doll next to it. You reach for the glass of water to take a drink. From the next room, you hear someone shuffling. In through the doorway on the left a woman appearing in her late 80s walks through wearing a blue gown and beige slippers comes in to check on you. She has a kind face with pair of small glasses perched on the end of her nose. She looks at you and says, “Oh good, you’re awake. Didn’t know if you were gonna make it. You were caught out in that storm that rolled through here. Thankfully, my husband was able to carry you in here. He’s out in the barn if you want to thank him. But you can do that in a little bit, I think you should rest up for a while.” A small, “Thank you,” is all you can get out as you feel the exhaustion on your body set in. You lay back down and close your eyes once more.
You open your eyes. Your eyes take a moment to adjust to the darkness of the room. You notice everything in the room as it was, except for the Mickey Mouse doll now sits in front of the nightstand next to the bed. You think that’s weird but maybe the old lady put it there to comfort you as you sleep. You sit up and you see the long shadows seem to dance in the room. The faint light coming from the room next door sending the shadows across the room. It’s still late. You lay back down and wonder about the day you had. As you close your eyes once more, you notice something small. It appeared as if the doll blinked. You sit back up and stare at the doll. You stare for what feels like a minute but nothing seems to be changing. You think to yourself, could have just been the lights behind it casting shadows. You lay back down. You close your eyes. You breathe out and in.
You breathe out and in. You breathe out and in. Each time taking in a breath, your chest feels tighter and tighter. You breathe out and in. The pace of your breathing begins to quicken. You breathe out and in. More and more with each breath, your chest gets tighter. Each breath making it feel harder to breathe. You open your eyes. You are still breathing hard like this. You are finding it harder and harder to slow down your breathing. In front of you, the room is still the same. But this tightness in your chest keeps getting wound tighter and tighter. Out of the corner of your eye, it looks like the doll’s eye turns to look at you. The breathing is still hard but you are sure you notice it this time. You bolt up and stare at the doll unchanging. You turn its head away from you but it snaps back into place. Frightened by that, you grab the doll and chuck it across the room. Laying down staring up at the ceiling, the doll’s head turns to look at you. You shut your eyes tight.
You wake up. You’re in your room. Your breathing is still hard, but now you feel as if you are able to calm it down. You sit up and take a look around this familiar place. You go to get up and realize you are drenched with sweat. You walk to the bathroom. Finally getting your breathing back under control. You walk into the bathroom. You splash some water in your face. You stare at your chest and place a hand to it and you can still feel the tightness that you had slowly going away. It was all just a nightmare.