Recurring Nightmare Part 1

Author: bigsmile21
Title: Recurring Nightmare: Part 1
Date: 29 December 2019

Dreams can be fickle. Some people say they rarely, if ever, dream. Of those who do dream, most just follow where their thoughts take them. A very small percentage say they actively control how they dream, finding they can use that extra time to practice for a big presentation or upcoming sport event. A smaller percentage is comprised of those who can tap into active dreaming but for nightmares: once they realize they're in a nightmare they can will themselves out like by imagining a door while trying to escape from a monster.

This tale focuses on a man in his early 20s named Glen. Outwardly, Glen appears as a simple mechanic going about his daily routine. Inwardly, Glen is facing a recurring nightmare where he's captured and tries to escape from a hideous monster. Each night he tries a different approach and gets closer, but not close enough, to escape.

The first night, he woke as soon as he saw his captor's face jump right in front of his view: a tall and burly beast covered in tattered rags, huge paws with long sharp claws, a furry face that looked melted like a wax model, and red eyes that seemed to draw Glen to it. Glen jumped up from bed in a cold sweat and rubbed his eyes. He looked around the room. The alarm clock read 03:00. He'd have to be up in 3 hours for work. Still sleepy, he laid back down and closed his eyes. Most people have difficulty returning to the same dream, for them it's like you'd changed the TV channel upon waking. For Glen, it was instead like he'd hit Pause because as soon as he fell back asleep he was again staring at those red eyes.

The monster reached out and with one of its large paws grabbed Glen's throat. Glen tried to yell out but it was drowned out by the monster's bellowing laugh. Two more paws grabbed Glen's wrists and secured heavy steel manacles to them, and a fourth paw ran a short chain through them until his wrists were essentially touching. All the while those eyes continued to stare at Glen, unblinking. The monster dropped Glen, who collapsed to the ground. Before he could catch his breath, the monster started walking, dragging its new captive behind. Glen tried to look around but everything seemed hazy and unformed. His vision was blurry, likely due to staring into those red eyes. He looked down and couldn't tell if he was wearing any clothes. The only certain detail he knew was that his hands were now bound above his head.

After several right and left turns the monster stopped. It turned around and hauled Glen up. And up. And up even more. It secured the chain linking Glen's wrists to something above his head, leaving him swaying a few feet above where the ground should be. The monster growled, almost mumbling something but Glen didn't seem to understand. Then it turned and left, walking into the dark. Glen heard a door slam shut, but everything around him was dark. The only thing that seemed to give off any light in this nightmare was those eyes. He tried to reach downward but the tips of his toes only scraped air. He grabbed the chain and swung outward in all directions, but didn't bump into any walls. For a while, Glen just hung there in that dark and empty space. Then he heard a familiar sound, that of his alarm clock. His eyes flew open and he rose from his bed. He looked around, expecting to see more of that dark space but he saw his usual bedroom, slightly illuminated by the rising sun.

On instinct, Glen reached over and tapped the alarm clock. He was a little surprised to see he could move his hands. The nightmare felt so real. A few dazed moments passed and he got on with his morning routine: shave, dress, breakfast, and then off to work. Throughout the day he would spend a few moments reflecting on last night's peculiar dream, but like most dreams by the end of the day he could hardly remember it. He got home, showered, ate dinner, watched some TV, and crawled into bed.

The first thing he saw after falling asleep were those red eyes. The monster was right in front of him and reached out to grab him. Glen tried to back away but the monster's four arms grabbed and chained his wrists exactly like the night before. Instead of staring into its eyes, this time Glen looked away. After the monster dropped him and began dragging him, Glen tried once more to look around. He could see the floor and the walls this time: he appeared to be in an underground dungeon. The monster's eyes acted headlamps, casting red light in the direction it looked. Glen saw small torches on the dungeon walls but they remained unlit. Feeling the detail of the floor this time, he looked down to see he was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt along with a pair of short boots. He could also feel that his jeans were being pulled down his legs by being dragged along the floor. He tried to widen his legs but it was no use. By the time the monster had stopped, after making several turns down the corridors, his jeans were bunched up at the top of his boots. His briefs underneath had started to sag down as well but were still covering his privates.

The monster hoisted Glen up and this time he could see the large claws secure his chain to a hook higher above him. The monster stared at Glen in the face again, following the same actions as it had the night before. This time, it looked down and noticed his jeans. It tilted its head and looked back up at Glen. It continued staring at him, grumbled again, and turned to leave. Because Glen had locked eyes with it just now, he couldn't see anything else in the dungeon cell. He heard the door slam shut as the monster left, and Glen was stuck in the same predicament as last night, only this time he knew he was clothed. The boots, he noticed, seemed to add some extra weight than last night. He found lifting his legs to be a bit more difficult, and quickly became exhausted after trying to swing his legs around. He could barely see anything around him: the hook high above his head keeping him chained in place and the faint outline of a wall to his right. He hung there for a while, trying to will himself to move.

The sound of the alarm clock started to fill the cell, and he woke up. Right before waking, though, he thought he heard the cell door opening. Glen moved his arms and legs and they felt a little stiff. He'd been sleeping flat on his back, but his joints felt a little sore. He lay there in bed pondering the dream. The same dream in two nights. He couldn't recall seeing the monster or a dungeon in any of the recent TV shows or movies. He hadn't had anything unsettling to eat recently, either. He looked over to the alarm clock and realized he had to get moving. Same routine: shave, dress, breakfast, and then off to work. Work at the body shop was a little slower today, which lent more time to thinking about his vivid dreams. He'd been able to see and interact more when he didn't get his vision flooded out by those red eyes. It also seemed as if the monster had realized he was wearing distinct clothes this time. And more troubling was that it seemed like the monster was returning as soon as his alarm clock went off. Talk about saved by the bell, he thought. The rest of Glen's Tuesday went normal and he was later home, showered, fed, and getting ready to sleep. The thought of seeing that monster again jumped into his brain right before he fell asleep. Half of him hoped that last night was the last time he'd have to see those eyes. And the other half of him was a little curious about what would happen if he did.