• My eyes snap open. I try to sit up but can’t. I’m lying in my bed, needles and wires all over me. Two white straps chain me to the bed, which has been moved into the centre of my room. There is no other furniture around. It all got removed when the nightmares started. I am dressed in a loose white nightie, with fabric as thin as a sheet. I try to relax and breathe in time to the beeping of the monitor beside me. After a while I fall back into a meditation like trance. I’m in a field, dancing through the flowers. My parents and brother sit near-by having a picnic. They wave to me and I stop dancing and wave back. Jason, that’s my brother’s name, rises and starts to skip toward me. He is only a few feet away when suddenly he stops. His smile falls, tears form in his eyes and he points at me. His mouth starts to move, shaping words but no sound comes out. Suddenly a hand shoots up from the tall grass around him, grabs his shirt and pulls him to the floor. I call his name out but it is no use. He does not rise again. I make my way over to the place he has been snatched from, whacking branches and grass out of my way. I get there and look down. He is not there and there is no trace of him. I look up again, this time towards where my parents are sat but they have vanished. I spin around, searching the surrounding area but I cannot see them. There is a loud crash of thunder above me and I glance up, just as a shower of blood and chunks of skin starts to rain down on top of me. I open my mouth to scream but before the noise escapes, a large chunk of skin falls into my mouth. I spit it out into my hand, and look closely at it. A hoop earring dangles from the end. I am holding the ear of my mother. I drop it and start to scream at the top of my lungs.
    Something starts to violently shake me. I open my eyes and stare at the figure above me. At first I cannot place his face, but then as I start to breathe normally again I recognize his features. It’s my best friend Joe. He releases my body and takes a step back, looking at me with concern on his face.
    “Are you okay?” he asks me. I do not answer straight away. I am still trying to convince myself it was just a nightmare. A few minutes pass then I nod my head.
    “Yeah. I think I’m okay now,” I answer. The straps are still holding me tightly to the bed, making it impossible for me to get up or move.
    “That must have been one nightmare. You were screaming and thrashing around like crazy. I was shaking you for five minutes at least, before you woke up. I was next thing to calling the nurse. You scared me,” he shakes his head and looks at me.
    “I’m sorry. It was just so real. It was terrible Joe. Why do these nightmares keep happening? The one last night and the visions are starting to take their toll on me. I’m not sure how much more I can take.”
    As I finish I burst out crying and he walks over and takes my hand comfortingly. He leans down and kisses me and for a second everything goes away. He pulls back and smiles.
    “Everything will be okay,” he tells me. I start to smile back but then my head whips toward the door as a chorus of screams sound.
    “What the ...” Joe starts to say but doesn’t get to finish. The door bursts off its hinges and a monster just like the one from my nightmare enters. He throws something at Joe and it hits him in the chest. I look at Joe as he falls to his knees and I realise the thing that has hit him is a dagger. He is dead before he hits the floor. I look back to the monster and try to get up, but the straps hold me down still. I start to scream but know it will do no good. The monster smiles and steps towards me.
    “This isn’t happening,” I scream at myself aloud, “It’s just another dream. It isn’t real!”
    On hearing this, the monster collapses into laughter. I tell myself it again and again, but deep inside I know it isn’t true. I listen to the chaos brewing in the hall and know this isn’t a nightmare. This is real. The monsters have finally come to take me.