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The Nightmare
July 1, 2011
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With a loud bang
The door slammed shut.
The wind blew the curtains out
Like two billowing ghosts
Entering the room...
Flapping...
Flapping...
So eerily that...
It frightened me to get past them
To the open windows
To shut them.
There was a big storm coming.
I guess I had had... a warning...
That something was coming.
My friends had left early...
Mumbling something about...
Well... I hadn't understood it...
Something about hearing the news.
It had gone past me...
What they were saying.
And here it was... the news...
A huge storm.
I wasn't prepared at all...
For what was about to hit me...
And it was coming full on.
If you've never heard the howl of wind
That takes on a life of its own...
Like a very angry animal...
You won't understand the sound
Of what I was hearing.
And it was all around me.
I was alone in that old house
And gathered my important things
Close to me...
To protect what I could...
Should the wind... or worse...
Rip at the walls of my home.
I got my blanket and pillow...
And I went into the closet...
To weather the storm.
And I fell asleep...
Huddling like a child
Who was frightened of ghosts.
Sleep... sleep... but... not asleep...
The wind became the voices of ghosts
Telling the most horrible things...
Telling ghost stories...
Ghost stories from ghosts...
And laughter...
One would soothe for a moment...
And the sweet sound
Merged into a ghost laugh
Like a hidden joke
That only I would know...
So that...
Every soothing whoosh of wind
Was only the prelude
For the expected giggle...
The delayed roar
Of hilarity coming through the wall.
I could feel the wind... while I slept.
I could feel the cold.
My blanket was no defense
Against the wind...
It only held the cold
Closer to me...
Wrapped in the cold of a restless slumber
With comfort nowhere in it...
Only a reminder of all those...
All those cold winter days
When play only ended when...
When you could not feel your fingers...
And the cold had won its battle
To the warmth of your body
Through your heavy winter coat.
It was a cold, cold wind.
I stirred... feeling the cold on my fingers...
Losing my own feelings...
Losing my touch...
Icey coldness through and through me...
And I wrapped myself tighter...
And fell again into my sleep.
It was the wind again...
Louder now... and bold...
Reaching right into my closet...
And all around me.
Where could I go?
Where could I go
Where I wouldn't hear that wind?
My arms flailed out...
My legs kicked the walls...
I hit my hand on the floorboards...
And woke enough
To cover myself again...
Cover my head and ears.
I must have fallen into a deep sleep...
Because I remember nothing else.
Whatever happened...
I couldn't tell you.
I had managed to escape it...
The ghosts...
The noise...
The rattling...
The nightmare...
By resolving myself to my sleep...
By my determination... to not listen...
My very soul...
Secured tightly in that blanket...
Secured well against that storm...
That nightmare...
That tugged at my very bones...
Until it passed...
And I could safely leave that closet...
Safely leave that closet.
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