Nightmares

I have always had nightmares, ever since I was a child. They would haunt me in my sleep, and I would wake up crying, and yelling for my parents. I would get them every once in a while and even the thought of them would terrify me. I am Abby and today I turn 16 years old; I feel like I am growing up so fast. I wake up this morning, and go on with my usual day. I go to school, soccer and come home. My day is really great and everyone at school praises me, since it was my sweet 16. After soccer, I come home to my Mom, Sarah, and my Dad, Joseph. I am an only child so my parents treat me like a queen and really like to spoil me on my birthday. I was born at exactly 6:56pm so that is when I always blow out my candles on my cake. This year, my cake is extra special. It has three layers, bright blue, and it has pictures of me, from my entire lifetime, on it. At exactly 6:56pm my dad lights the candles and I take a deep breath, and close my eyes. With my eyes closed, I make my wish and blow out my candles. My eyes fly open, when I hear a loud knock at the door. My mom and dad were not expecting anyone tonight but they assume it is just some of my friends dropping off birthday gifts. My dad went to the door and saw no one, but a letter with my name on it was placed on the door mat. He steps outside to make sure none of my friends are hiding and are just trying to surprise me. But, once again he saw no one. He picks up the letter, brings it inside and hands it to me. The letter is in a small envelope, and reads ̈Abby Maloney ̈ in large cursive letters on the front. I am a little weirded out that the letter popped out of nowhere, but I open it anyways. The letter wrote:

̈ ̈Happy birthday Abby, 

I hope you lived the last 16 years to your full potential.¨

The note did not state who it is from or where it came from. My parents immediately take the letter from me and throw it in the garbage because they think it is super creepy. After that, my night is pretty normal; I hung out with my family, open gifts, and watch some scary movies. Since it is a friday, I do not have to go to bed early. My parents say goodnight to me at around 10pm, but I decided to stay up a little later and just chill on my phone. I go upstairs to my bedroom at around 11:30pm and I see the letter sitting on my floor. When I see it on the ground, it does startle me because I remember my dad putting it in the trash, but I assume it just fell out. I would have went and asked my parents but it is already late, and their bedroom is on the third floor while mine is on the second. I brush my teeth, and turn off my phone before I get into bed around midnight. I fall asleep calmly, while thinking about how great my birthday was. But, I yet to know that tonight is the start of the nightmares. 

Nightmare #1

I awake, but I am not in my bed. Rather, I am in a giant crowd with people I do not recognize. I look down and I am dressed in a skirt with boots and a red shirt. I hear music around me and I see people dancing and talking so I assume I am at a party. I do not know whose party it is, or where I am. I start to walk around so I can go and try and find someone I know. I walk up to this girl who is wearing a short cheetah dress with her hair in a bun.

̈Hi, I think I might have wandered off to someone's party I don't know, and I am not really sure where I am. Do you whose house this is?¨

̈Oh hi, ya I do. It's Tommy's party. He is in the kitchen,̈ the girl says. 

̈Thank you so much.¨

I walk to the kitchen to find a boy around my age, looking through the fridge and I assume it is Tommy. 

̈Hi, are you Tommy?¨ I ask.

̈Ya that's me. What do you need?¨ 

¨I think I am at the wrong house and I misplaced my phone, so do you mind if I use your phone to call my friends?¨

̈ ̈Ya, no problem. You might just want to go upstairs because it is pretty loud down here,̈ he exclaims. 

¨Ok, thank you. I will be back in a second.¨

I take his phone upstairs and when it turns on, I see that the date reads,  ̈September 15th.¨ This is the day after my birthday. Since it is more quiet upstairs, I can hear the rain splashing against the house and the thunder roaring outside. Right before I can call my friends, I turn around and see another guy standing near me, staring at me. The guy looks very similar but I cannot put my finger on it.

̈Do you need help?̈¨The man asks.

̈No, I am ok thanks though.¨

I turn back around away from him and all of a sudden I feel something on my neck. I do not make a sudden movement but it feels like someone is behind me breathing on me. I go to turn around and before I can see who is behind me, they grab me. They cover their hand over my mouth, and I try to fight back but they overpower me. They take me into a different room and then I see it is the man from the hall. 

My eyes shoot open, and now I am awake. I gasp for air as if someone is still restraining me. I sit in my bedroom alone, and everything is normal. There is no man, and I am not at a party. I realize it was a nightmare and that none of that actually happened. My heartbeat starts to slow down as I realize that I am safe. It is Saturday, so I go downstairs to meet my parents for breakfast. I tell them all about my nightmare and they say that it is normal for that to occur sometimes. My mom also reassures me that I was watching scary movies last night so that could be the reason why I had a nightmare. I carry on with my day as if nothing ever happened. I eat breakfast, go shopping and see a movie later on with my friends. My friends tell me about how a girl was kidnapped at a party last night. I think that is extremely weird because of my dream, but I just ignore it. Nothing unordinary happens the next few days, until we get to Wednesday. I get home at around 9:30pm because I had a game, and then I do homework till 10:45pm. I say goodnight to my parents and go to bed at 11pm.

Nightmare #2

I awake, but once again I am not in my bed. I am lying on the grass, alone, and when I look around I see that I am in a park. I look down at the watch I am wearing and it says it is September 19th, at 2:02am. It is dark, rainy and thundering. I start to hear something; it sounds like someone is whistling. I get up from the grass, and look around me but I see no one. The trees are blowing furiously and the rain is coming down hard. I start to walk to the gazebo so I can get out of the rain. I hear footsteps behind me, as I walk. But, when I turn around I see no one following me. I get to the gazebo and check my pocket to see if my phone is there so I can call someone, but it's not there. The whistling sounds gets louder as if someone is coming towards me. I turn around and I am knocked unconscious. 

̈Hello! Where am I? Someone help!” I scream.

My hands and legs are tied to a big chair and I am not able to move. I am in a small glass box, all alone. The box is transparent so I am able to see that I am in a large, dirty room with many tools in it. There are saws, axes, guns and more surrounding the room. 

̈Somebody help me!¨

A man walks down the stairs and comes toward my chair.

̈Abby, your awake,̈ says the man.

̈Where am I? Help me! Who are you!¨ I scream.

The man stares at me as I continue to panic. I squirm and try to get myself out of the chair but I am stuck. All of a sudden the glass box begins to fill up with water.

̈What are you doing! Stop! Help me!¨

I then realized that the man who tied me up is the one from my previous nightmare. The box fills up and I know that I am about to drown. I am completely submerged in water and then the water goes over my forehead. I hold my breath as tight as I can.

I wake up crying, and I try and catch my breath. My heart is beating out of my chest. I am in my bed, and the sun is shining through my windows. It was all just a nightmare and I am safe. When I tell my parents about it, they say that it is normal to have nightmares sometimes. The next day, it rains all throughout the day so soccer is cancelled. I come home from school and turn on the TV. When I turn on the TV, the news comes on and the headline states, A Missing Teenage Girl Found Dead. I turn up the volume to hear better. 

̈The missing girl from last week was discovered dead this morning. The police say that the likely cause of death is drowning due to her appearance. The police will continue to investigate the death but they currently have no suspects,̈ the news reporter exclaims. 

I call my parents to tell them what I just heard on TV, and they told me they will be home soon. In my nightmare last night, I am detained and then right before I drown, I wake up. I wait for my parents to get home, and they tell me I need to calm down and that it is just a coincidence. My body shakes the entire night due to my anxiety. I do not fall asleep the entire night because I cannot stop thinking about what I saw and how it is so similar to my dream. Last week when I had a nightmare, someone was kidnapped from a party just like my dream. 

̈Is this a sign? Am I going crazy?¨ I ask myself.

The next few days I sleep soundly and no weird events occur. But, on September 23rd, I go to bed early and experience another nightmare.

Nightmare #3

Once again I wake up and I am in the nightmare. But this time, I am standing face to face with the man who is in all my dreams. I am startled to see him and I want to run but my legs will not move.

̈Hi Abby, tonight we are gonna be playing hide and seek. If I am able to find you, there will be severe consequences,̈ he says.

̈Who are you? Why won't you leave me alone? I don't want to play, I just want to sleep.¨

̈Run Abby. You have 5 minutes to hide before I come and seek for you.¨

I turn around and begin to run as fast as I can. It starts to rain as I run and that makes me run even faster. As I run, I realize that I am in my neighborhood so I decide to go hide in my house. I open the back door, which is already open, and head upstairs to go wake up my parents. I see them sleeping, but when I try and yell to them they do not answer. I have one minute left to hide so I run into the attic and stack blankets on top of me. Everything is silent, and I can hear the rain beat against the windows. Five minutes later, I hear the attic door creak open and footsteps walk up the stairs. I pray that it is my parents and not the man. 

¨I know your in here Abby,̈ he says.

All I want to do is cry, but I know I have to stay silent. He grabs me and rips me out from my hiding spot. He ties my hands up, and puts a blind fold over my eyes so I am unable to see. He carries me to the car and throws me in a trunk. The car starts to move and we drive from about ten minutes before we stop. He opens the trunk, carries me somewhere then throws me down. I am lying in a small space and I hear the cap close over me. I hear footsteps walk away from me, and a truck engine start. I am able to wiggle off the blindfold but it is pitch black in this small space anyways. I am able to feel that I am in some kind of box and that there is something next to me. It's hard, cold, and long. It smells terrible. I lie in the box alone, freezing, and crying. I listen to the rain shower the outer box. (thump, thump,thump.)

I awake the next morning with so many thoughts in my mind. In this nightmare, I was more calm and I knew what was coming next. I do not know if my dreams are a sign and why the same man is always in them. I have so many questions. I try to get up but I am too weak and tired that I fall back into my bed. I once again, tell my parents about my nightmare. They agree to take me to a doctor the next morning to see if they can do anything to help. I do not go to school today because I am too weak and my anxiety is through the roof. I try not to think about last night, and I just read all day. 

By the end of the day, I am tired and just want to go to bed. I decide to go to bed early so I will be better for school tomorrow.

I fall asleep and I am only having good dreams tonight. Out of nowhere, it starts raining and thundering. My house shakes and the clatter on my windows is unbearable. I awake from my slumber and get out of bed to go get water. I walk down stairs to the kitchen and there he is. I am not sure if I am dreaming or not, but the man I have seen in all my nightmares and the man I saw when I blew out my candles on my birthday is sitting in my house. 

¨It is time Abby. You have lived a long enough life. I have been watching you for so long, but when you turned sixteen I knew I could no longer sit around. Your nightmares have been a preview of your death day. You have three options. One, I kill you right here. Two, you drown or three, you slowly decay in a grave. 

¨One.¨