Hell on Earth

The small girl waded out into the ocean, ignoring her mother’s calls to stay near the shore. She felt the wet sand around her feet and went deeper, to where it changed to seaweed. ‘Don’t go too far!’ she heard her mother call another time, but she was enjoying herself too much to be concerned about her mother.

His breath exploded and he jarred himself into a sitting position in his bed. His heart was pounding inside his chest, heaving violently up and down. He glanced at the clock. It was 2:40.

Christian hated nightmares. He didn’t mind them when he could go straight back to sleep, but this was not that kind. This was the kind that he could swear was real. Everything was so vivid. He could still feel the cold water, and he realized his eyes were tingling. He rubbed them, and lay back down.

He glanced at the clock again, still 2:40. Something in the corner caught his eye. In his pitch-black room, he saw a white spot on the wall. It was so hazy…he rubbed his eyes again and looked back at the wall. Still there.

He rolled over, facing the other way, and shut his eyes. There was no calmness in his body. His muscles were still tense, and he had a strange sense he wasn’t alone, that somebody was watching. He sat up and hit the light switch next to his bed. Nothing. He turned it off, and as his eyes adjusted he saw the white blur in the corner.

Any normal seven year old boy in this situation would do one of two things. The first would be to start crying uncontrollably. The slightly braver boy would sneak out of their bed and go to their parent’s room. But going to his dad was the last thing Christian wanted to do, and he was too scared to cry. He slowly took off his covers, stepped out of bed and started toward the spot on the wall. As he came closer, the white blur retreated further away, sinking into the wall. His feet froze as it shrunk to a tiny spec and then disappeared.

Christian realized he’d been holding his breath. He slowly let it out, feeling the tension drain out of him. He went back to his bed and fell asleep.

The alarm startled him awake. He reached over and quickly turned it off. The bell was still ringing in his ears, even though the alarm had stopped. He rolled out of bed and grabbed his pants and jacket.