AN: I swear, if I ever get any later than this, I'm going to start turning into Robin Williams in "Jumanji", coming out of my little realm screaming, "WHAT YEAR IS THIS?!"
Hello, one and all. I hope you are all doing all right during this strange time, and I hope this can alleviate any silent fears. No, I have not forgotten this nor am I dead…spoiler alert? Honestly "Night Terrors" is only taking this long for…three reasons, really. One: I wrote about…half? Half. I wrote half of Night Terrors and I…just didn't like the direction it was going. Pretty much it would've been extremely similar to the original episode but with a few differences, and I didn't really want to do that. So I ended up starting again as I came up with a much better idea to do the chapter. Also, I honestly just kept running out of time to get back to this story. That's my second reason. My third reason? Well…I can't actually reveal that just yet. All I can say is that it's something I've had on my mind for quite a while, but it's yet to come to fruition.
Unfortunately, I can't say when "Night Terrors" will be completed, HOWEVER…it is going pretty well right now. As long as I don't run out of time for this story for days on end, it should be done sooner than I feared. But as you've been patiently (or impatiently, and I wouldn't blame you) for it, I at least wanted to give you something. So, I present to you, a teaser prologue for "Night Terrors". Please enjoy. :)
A Teaser for…Night Terrors
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A pair of eyes opened. A sharp intake of breath sounded from a small figure, shrouded in darkness. The figure, a young boy, tried to glance around, but he was unable to see anything. He couldn't hear anything over the deafening pounding of his heart, his hands shaking in accompaniment with his quickening breath. The boy began to whisper something indescribable under his breath as he tried to move, but he couldn't. There was nothing holding him in place, nothing at all…just a feeling. This feeling kept his body locked to the floor, his spine ridged and all his senses on alert. He didn't know why, he didn't know what this even meant. All he could understand was that this feeling was tremendously overpowering, making him anxious and watchful of everything. He felt like he was surrounded, glaring eyes all around staring straight at him, the burning desire for death within their gaze, and the more he thought about it, the more the feeling grew. It increased his ragged breath, the beating of his heart, his eyes flying all around as his body began to stink of sweat. He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting, hoping for it to disappear…and it stopped. Suddenly, the rapid beating of his heart slowed down till he couldn't even feel it anymore. When he opened his eyes, he was in a room, unfamiliar, barren, and completely stinking of thick dust. For the first time that whole night, the overwhelming feeling grew still. It was still there, but strangely, the boy could no longer feel it. Now, he had no idea how time passed. Did it pass in mere seconds, a handful of hours or entire days? This was a question the boy could never answer, for when he finally worked up the courage to move, think or do anything…he woke up. He was alone in his tiny bedroom, his eyes staring straight at a wooden cupboard through the darkness of the room, dimly lit by the glowing moonlight.
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A pair of eyes opened. A sharp intake of breath sounded from a small figure, shrouded in darkness. The figure, a young boy, tried to glance around, but he was unable to see…actually, he could see. Just barely, but a pale light began to shine through the darkness, and the barren bedroom slowly lit up before him. The boy tried to walk, but realized quickly why he couldn't. He was lying down on the floor, so he got up. His eyes went to dart around the room, but they stopped, for he realized that this barren room was…different now. Instead of being empty and almost stinking of dust, it's wallpaper and paint peeling off at his very glance, now it was exceptionally clean. The wallpaper and paint was cream colored, and the stink of dust was gone, making the kid's uneasiness wilt even further away. Strangely enough, the room only contained a wooden desk, with nothing on it, and a king-sized bed. The kid looked to the door of the room and found it to be closed. So he walked over to the desk, barren but clean. Then he turned to the bed. It was covered in fine sheets, thick blankets, and a well feathered pillow, all echoing the cream color that this room was so fond of. Then, the kid thought he heard something, like an echoing footprint, but when he blinked, the room was gone, and he was back home. Back home in his familiar bedroom, now with additional toys strewn about the floor, along with colorful drawings on the walls of strange stick figures, the characters all screaming out "Hello!" or "What a luvly day!" in terrible handwriting. But something…just didn't feel right to the kid. That room from before felt…different compared to his own. His room felt…unwelcoming, but the new room made him feel…comforted, the pulse pounding fear in his mind becoming a distant thought. Before he could think further on that, his weary eyes closed, and he fell into a long, dreamless sleep.
