I screamed and sat bolt upright, drenched in cold sweat from heat to toe. Good, it was only a nightmare. I looked around my room. Everything seemed to be normal and in place. My clock read 6.30am. I let out a deep long sigh. I never want to go back to wherever it was I dreamt of. It was a recurring nightmare, one I wish could stop. My parents have brought me to a psychiatrist many times, but to no avail. The dreams kept on coming, more and more vivid every time.
I tried to get the horrible picture out of my mind, and got out of bed. After having my morning shower, I got dressed, had a light breakfast, and headed off to college. Everything was routine and nothing seemed out of the norm. I smiled to myself and the fear started to disappear. I entered the lecture hall and sat in the front row, right before the lecturer came in.
I took out my notebook and got ready to actually work my mind for once. To get my head straight. As soon as the lecturer started his lesson, I felt something amiss. He was teaching us about the mass spectrometer, something we just completed only a week ago. I let it pass, maybe he just wanted to do a revision.
I opened my Chemistry notebook, looking for the notes I took down during our lesson on this topic. Something caught in my throat as I realised the notes weren’t there. They just vanished. I started looking around at my peers, wondering if anyone else was as confused as I was. Everyone looked perfectly fine, no hesitation whatsoever to continue in the lesson.
It was then I noticed something wrong. Across the hall from where I sat, I saw her. It was someone I couldn’t help but crush on, but I never admitted it. I was in denial. However, she died only a few days back in a horrible freak accident no one dared speak of. So, why was she here now?
A sharp pain unlike any other suddenly shot up my right arm. I let out a blood-curdling scream. I looked around for help. Impossible. No one in the hall seemed to notice. Everyone was concentrating on the lecture despite my screams that echoed as if I was in a small, confined room. I grabbed hold of my right arm with my left, and looked at it to find the cause of the pain. It was getting unbearable.
Then, the hall around me began to fade to grey. My right arm flickered in and out of existence like an unstable television transmission. The pain was at an excruciating level now, and suddenly, I wasn’t in the lecture hall anymore. I was in a small, grey room. It was completely empty besides a plain bed. Oh God, not this dream again. The room was slightly different the last time I was here however. The walls and bed sheets were splattered with blood, and the stench of it hung heavily in the room. Where am I?
I screamed. Pain took over my being again as I slumped to the edge of the room. I felt a warm, sticky liquid on the side of my face, and I knew exactly what it was. I tried to wipe it off with my right arm, but nothing happened. I tried again, still nothing. I couldn’t even feel my arm anymore. What was happening to me?
I painfully stood up on my legs and at once, noticed another person in the room. He was looking straight at me and I was scared out of my wits. This boy had incredibly unkept hair and a look of delusion on his face. The way he was grinning at me was a sign of pure madness. His eyes were empty, as if all light had been drained out of him. This boy was obviously the source of all the blood. The sides of his mouth were smothered with blood and flesh hung from his teeth. The white overalls he wore were now drenched in red. Worst of all, there was nothing in the place where his left arm was supposed to be. The flesh at the elbow where the rest of the arm was supposed to connect to was so deformed that it was as if it was chewed off by something.
A trail of blood let to a piece of mutilated flesh behind him which I recognised was his arm. I looked at his face again. He was still grinning, wilder than ever. I knew he was going to kill me. It was in his eyes. I stepped backwards slowly in fear. One step, two steps, three steps. Suddenly my leg struck something and I jumped. I looked down. It was an arm. I felt like throwing up. I knew exactly what was happening. I looked down at my right arm. It was gone. I looked into the mirror again. The boy in it was smiling madly. I knew it had to be me.
The door to the room burst open and people in white rushed in. “He’s awake! Grab him!”, one of them yelled. Unconsciously, a growl escaped my throat and I jumped towards the men, aiming for their throats. Something struck my head and I blacked out.
*********************************************************************
I screamed and sat bolt upright, drenched in cold sweat from heat to toe. Good, it was only a nightmare. I got out of my bed, and suddenly a sense of déjà vu washed over me. I ran into the toilet and looked at myself in the mirror. No blood. Good. I really need to set up another appointment with the psychiatrist regarding these dreams.
I held up my right hand to grab my toothbrush, but there was one problem. My arm wasn’t there. All that was left was a bloody stub. I screamed as the toilet faded around me.
-Izzat R.
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