Beneath The Surface

    In the last light of day, I'm at my father's house. It's old and dark. I have a simple job: carry a bag of garbage to the kitchen. The shadows grow long and I feel scared, like a kid alone in the night. I see a ghost - a lady wearing an old-fashioned bonnet, drifting by the kitchen.

    I rush outside, spilling my fears to my dad. He steps inside and climbs the creaky staircase. I follow, my eyes adjusting to the dim interior, and there she is again, the ghostly lady, halfway up the stairs. My dad is at the top. I'm stuck at the bottom.

    Then, something strange. The ghost comes down the stairs and plants a deep, hard kiss on my lips. It leaves me shaken.

    Later, we swim in the nearby lake. The house ghosts, supposedly wiped out by my dad, are nowhere to be seen. But as we swim, something pulls him under. The ghosts are back, angry and looking for revenge. He's struggling, crying out for help.

    "I didn't mean for you to kill him!" I shout at the ghosts, but they don't listen. His last scream echoes as he's dragged under for the last time. The lake, still and silent, becomes his grave. Revenge, it seems, is served cold and deep.

I wake up.

The Island of Horrors

I've bought a ticket for the Titanic. While on the ship, I grab onto an airplane and ride it up to the sky. I let go and freefall to earth. Before I hit the ground, I type into the computer /home. When I type this, I appear back on the Titanic. I freefall from the airplane several times and then reappear on the giant ocean liner. I call my sister to tell her about how good it feels to fall from the sky at such an incredible speed.

The ship starts to sink. Everyone panics. The passengers get dropped off at a location. I stay on board. I suggest that we search for land so that we can live in a cave. The captain finds land. It's a large island. The ship can only transport a handful of passengers at a time.

On the island, they are building giant buildings to house everyone from the ship. I explore. I find my assigned room. There is a girl with short, blonde hair in the room. She is a friend. The rest of our roommates have yet to arrive.

I walk with my friends around the island. My friend Jose points at an area of water near the coast and tells me to never swim there because the tide is too strong. He tells me about one of the passengers who ventured to that area and they found him with a slit throat.

I see a light in the sky. It can't be an airplane because the year is 1912. I take out my smartphone and zoom into the light so I can take a picture. While zoomed in, I see another island with people living on it. I zoom in and see a few people sitting at a pub. I become scared when one of the people turns and looks right at me. I am miles away. They can't possibly see me with human eyes.

I move the camera around and look at other areas of the island. I see a hideous humanoid creature peaking its head over a hill. He is looking right at me. The creature begins running toward us. We scatter in fear. I run to my room and hide. The creature is at my door. I lock it and hold it closed. I look behind me, there is nothing. I look back at the door. I look behind me again, there is nothing. When I look back at the door, there are two people pointing toward the door. The door swings open and the demon stands before me.

Demons chase the passengers throughout the island. Most are killed. One demon has stilts for arms. I learn a truth. If you don't look the demon in the eyes, they cannot hurt you. I walk through the town that we built. I see no one. I walk over to an area where the demons and their minions are waiting for me. I look at the ground as I approach. They taunt me but never hurt me. I knight appears within the meeting place. He is pure white. The demons fear him.

I wake up

The Scent Of Horror

A group of my fellow high school students is spending a few days at a retreat in the hills. There is a mine track rollercoaster that tours guests through the woodland ridges. My brother-in-law built the coaster and tells me it's dangerous. A few of us pile in a cart and start up the giant hill. When we get to the top, there is another small hill before the significant drop. Joseph, the teenager, sitting next to me, leans back exaggeratedly far. He doesn't see the next hill coming. When the cart takes the mound, Joseph's head hits the track, and he begins to fall out. I try to pull him back inside, but it's too late. Joseph lies on the route with a severe head injury. The cart malfunctions and starts rolling backward. Joseph is run over. He is dead. While in shock, I try to call Chad to inform him of the situation. I tell him to stop the mine carts on the track. My frantic fingers cannot find his number in my phone. The next cart rolls along and runs over Joseph's body. I see Chad standing on a boulder. I inform him of our situation. The roller coaster comes to a standstill. We get off of the ride.

"This ride is dangerous!" I yell to Chad. Heated, he yells, "I told you it was dangerous!"

Standing on the ground, I can see paramedics carrying joseph's body down on a gurney. I can't look. I turn and walk away. As dusk approaches, most of the guests have left the retreat. I call my mom and ask her to pick me up. I'm standing next to a cabin where the female guests stayed. A car pulls up. I assume a guest is picking up their belongings, so I walk away. As the sky is dark and the retreat is still, my mom shows up. Chad tells her what happened. While the scent of horror is still in the air, we drive home.