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A pair of eyes opened. A sharp intake of breath sounded from a small figure, shrouded in darkness. The figure, a small boy, glanced around, watching as the darkness lifted, revealing the familiar, comforting room…but something was different. The boy stood up, almost tripping in surprise at the sight of clothes strewn over the foot of the bed. The boy looked at the bed and saw that it's singular pillow was bending inwards, and the covers had shifted. Then he glanced at the desk and found it to no longer be barren. Now it had strange tools on it, with small traces of dust in small spots on the surface. The boy looked around the room again and noticed that the door was wide open, torchlight streaming in from outside. So the boy moved to the door and peered out, finding only a hallway, it's windows shut but all the lights were on, just like in the bedroom. There was a footstep and the boy gasped. Then another, the footstep becoming a pair, and it drew closer. The boy's heart shot into his throat as a shadow peered around the corner, coming closer and closer. The boy tried to move, tried to dart back into the bedroom, but he couldn't move. His feet no longer obeyed him, the ice-cold fear having shattered all control over his own body. The shadow drew closer, the footsteps became louder, and a man came into view. He was a tall man, large eyebrows drawn together in deep thought over squinting brown eyes. His clothes were strange but familiar to the boy, a brown…the boy couldn't finish his thought. The man's eyes glanced up at him and for a second, the boy saw something in them as they widened. The man gasped under his breath before he darted back around the corner and disappeared, his shadow growing smaller and smaller as his footsteps grew quieter. The fear in the boy had intensified when the man stared at him for the smallest of moments, but just before he left, the boy was…confused, more than he ever knew. The man's eyes were full of terror, something the boy knew, but what confused him was that the man was terrified of him. This strange new knowledge gave back control to the boy and he found himself moving slowly, back towards the bedroom. Before he went back inside, he glanced back at the corner, his wide eyes blinking as they slowly squinted. Then, the room began to shift, darkness sweeping back in, the sudden shift of vision making the boy close his eyes in newfound fear, but when he opened them, he was back in his own bedroom. For a moment, he could hear voices outside his closed door, that of a man and a woman, but the boy dare not make a sound, dare not confess anything. He couldn't tell his parents about this strange dream place, not when it was more comforting than his own bedroom. But now…that man…
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A pair of eyes opened. A sharp intake of breath sounded from a small figure, shrouded in darkness. The figure, a small boy, glanced around, watching as the darkness lifted, and the strange, comforting house greeted him again. For the first time in three years, he no longer felt fear, but giddy childish excitement. Unlike the last three years, the place had barely changed. The covers on the bed were still ruffled, the pillow still bent, and the desk still used. And again, the door was wide open, all the lights still on. The boy turned around, and whilst his eyebrows furrowed, his eyes widened in fear. The man was there, sitting in a wooden chair and staring curiously at him through a pair of small rimmed glasses. The boy took a step back, but the man did not move. "What is your name, child?" The man asked. The boy stood there silent for a moment. The man had no present emotion in his voice or on his face, but there was power. A strange unseeing power that kept the boy rooted to the spot and his eyes fixed on the man. All the boy did was shake his head, remaining silent, and the man just sat there, calmly breathing in and out. "How did you get into my house?" The man tried again.
"I…" The boy blinked rapidly, leaving his answer to a silent shrug. Just as the boy stared at the man, he saw…something. It seemed like there was a wall of glass between him and the man. The boy frowned and when he took a step forward, the man flinched. The boy stood still, and the man relaxed back into a calm state of empty emotion. "You r-r-ran…f-f-from me." The boy stuttered, his pulse high in his chest, and the man blinked.
"I was startled. That is all." The man reassured.
The boy was not. In fact, the boy was ever the more confused. Startled was not terrified, the boy knew this. But this man seemed afraid of him, even if he did not want to acknowledge it. For the first time, the boy felt…courage? Bravery? All he could feel to confirm this strange feeling was the bright grin that had spread across his face. "What is this place?" The boy asked, and the man's eyebrows raised softly as he sat back in his chair.
"Simply put…it is my home." The boy's eyes widened as, out of nowhere, a small wooden toy appeared in his hands and the man peered down at it through his spectacles. "I constructed it a few years back." The man glanced up and around the bedroom, a small smile drifting onto his steely face. "Some would consider it to be worth nothing. I find…that it does its job perfectly." His soft smile broadened at that before he slowly stood up from his chair. The boy's breath hitched for a moment as his spectacles, the toy and the glass wall just vanished from sight. The man paused with softly furrowed eyebrows as the boy stepped back. "Are you afraid of this place?" The boy shook his head. "But you are afraid." The man said, and the boy nodded. The man looked suddenly pained, and a little bit illuminated. "The feeling is mutual, child." The man muttered, and the boy frowned.
Muutuuaul. The boy tried in his head, but he quickly failed. A word he was not awfully familiar with.
"I'm taking a walk." The man said simply as he straightened his black and white clothes, which to the boy's now focused vision looked very much so like a suit. "You're welcome to stay here or join me." The man then left the room and the boy found himself following behind. When the man glanced back, checking to see if the boy followed him, everything changed. They were no longer in the hallway, but in a kitchen. What caught the boy's eye first was a strange lamp that stood upon the counter, shaped like a candelabra
"H-h-how did you do that?" The boy asked, but the man did not answer. When the boy glanced back, he saw that the windows were no longer boarded shut, with warm sunlight streaming in through into the room. The man, keeping his eyes upon the candelabra lamp, walked up to it and placed a hand upon its neck. Then, just before he drew his hand away, the candles inside lit up like lightbulbs, but the man just walked away without a word. The man kept his back to the boy, who quickly got the feeling that the man just forgot that he was there. Instead, he placed a hand upon the counter before moving away, and in the place where his hand had been was a pan. The boy went up to grasp it, and found to his puzzlement that it was made out of wood. The knowledge made him giggle, carefully holding the pan to his eyes for a moment before placing it back down. When the boy turned to another entrance in the room, he saw the man standing there, the double doors wide open and beyond was total darkness.
