Dreim

Dark Friday night, spent alone watching T.V.

Red light of the murder doc splashes across my face.

Eating away at a bag of chips as the clock moves past eleven o’clock.

I grab, grab, grab more food, a void needing to be filled.

Many episodes later, I go to the kitchen for some water.

Drinking from a glass, I see a shape appear in the window over the sink.

Reflected in the glass is a man, a stranger wielding a kitchen knife.

Each of his crooked, yellow teeth showed as he smiled at me.

I run, run, run for the safety of my parents' room.

My arms brace against the door to their bedroom right off the kitchen.

Deep breaths in and out as I look around, and smack the light switch off.

Ready to grab a chair to block the door, until I hear breathing through the wood.

Even as I quieted my own breathing, I heard him whisper behind the door.

It sounded like my name, as I heard a tap, tap, tap on the wood.

My face rushed to meet the floor as he bashed himself against it getting in.

Dim light from the laundry room covered me as he forced his way in.

Ringing around him, all I could see was the outline of his body and knife.

Envision a shadow, darker than night except for the whites of his eyes.

I stare into that white as I scream, scream, scream.

Mimicking Juliet, my skin accepts his blade and rewards the man with my blood.

Dredged from slumber, I rip myself from the sheets that had twisted themselves around me like grasping hands.

Red marks cover my arms, where my nails tried to claw their way to safety.

Examining my room, I see that it is six o’clock, and that I am safe.

I breathe, breathe, breathe, drawing in more air as I recall what day of the week it was.

Memory reignites that fitful anxiety as I get ready for Friday.