The Nightmare

I waved to my friends as they disappeared down the street in a hansom cab. I had just spent a pleasant evening with them at the theater. Laughing and making merry. But now I needed to be alone. Throughout the course of the evening, a pressure had been building within my head. At first it had been slight, but by the end of the evening, I was finding it difficult to concentrate. This was not the first time it had happened to me. Over the course of a few months I had started to feel it, as if there was something within me trying to get out. I had gone and seen countless doctors but none of them seemed to think there was anything wrong with me. So I dismissed it. But in the past few weeks, I had felt it more regularly. That was when the dreams had stated to occur. Horrific nightmares of blood and death, of broken bodies and terrible screams, and occasional glimpses of an horned thing of unimaginable evil. After such nightmares, I would awake exhausted and unable to do much for the remainder of the day.

As I made my way through the maze of streets, I gradually became aware of presence. It was just outside the reaches of my mind, but I could feel it. I whirled around, but the fog that had come in off of the river made it difficult to see anything clearly. Despite this, I was sure I was being followed the was a sense of malevolence. But as I whirled around frantically searching the fog, I saw nothing, no sign of anyone. Again I felt it, and the pressure in my head intensified.

Not fully knowing what I was doing I began to run.

I ran. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I didn't look back for fear I what I might see. I felt as tho I was being hunted, hunted by something dark and evil, something that knows me, but I do n...

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... She was barely alive. In the center of the room was a pit where countless bodies burned, filling the room with and acrid sweet smell.

Familiar faces stared at me, eyes blank, expressions of fear and agony. All at once I realized that these were the figures from my nightmares. The ones I had witnessed being torn apart by the horned creature. Although I should of been terrified, I wasn't. The scenes of violence pleased me. I was comforted by the broken bones, the burning bodies and the moans of the dying women.

Whilst in my revelry the I heard a scream. The woman had awoken, her face was a mixture of terror and pain. I began to approach her, but stopped. Reflected in her eyes, staring back at me, was the hellish creature who had plagued my nightmares.

Works Cited

http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/

http://www.reddit.com/r/shortscarystories