The Nightmare

Darkness, the kind that surrounds and swallows.

Unable to move, unable to breath, unable to think.

The tapping sound echoes against the hollows in my skull.

The sound of glass breaking shatters my reality.

The night whips around me into a swirling mass.

The darkness reaches out and it's fingers turn to chains.

The chains grow barbs that tear into my flesh, revealing flesh, rotten and mottled green.

They pull back on my arms and torso. I try to dig my feet in, but I feel them slip through the sand.

Limbs wrenched behind and woven together into a strong rope of pain and screams.

He appears before me again.

The face spins and morphs like a roulette wheel of eldritch horror until choosing the one to torture.

The old weapon is removed form it scabbard and takes tonight's form as well.

A sword rusted from saltwater spray, an axe nicked and dyed blood red, a single vial dripped onto a dagger.

It finds the mark and ever so slowly sinks in, making sure every second is felt like eternity.

When it finally meets it end, there is no release, only the beginning of worse.

The fire and acid sears through me, first the chest, then the head, then the limbs.

Every inch of flesh, every scrap of bone, every ounce of blood, every stretch of nervous.

All exploding and screaming and tearing at once,

The water droplets on my cheeks even explode and continue to burn my face.

He says his nightly curse as he has done so each time.

"This is what you deserve."