"It is best if you leave." The man said without turning around, and something in his voice changed. The ever-present power that radiated on every word seemed to wither, and his emotionless tone suddenly sounded…well, like the boy when he was awake and afraid. Before the boy could protest, he suddenly felt the air around him grow cold, the walls beginning to close in.
The boy darted his gaze behind him, but nothing was there. When he turned back, the man was gone, but something else was there. Squinting his eyes, the boy looked past the open doorway and…there was definitely something there, and suddenly, the boy found it impossible to tear his eyes away. He couldn't move at all, not even his fingers could twitch. The boy tried to close his eyes tight, but they didn't obey. Like a fog, the darkness began to disperse, and…something moved behind him. Upon each heart pounding step, the sound crackling like a fire, the darkness cleared away, and a light flared up ahead. It almost blinded thee boy, but…there was a figure in the way. It was difficult for the boy to make sense of the figure for it was pitch black against the blinding light. Then, without warning, the light was gone. The double doors in front of him slammed shut, before anything in his restrained sight became consumed in a swirling mass of darkness, devouring all sources of light and…something was wrong. The boy's breath hitched. The darkness did not lift and…the boy could not move. But there was something there. Something in front of him. There was a footstep, crackling like fire. There was another step, then another, until it became a slow, taunting rhythm, but…the boy could feel this mysterious presence just…pacing, back and forth, like an enraged animal, trapped in a cell…until it stopped. The boy's breath hitched again, and this…thing started to growl. It was low, no higher than a whisper, and so inhuman that the boy's heartbeat grew so fast and so loud that he couldn't hear it anymore. A loud sound of heart stopping, scraping metal cut through his senses, and the boy flinched back, but found himself unable to turn away. There was a pair of eyes, floating in the darkness, but they were not "Eyes". They looked more like a small shape from a children's book, colored in haphazardly, the little lines of black flickering like wind…and they moved forward. The footsteps started again, slow, the eyes moving up and down with each step, and getting closer to the boy. The footsteps quickened, the sound of crackling fire growing ever the more overpowering, and the boy, closing his eyes dead tight, began to scream. He screamed, not the simple noise of terror but a plea for help. He couldn't hear his own words, only that he was screaming the same phrase over and over as the footsteps grew louder and closer, and then it…stopped. The boy continued screaming for a short few moments before he too realized that the footsteps had ceased. The boy opened his eyes…and there was nothing there. The eyes were gone. The footsteps started again behind the boy, deafening at first, then slowly but steadily growing quieter. The boy…just stood completely still, his rapidly blinking eyes squinting into the deafening quiet of the darkness. Then, the boy woke up.
His bedside clock said, "11:15pm". Below was the date: 3rd September 1995. Moonlight shone in through the gap of his curtains, casting shadows upon the floor from the toys strewn about haphazardly. But the boy, for a brief minute, paid them no heed. For he was still alone, confused, relieved…
And still afraid.
Time marched on past, but how long he laid still in his bed, the boy did not know. He never looked back to his alarm for his eyes were fixed upon the strange shadows on the floor. Some of the shadows were indescribable, but some looked utterly terrifying, like large monsters prowling around in the dark. Yet the boy felt…he frowned lightly. He didn't know what it was he was feeling. It wasn't fear, he no longer felt his heart in throat and sweat all over, but…
There were voices, in the home. One he recognized, for it belonged to his father. But the other, it seemed gruffer, demanding and to the point, and it frightened the boy. He huddled deeper into his bed, curling up into a ball and trying his best to wring the blankets and sheets over his head, but he stopped. The voices grew a little quieter, and they stayed that way for some time. Then, the voices stopped, and a pair of footsteps began to move. They drew closer and closer, and then the boy's bedroom door swung open. "Hello, George." The father greeted as he walked over to kneel down by the bed. He paused for a moment as George slowly sat up, having taken notice of George hiding underneath the mass of blankets. "You all right, son?" George didn't answer, and his father frowned at him. "What's the matter? Did you have a nightmare?"
George shook his head. "Wasn't a nightmare." He said, doing his best to sound brave…but he didn't. "I wasn't asleep."
His father drew George into a hug, one that lasted for a short minute before he moved to sit beside him on the bed. "George, there's someone I want you to meet."
"Who?" George asked. The answer went silent as a pair of footsteps registered in George's mind, coming closer as a small shadow peered in through the doorway. George's breath hitched, but he didn't move, for his father's comforting hand helped restrain the fear as it gave way…to confusion. The figure in the doorway was short and…he looked just like a potato, but with a large black cloak over his entire body, except for his brown head. "Who are you?"
AN: Before you ask, yes, all of that will be in the actual chapter. Think of it as like a teaser prologue. And this update will be replaced by the chapter itself when it's done…sometime soon. Hopefully. Anyway, I should get back to finishing the chapter. Hope to see you all then. Bye! :)