Into Nightmares

Aurella would stare in horror at the hallway infested with black insects. Looking around, they covered every inch of the manor, sending the fear factor she currently had through the roof.

Trying to calm herself, Aurella began to make her way down the hallway slowly and with each step she took, the bugs moved out of her way. Almost as if they were forming a path for her. Sheepishly walking down the hall, she made her way to the Landing.

Each step closer to the railing upon the landing she made, the louder a sudden thumping noise grew. She began to realize that it was almost like the sound of a heart beat. Slow and methodical.

Looking over the railing, Aurella stared down into the foyer and saw yet another figure made up of the crawling insects standing there. It stared up in her direction, but this one was somehow different compared to the others she had encountered in the previous nightmare.

This one didn't even seem to recognize her. And if it did, it didn't want to approach her on it's own accord.

It just continued to stare unmoving, as if there were something preventing it from doing so.

Staring at it, there was almost a comforting feeling. Which was weird considering it was a mass of live bugs. The rhythmical beating kept on shaking through the manor, causing Aurella to look away from the bug creature and around the upper section of the manor.

Where is the vibration coming from? Aurella thought to herself, along with several other thoughts that weren't particularly good for her to be thinking. And luckily for her, no one in the family was a telepath or she would be in trouble with just her thoughts alone.

Taking a deep breath, she continued down the hall away from the foyer as the vibrations started to grow more and more intense the closer she got to a dark door that seemed to have the embodiment of fear instilled within. Even the creepy crawlies didn't move anywhere close to the door.

Continuing forward, Aurella slowly held her hand out to the door as a more intense vibration sent her stumbling away. Either something doesn't want me in, or that was just aptly timed.

Reaching out again, she grabbed the door knob and started to twist it open where a slow draft of wind slowly began to blow through the hallway, almost like she was in the middle of the air, unprotected by the walls of the manor.

The wind quickly began to pick up as if it were trying to blow her off of her feet. Holding on for dear life, Aurella held onto the door knob as hundreds of millions of creepy crawlies blew away from her and the doorway. Placing her feet as firmly as she could on the ground, she began to painfully pull the door open as she felt her muscles beginning to scream out. Putting all of her strength into it, she continued to pull the door so that it began to crack open, the wind growing increasingly stronger.

Feeling her grip begin to slip off of the door, Aurella tried everything she could to get the door open before she was sent flying down the hallway. She slammed into the ground as she cried out in pain. Her voice echoed throughout the manor as the loud heartbeat-like vibrations came to a stop.

Slowly sitting up and looking at the door, which was now slightly open, she slowly began to see a hand full of long, thin fingers that slowly gripped the body of the door before opening it up the rest of the way, revealing a figure that went almost to the ceiling of the hallway. Towering over her, the figure took several steps in her direction before she could even react to it.

Staring up at it, she saw its body begin to slowly disconnect down the middle with a horrible ripping of flesh and a black sludge-like substance starting to flow out from it.

Closing her eyes tightly shut, Aurella began to quickly chant to herself. "This is just a dream, I wanna wake up. This is just a dream. I want to wake up." She repeated to herself as she felt the leathery hand grab her by the throat and lift her off of the ground.

Letting out a scared yelp as it tightened its grip, Aurella made the mistake of opening her eyes.

Fear took over her entire body as she let out a terrified scream, seeing the figures' disfigured maw opening wide before her. It let out another scream as it lunged at her with its jagged teeth.

Aurella found herself sitting up in her bed, screaming in pure terror as her father and several other vampires burst into the room, looking around for the source of her screaming.

Her father was the first one to make it to her. Drawing her into a comforting hug, her father would ask, his voice littered with worry. "Aurella, my dear, what's got you screaming out in bloody murder?"

Aurella began to break down in tears and buried her face in her father's chest as she shook horribly in his arms.

"Come on dear... let it out and tell me what happened. I'm here and everything is okay," her father would say, dismissing the others who hurried into the room alongside him.

After a while of nothing but the sound of sobbing, Aurella looked up to her father, having calmed a degree.

"There were bugs... bugs everywhere. And these people that were made up of them... and a tall monster." She'd mutter to her father. "Two dreams in one.."

"It was just a dream, Aurella. None of those creatures were real; there were no bugs. You're here at home in your bed. Surrounded by family who would handle whatever would come and harm you or anyone else. Just breathe and calm yourself." Her father would say that while gently rubbing her back in a calming matter.