Nightmare

The light above cast a sickly light on the cashier ringing up my purchases. His skin had an unhealthy pallor and his eyes were sunken in and ringed in gray. The air felt stuffy and I couldn't wait to get out of there. I could feel eyes on me and had yet to pin them to the source. After handing the sickly cashier my hard earned money, which didn't seem to get me far nowadays, I headed outside.

The air outside was cool and I could faintly make out some stars past the glow of the parking lot lamps. God why did I park so far away? Mine was the only car in the parking lot and I din't remember it being so far away before I went into the store.

As I approached the car the feeling of being watch returned and I tried my best to check the surrounding area as subtly as I could; but there wasn't anyone there. In the time it took to check around me I finally made it to my car. My keys they slipped out of my fingers as I tried fishing them out of my pocket and fell to the ground with a clatter. I set the bag down and bent over to retrieve them. It was then that I noticed that my tires were missing. My breath whooshed out of my and my body felt hot. I tried locating my key in numb fingers as it seemed my only salvation was to get into my car.

Suddenly I felt warm breath against my neck and the hairs located there stood on end. I hadn't heard anyone approach past the roaring in my ears. I slowly turned around and was confronted with a man whose face was bathed in darkness. The only discernible feature in the darkness were his eyes which glowed with an unearthly green light.

My breath quickened and everything slowed down. My brain couldn't decide if I wanted to scream or run and I could feel this man enjoying every second of my panic. I blinked and suddenly I was confronted with 2 knives pressed on either side of my neck. I could feel the cold length of them pressing against my neck and the heat surrounding me raged to an inferno. I could barely breathe and I could feel tears threatening the corners of my eyes. He bent closer to whisper something in my ear. His stale smell surrounded me and washed against my face.

My brain finally caught up to me and just as a scream threatened to escape my lips the whole world turned white and the pressure of his body went away. Suddenly I was in my own room in my bed and completely alone. My clock read 3 am and I was bathed in sweat. My body felt heavy and the heat I had experienced in my dream continued into my reality. As I sat there touching my neck I could still feel the cold blades against my neck. I couldn't shake the feeling that he would still be there when I went back to sleep. Nor could I escape the words my friend had spoken to me years ago when we were young and telling scary stories:

"When you wake up at 3am it means that something was watching you while you slept." Part of me was beginning to believe that it was more than just a scary story.