Screech. Screech.
The screeching just wouldn't stop.
It kept going on and on and on and on, driving me crazy.
Like nails scraping on metal, echoing in my head without end. I wanted to make it stop, to bash my head into the wall if that's what it takes. But my body just wouldn't move. My mind was... fuzzy. Like I was in a fever dream.
Screech.
I was in a lecture hall, sitting at the edge of a row close to the front. It was a fine-looking place. Cream coloured walls, dark wooden seats with green cushions, and a large stage.
The hall was filled with people. There was a well-dressed man on the stage, writing something on a chalkboard. I could see what he wrote, the numbers I even recognised, but the letters were foreign to me.
Perhaps it was the sound of him writing that got stuck in my head. He was saying something quite loudly. It mixed in with everyone else's hushed chatter around me. But I couldn't understand anything.
Screech.
No, it wasn't that. The screeching was there even when everyone else was gone.
Each time I closed my eyes, each time I blinked, the scene changed.
The well-lit hall turned dreary and ruined. The roof had a hole, and red light shone in from above, like a spotlight. Darkness, deep and unsettling, lurked outside the light's reach.
The curtains of the stage were closed. There was something moving behind them. Something growling.
I felt trapped. My body betraying me, my thoughts murky and slow.
Why... is this happening? Where... am I?
Screech.
Another blink.
I was back in the normal-looking hall. There was something, someone, tugging at my arm. I heard a faint voice right next to me.
Something is wrong with me...
I… I'm…
Who am I?
My other hand gripped the armrest tightly, my fingers digging into the soft material.
Was this the screeching I heard?
Sceeeech!
No, that wasn't it...
Once again, I was back in that nightmarish version of reality.
The curtain was fluttering. Unnaturally long, clawed fingers covered in sickly grey skin, crept out from behind. They curled around the edge of the curtain slowly.
It was pulling back the curtain.
I blinked again, but nothing changed this time.
I felt myself shaking all over.
Move... I need to get away. Move!
No! Stay! I want to see more!
It was as if there were… two of me, battling for control.
But which was I?
My body was shaking all over, but I didn't move.
The same voice calling out to me got louder.
If only I could understand it.
I first saw hair, long, black, matted and filthy. Then came the face. The eyes were milky white with red veins across them. Its mouth was vertical, running the length of its neck, full of sharp teeth and stained red. Some liquid of the same colour dripped from its maw.
It let out a long groan or... trill even. It was almost melodic, almost like a cat.
"Co-"
The weird creature was speaking. Or trying to at least.
My heart was beating loudly, hammering in my ears.
Why can I understand it, but not everyone else?
"-me..."
The long mouth of it was flapping, opening and closing as it tried to say more. The hand on the curtain grasped it tighter, tearing the fabric. The sound echoed around the empty hall.
"Come...H-" The voice was raspy and just wrong. It made my ears hurt.
It was getting hard to breathe, my vision darkening at the edges.
A thin line of blood seeped out from the corner of the creature's eye, flowing like red tears.
"Come...Home..."
SCREEEECH!
My eyes shot wide open, and I found myself back in the normal version of the hall.
Gasping for air and coughing, I leaned forward and buried my head in my palms. Something was burning my throat. Bile threatening to rise up. I swallowed it down.
When the buzzing in my ear started to subside, I noticed how quiet the room got. Looking up, I saw it. All the faces, every single one in my vision, turned to look at me.
Only they had no faces. They were all blank, no mouth, no nose, no eyes. Just... blank skin.
I grabbed the bag at my legs and ran. Down and to the door, almost falling down the steps of the lecture hall.
Why am I running? I'm not scared. This… isn't what I want…
Someone shouted after me, but I didn't care. I ran out to the hallway illuminated by light seeping through the large windows.
I didn't know where I was going. Something in the back of my head urged me to get away.
When I went down the set of stairs that led to the ground floor, I tripped on the last few steps.
I fell headfirst to the floor.
It hurt, but it was my knees and palms that took the brunt of the hit, not my face.
Lifting my head up, I saw the world had changed again. The windows were shattered. The same suffocating darkness covered the outside world. The pristine building turned dirty and cold. So very cold.
"Come... Home..."
Hearing the raspy voice made the blood freeze in my veins.
