The Mischief

I bit back a scream as the rats gnawed at my intestines. They dug deep into my abdomen, tearing at each of my organs and covering their whiskered mouths with my sticky, crimson blood. Their sharp, needle-like teeth sent rolling waves of white-hot pain through my body. My head collapsed onto the stone slab that served as my bed. The edges of my vision began to fade, leaving blurry traces of the dark cave ceiling in my line of sight. Just as bittersweet unconsciousness was about to grip me…

The rats scattered. A new pain replaced the tearing of my insides. As though a surgeon were working on me, invisible hands replaced my missing parts and sewed together what had been separated. Tears fell from the corners of my eyes, but I did not let myself scream.

I glanced down as I felt the last incision made. My body was once more in one piece, stitches unseen. I let out a shuttering sigh of relief.

I had had this nightmare many times before. The difference this time was that I could not seem to wake up. Instead, I merely got a reprieve of a few hours—during which I might have rested or I might have just stared into the darkness—before the rats returned to feast upon me all over again. It had happened dozens, perhaps hundreds of times. Each time, something healed me, only for the process to begin all over again. To what end?

I trembled at the thought.

How much longer would this go on? When would I wake up?

Dear God, what if I wasn’t dreaming?

The tears streamed more freely. I lay on my side and curled into the fetal position, my hands covering my face. I could not imagine what I had done to deserve this, but I promised my Lord and every other god and goddess out there that I would make it up to them if they just got me out of this. When I lowered my hands, though, I was still stuck in the cave, and I could hear the squeaking of rats somewhere among the shadows. I pulled my knees closer to my chest.

No! I would not let myself just lay there and wait to become dinner for a bunch of vermin yet again.

I forced myself to sit up. Letting my eyes adjust to the darkness, I then stood on my feet. Cautiously, I shuffled towards the cave’s edge. The rats’ squeaking grew louder and louder, sending chills down my spine, but I did not let myself get discouraged. I would find a way out, even if I had to walk out through a thousand rats.

My heart leaped as my foot hit the wall. I reached out my hands and dragged them carefully over the stone. Slowly but surely, I slid along the length of the wall. I tried to swallow, but I had not saliva. My breathing quickened. I expected at any moment to be bitten by a rat or to run my hand into a spider’s web. Then I felt it, something rough and entirely welcomed compared to the cold surface of the stone wall: wood.

My eyes wide, I felt all around the wood until I located a metallic knob. My heart raced again, this time with elation.

A door. It was a door!

My hands fumbled with the knob. Shaking, I finally managed to open the door. A gust of cool, fresh air greeted me. I breathed in deeply before rushing across the threshold.

I quickly turned to close the door. I leaned against it, as though I could keep all the horrors of that cave locked up in there with the mere force of my body. I could not believe that I had finally made it out of that nightmare.

Then I heard it.

Squeak.

I tensed.

Squeak. Squeak.

Fighting every instinct I had, I turned towards the noise. Through the darkness, I found myself back in the cave. In front of me were the blinking, shining eyes of hundreds of rats.

I jiggled the knob of the door furiously, but it would not turn. I twisted and pulled, but the door would not budge. My head fell against the wood.

I’m doomed.

I yipped as I felt a nip at my heel. Then another. I looked down to find one of the rats chewing at my flesh. Frantically, I kicked and kicked until the rat went flying back into the shadows with the others.

As quickly as that one had appeared, another took its place. I tried to shake it off, but another latched on to my other heel, stealing my focus. A third rat leaped at my calf and dug its teeth in deep. When the fourth found its post in my other leg, I collapsed to the ground.

Suddenly, the entire mischief of rats raced towards me. I flung my arms up to cover my face and throat. The rats scurried along my body, clawing every inch of my flesh with their long, mangled nails. They converged upon my abdomen, ripping it open as they had hundreds of times before.

And as they shredded and devoured my organs, before I reached that bittersweet spot of near-unconsciousness, I emitted a single ear-shattering scream.

Author's Note: This story was written for Kenny Penn's Frighten Me! Please? Challenge. You can check it out here: