Nightmares

A bit after midnight last night, I readied myself for bed. Because I was a fool a few weeks ago, I failed to return to school with my bedsheets. Initially, I panicked, since I would have to buy bedsheets yet again this semester (Two years in a row?! Seriously!?).

Anyways, I obviously underestimated my foresight and found, to my elation, a sleeping bag I tucked away in case I had a friend spend the night or something. Of course, everyone knows I have no friends, but it was simply nice to pretend.

The point is that for the last two weeks, I have been sleeping in a sleeping bag and a makeshift pillow I created by stuffing one of my favorite poofy jackets in the sleeping bag...bag. That's a weird phrase isn't it? The sleeping bag bag. The bag for my sleeping bag. It's like putting a suitcase in another suitcase.

Well, according to Kel in the classic made-for-TV-movie Two Heads Are Better Than None, you need to pack multiple suitcases within suitcases "in case [you] lose one."

Thus far, I have not been able to return home to fetch my sheets. I don't mind the sleeping bag too much. If anything, a nice, warm bed is not a conducive study environment. However, after last night, I'm thinking about changing the whole aura of my slumber space.

I had a nightmare. For those of you who are faint of heart, read no further. Well, I'm only saying that because I'm probably overestimating my ability to tell a good ghost story, not toast story.

In my dream, I was kidnapped by a group, headed by a female leader. She looked reminiscent of the lead singer in Feist, sort of a hippie-ish young woman, bangs cut straight in the retro style. Actually, the whole group reminded me of the band.

So I was kidnapped. I think I was kidnapped because I had an agreement with Feist look-alike, and for some reason or another, I was unable to meet my end of the deal. The deal had something to do with meeting them at a street and handing them a case that held contents beyond my knowledge.

Anyways, I couldn't do it. I think I messed up on the case. I must've brought the wrong one because they were pissed when they saw it. The kidnapped me, taking me to their hideout or headquarters or whatever bad people call their abode. They chained me to a mattress without sheets. WITHOUT SHEETS.

Then they took a dead body that had been cut at the torso and placed it next to me to keep me company, presumably. Only his upper body was there, the contents of his guts trailing haphazardly around his half of the bed. They called him Stodge.

I was terrified to be in the presence of a carcass. These people were vicious, bloodthirsty and ruthless. Every night, Stodge's eyes would haunt me, pleading to spare him of a fate he didn't know was inevitable. But I knew, and I still was helpless.

After a few nights, when the stench of Stodge's decaying organs was at its height, the kidnappers burst into my room. I saw a light from outside. I was still terrified.

A lady was screaming as she backed into the small bedroom that held me prisoner and left me with only half a cadaver as company. Was I being saved? Could I finally return from hell? Was there a bathroom?

The answer was obviously no. Even if there was a bathroom, I was chained so I couldn't use it. In my dream, however, I didn't need to pee.

I did want to scream, though. The lady backed into the room, held by the wrists above her head by a large, brutish man. The silhouette of the short-banged female kidnapper approached the silhouette of the screaming lady, who seemed of similar age. A knife flashed, reflecting the once-heavenly light that I hoped was salvation.

That light quickly became dull. My eyes winced as one female stabbed the abdomen of the other. Once. Twice. Thrice. She stabbed a fourth time in the stomach and slashed down. Blood was on her forearm, slowly pouring on the floor. The man let go. The dying woman had stopped screaming and opted to moan, then vomit.

Except her vomit was pure blood. She wasn't quite dead yet.

But apparently she was just in the right shape to be placed next to me. She spasmed. I thought I saw Stodge cringe and make a face as if to cry, then I realized it was my own reflection I saw from the pool of blood the dying lady gave to the mattress as she was placed in between me and Stodge. Her eyes dulled, and she died, taking any hope of salvation with her.

I didn't make a sound. The stabber was wiping herself. And I waited to hear it. Every night since I had been taken captive, they would remind me. I waited for the words like clockwork.

"We're going to kill you soon, Andrew. Very soon."

Every night, I waited for those words and for my fate. I was held many nights more, until the putrid smell from the blood and bodies became my oxygen, the maggots my friends. The stained mattress was my only comfort and the open eyes of Stodge and the dead woman my mirrors. I was alone but always in humbling company. Only when I saw others dead did I begin to imagine my own life being taken away.

"We're going to kill you soon, Andrew. Just wait."
"WHY!?" I would cry back. "WHY DO I DESERVE TO DIE? WHY DO I HAVE TO WAIT? KILL ME NOW! KILL ME NOW! WHAT DID I DO?!" But my tears found no reply, my screams no acknowledgment.

"We're going to kill you very soon, Andrew. You're going to die. You're definitely going to die."

They had one more job for me to do. I had to do it. Even if I fucked it up they would kill me, so I might as well do it right, with the off-chance of mercy. They let me go back home. The job was similar to the first. I had to deliver a case.

The case was at home apparently. I went to my mom. She wasn't as worried as I thought she would be, knowing her in real life.

"Mom," I cried to her. "I always talked about being ready for death, living my life as if I would die right away. But right now, I'm not ready. There's still so many things I have to correct, so many things I have to do before I go."

"Take this guitar case," she told me. "It's full of cash. Give it to them to see if they'll take it as ransom instead of the job."

So I did. I met the gang at the appointed spot with the guitar case full of cash. It must have been $2 million dollars worth of bills in there. I cried when my mom gave it to me.

They looked through the contents. Surely this was enough to cover their expenses many times over. The men who were sent to retrieve looked at each other. Maybe I could be spared. Maybe they won't kill me.

They took the case and me along with it. My soul finally understood that I would not survive. I was going to die soon.

This is where it gets kind of weird. In the car ride, a number of things happened. Firstly, the top was off and it was an old 70's convertible. The speed bumps were uneven and made me jump in the back seat. The three guys in the front were happy, and why shouldn't they be? They weren't losing their lives anytime soon. The two men not driving actually kissed each other, which was bizarre to me not because homosexuality is bizarre, but because they were so free in public.

"Please," the driver scolded them. "Not in public. She'll kill you if you draw attention."

I also lost my wallet on the way. A nice policeman stopped us and found a little girl who had it.

"Now, now," the officer chided the girl. "You can't keep that if you found it. Hand it over."

She did so reluctantly, pouting.

We continued to the house that held me in hell. I was back in the room, both corpses still there, lifeless. My horror returned. It was silent this time as I was chained to the stained mattress, lacking in sheets.

When were they going to kill me? The suspense itself was death. I decided I would take my own life first. I would try and kill myself. At least then, I would know my fate and be in control somehow. I wanted to die, to end this everlasting hell.

Before I could, though, I heard laughter. An audience and a stage. I heard them. I was confused because I was still alone in the dark, lifeless room, only a body and a half my company.

I asked out loud, "Aren't you going to kill me now?"

"Oh no," the female leader laughed. "We're just actors, dude. We're not going to kill you at all, Andrew."

"But you guys killed these two!" I cried, still deathly afraid.

"We just like using lifelike props."