The Nightmare

Sometimes waking up from a nightmare is even worse than the nightmare itself.

She looked up and almost fell to the dirty ground at the sight before her. Engulfed in flames stood her house, and she could hear the terror filled screams as the intense heat awakened her family but there was nothing she could do. They were gone. She was the only one who had a chance of living, and she had taken it. She turned, unable to watch any longer, and limped off to find someone, anyone, who would help her.

Penelope woke up in a cold sweat, her black hair sticking to her forehead and her deep green eyes searching the room. Unsure of what she was looking for she stopped and took deep breaths, pushing off her blankets. When she finally calmed down from her nightmare she searched across the nightstand to find the switch to her lamp. Soon her room was filled with the artificial light and crawling out of bed she padded across the floor reaching out to grasp the handle to the door.

Turning it, she tried to push herself out of her room fast so as to not awaken anybody in the house but something stopped her dead in her tracks. On the wall opposite of her room she saw a shadow of a person pouring something across the hallway. If she listened closely she could hear the swish of the substance in the container. Dashing across her room she snapped the lamp off and carefully stepped back to her door.

When he moved closer she got a good view of the man. He was old, maybe forty or fifty, with a scraggily beard and a wrinkled face. His eyebrows were knitted together in concentration. From down the hallway the strong scent of gasoline filled her nostrils and she tried not to cough. Walking backward down the hallway the old man kept pouring the gasoline out of the container.

 Walking into Penelope’s parent’s room the old man emptied the container. Going out to get another container her spotted Penelope and quickly avoided eye contact, smiling. Once he had another container he moved onto her brothers room and emptied the container, not caring about where it went, so long as it was enough to set the room ablaze.

The old mans name was Robert. He was actually a family friend but when the father decided to screw him over many times he got mad. Robert waited, and bid his time, but soon he couldn’t take it. Karma had yet to return so Robert took it upon himself to make it happen. So he made his plan and then put it into action.

Meanwhile, Penelope was watching carefully, waiting to see if the old man would walk into her room and fill it with gasoline. She still had no idea what he was trying to do but something told her it was bad. So when he was a safe way down the hallway she eased her way into the hallway. Stepping carefully she crossed the hallway and heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

Quickly, she hurried into the nearest room. The bathroom. Great, she thought bitterly now if I get even more scared I don’t have to worry about peeing my pants. She pressed her ear to the door and heard something click and get pushed up against the door.

Jingling the doorknob she realized something was keeping in its place and the old man probably pushed a chair up against it. Pushing and grunting she tried to force the door open but to no avail. But that did not deter her. She continued to push and try to open the door. Finally, the door snapped and swung open. As Penelope entered the hallway, the first thing she noticed was the heat and how she began to sweat.

Looking at the stairs she saw where the heat was coming from. There was a huge fire that traveled quickly up the stairs and she backed against the wall as the fire followed the gasoline. Igniting the line the old man made and then slowly spreading. Running, she reached her room that surprisingly had no gasoline inside of it. For a moment she paused wondering why he didn’t pour the gasoline in her room.

 Glad he didn’t she rushed to find an escape. The window was all she had. Deciding it was better than burning to death she crawled out of her window and jumped. When she landed it was in a bush her mother had lined the house with. She got up and instantly fell down again. In spite of a sprained ankle and broken arm she still pushed herself up and walked forward.

She looked up and almost fell to the dirty ground at the sight before her. Engulfed in flames stood her house, and she could hear the terror filled screams as the intense heat awakened her family but there was nothing she could do. They were gone. She was the only one who had a chance of living, and she had taken it. She turned, unable to watch any longer, and limped off to find someone, anyone, who would help her.

But this time she wasn’t asleep.

Author's Note

Any grammar mistakes are my fault (no proof-reader but myself), the second to last paragraph WAS supposed to be italicized for a reason (just to let you know), and other than that... nothing. Review! XD

-A.E. Reed

Reviews

[Alexa Tasch]

nice for your first submission. very creepy. love the gir pic by the way

[gaurav roy]

dude good stuff.........but the introduction of the mad man is bit too brief. u could have elaborated on it.