I rolled to my back.
The creature was on the stairs, now fully in view.
It was huge and lanky. Arms so long that the fingers reached the ground. Its thin legs had sharp, clawed feet, almost the same as its hands. Its pear-shaped torso was too large for such thin limbs. But the worst was its maw. It reached all the way down to its belly, like a long, open wound across its entire torso, opening and closing slightly, the teeth moving individually.
I scrambled backwards on the floor, panic overtaking my mind. My bag got left behind.
The creature took a step down the stairs, then another towards me. Blood and saliva dripped from its mouth to the ground with each step it took.
Its head was rocking back and forth. Its toes and claws were twitching, and more and more red tears were flowing down its face.
"Co-... me..." It snarled, shaking its head "Ho...me..."
My back hit the wall, but my legs kept pushing back against it even more.
The creature's eyes were getting clearer. Red pupils surfacing in the milky globes.
"Come... Home!" It was shouting now, "Come home!"
It grabbed its own head, groaning and staggering back a bit.
I tried to get up and run, but one of the clawed hands slammed into the wall right next to my face. It cracked the wall like it was nothing.
When I turned back to the monster, its pupils were fully visible now. They were like two burning red orbs.
It snarled, the giant maw opening wide, wide enough to swallow me whole. The rancid smell coming from it was suffocating and made me want to throw up.
With a sound close to a strained howl, it lounged at me.
I covered my face with my arms by reflex, expecting this to be the end. It certainly felt like that. My heart lurched, my body felt cold and numb.
I expected pain. To feel the monster slam against me, its teeth tear into me.
But it never came.
When I opened my eyes, I saw light.
Not the overwhelming, blinding light that's supposed to be... divine or whatnot... It was just sunlight shining through the windows.
I was in the normal version of the building again.
Someone spoke to me, I think. The voice was coming from close to me. When I lowered my arm, I saw another faceless figure kneeling in front of me, slowly reaching out towards me.
I felt warmth on my face.
Tears.
I was crying.
Why? Why is this happening to me?! Why me? Have I gone mad? No, please! Not me too! Not like-
Not like... who?
Screech.
Ah...
That's right.
Screech. Screech.
So that's what it was… It was me, trying to get out.
Screech. Screech. Screech.
But this isn't "me". This body... It isn't mine.
I... No. This body lounged forward, hugging the faceless figure, crying fully and loudly.
I never did anything. I was just the passenger.
The hazy feeling in my mind started to fade, and my thoughts flowed freely.
Crack!
The surroundings faded away, the inside of the building turning dark. The faceless figure, and even "my" arms around its neck, faded away.
There was nothing here. Just pure darkness.
And yet I wasn't afraid. Not this time.
I took a deep breath, then let out a sigh. I reached forward, looking at my hands.
"It seems I fell for it again... How dumb... I should have noticed sooner."
The hands that covered my face before and the ones I was looking at now were different. These ones were mine.
"The screeching was me trying to get out." I looked up to the nothingness above me. "Isn't that right?"
First, there was no answer. But then I heard the familiar laughter. First only faintly, then louder.
I clicked my tongue in annoyance.
"Well... Come on then... Let me out."
"Don't we know each other well enough not to bother with such pointless things?"
"Or do you want to watch me bite my tongue again? You perverse, sadistic bastard!"
If anything, the laughter turned even louder, making my head hurt.
"That won't be necessary." The voice was smooth and masculine, pleasing to the ear. It carried a hint of amusement.
It came from behind me, all other sounds turning mute.
Then something cold touched the back of my head.
"Wakey-wakey~" he said with a chuckle. I'm sure he had that annoying smirk on his face.
Bang!
It hurt. My head felt like it was burning and splitting apart.
I fell forward, the darkness like cold water enveloping me.
Once — not that long ago — this actually scared me.
But now? I think I grew too numb. Or my mind is just too broken.
126... This is my 126th nightmare.
And that number will only keep climbing higher and higher.
Am I nothing more than… a vessel for nightmares?
Maybe.
Have I gone mad?
Possibly.
Then again, would a madman know that they are crazy?
I didn't know the answer, not to this, nor to many things about myself. Maybe I never will. But I would sooner die than stop trying to find them.