Prologue
Jesse
I jolted upright in bed. I was dripping with sweat, and my heart was pounding. I closed my eyes and tried to slow my breathing. After a few minutes, my heart rate began to slow, and I began to breathe easier.
"I need a tissue." I whispered to myself, and began searching around the room. Eventually, my gaze landed on the Kleenex. I scooted out of bed and walked over to grab one. After wiping my forehead, I took a breath and climbed back into bed. I pulled the covers up to my chin and looked around the room; still numb with fear from the nightmare I had woken up from.
It was nothing new. I've had nightmares since I was a kid. This one, however, seemed a little more real than usual. It involved a killer that looked exactly like Freddy Krueger, right down to the rotten teeth and tattered fedora. Now, I've had nightmares about Freddy Krueger before, but this particular "Freddy-mare" seemed more real, like I could actually reach out and touch him.
I decided it was nothing worth sweating over, and lay down in bed. I tried to get back to sleep, but after that nightmare, my paranoia levels had gone up to maximum, and I started imagining the shadows were demons reaching out to me. I started sweating again, and I began to feel hot, my heart racing with fear. Having such an imagination can be a curse sometimes.
I stayed in that same position, not moving for the rest of the night. I tried to sleep, but the nightmare just wouldn't go away. I arose out of bed and went to get something to drink. When I arrived in the kitchen I walked over to the cupboard and grabbed a small plastic cup. I reached into the fridge and grabbed the OJ. I stared at the carton, then the cup.
"Fuck it." I said, and drank from the carton. Very refreshing. I heard a scratching sound up against the window. I turned to look where the noise came from. It was just a branch, scraping against the window. I sighed in relief. My house is very creepy at night. Luckily, I never have to worry about going to the bathroom, since it's right next to my room. The problem is, if I want to see my parents, I have to walk down a really long hallway, and I always turn a light on.
Getting back to my room was a problem, since I didn't want to wake anyone up, but I also didn't want to go to my room in complete darkness. I turned the light on and ran to my room, heart racing as I went. I slid the door shut and decided that it didn't matter if I left the light on. I took a breath and slid back under the covers. I sighed again and tried to get comfortable. I didn't think I had anything to worry about- as long as I didn't have any more nightmares.