I wake up

The Underground

Nightmare 1.1.2018

My mother and I visit the cinema to see a scary movie. The movie feels real. As if we are there. In fact, we are in some way. At one point we are with a team of scientists and military in a forgotten underground that is seemingly haunted. The scientists know there is an evil presence down here. They study in one area. My mom and I disappear for a second. When we come back to the underground area, the scientists are gone. I look around and see scientific equipment working. I immediately understand that the evil presence is about to show up. Although this is a movie, I know that somehow it is real. I tell my mom to log off right now. She does so. I watch her disappear in front of my eyes. Just as my mom disappears, the evil presence appears as a dash of white light. I run down the hall and find the scientists and the military.

We walk back toward the entrance. Someone is complaining about me being here. A scientist woman responds that down in the underground she has met ghosts and giants, so me being here doesn't seem like a big deal.

Back to reality, I'm sitting in a movie theater, although it is very small. The size of a single office space. Only one other person is viewing the movie alongside me. An older woman. We never speak. Just a few polite glances. At 7:30, I am ready to walk out of the movie. I feel bad that my mom is waiting outside. Just then, an usher walks in and tells us that they've corrected the movie. I didn't know anything was wrong with it. I sit back down and finish the movie.

When the screening is over, I walk out to a fast food restaurant where my mom is waiting. I order food, chicken tenders.

We arrive at an underground terminal on a subway train. We leave our luggage in the train cars because we are staying the night in the terminal. It really scares me to walk out, late at night, to the trains. The lights are off, the air is cold and everything is quiet. I run out there real quick to grab something and I run back to the terminal. Later on, I play with the control buttons and move some of the trains forward on the tracks. When I walk back to the terminal, I see a bunch of friends from high school. We hang out for a minute in an arcade in the terminal. Dream ends.

I wake up

Exorcism

Nightmare 10/16/2017

My mom, a few classmates and I are driving several hours away to a retreat. Half of my school is already there. We are driving in an RV that will house a few students when we arrive. On the way there, one of the students in the RV becomes possessed by a demon. He lunges at me. I grab him and say, "In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to leave." I do this several times until the demon is gone. Then, another student is taken over by a demon. Same thing. He chases after me as I say to him, "Out in the name of Jesus!" This happens several times on the way to the retreat. I know they are possessed when the color in their eyes disappear and all that is left is a black dot.

I know that we are there when a few new students climb aboard the RV. It is night. I walk down a road where several students are walking, including my sister Kristen. One student becomes possessed. My sister stands up to him. He grabs her and performs a suplex. Kristen lands on her head. I swear she is injured badly. I speak the name of Jesus Christ to the demon. I don't know what happens to the possessed man. Kristen is not hurt at all. Dream ends.

I wake up

House of Horrors

Dream 8/16/2017

I am walking through a haunted house. It is a haunted house like you would find at Disney World. We start at the bottom and move from room to room. In each room that we enter, a ghost soon appears. It is a real ghost. At one point, I notice that someone got left a few rooms behind. I leave the group to find this person. I find them in a room with tall ceilings and a balcony. They move on but I stay. I think about how the group that I was once a part of is now so far away from me. I stay here and they keep moving. Dream ends.

I wake up

The Hotel Bizarre

Dream 7/17/2017

     My family and I stay a few nights in a hotel. One night, I look up at the ceiling and see spiders and insects crawling everywhere. I yell for my sister. We grab the kids and leave our room. Running down the stairs, I notice bugs and spiders crawling all over the walls. I even see a snake slithering up the stairwell.

     We make it to the managers office. We sit down and tell him what a trash pit his hotel is. He looks to me to hear my side of the story. "Well, I've see about three snakes just from our room to here," I say. He looks bewildered. I point behind him at a green snake moving across the room. While we talk, I look over and notice the kids running around, playing in the lobby. I only count four when there should be five. Anna, the second youngest, is missing from the picture. I leave my sister and brother-in-law to talk with the manager while I locate Anna. I walk down some stairs to the floor below. I think I've spot her. I pick her up. It isn't her. It is a boy, wearing a hood with his face painted like a skull. A lady walking by tells me that she has seen Anna. I locate and find her and bring her back to the managers office. When we get there, the meeting has finished.

     I follow my family up to the roof of the hotel where we find a swimming pool. We are the only ones here except for a beautiful blonde woman sitting off to the side, talking on her phone. As we walk past her, I try to make eye contact so that she notices me. In my mind I think that maybe she will find me attractive and then come over to start up a conversation. My family and I sit in some chairs around a table. Out of nowhere, the ladies phone plops into my lap. I look over. She is still sitting in her original spot. I walk her phone back to her. As I come closer, I notice she is wearing a long, brown, leather coat. I hand her phone back to her. She then speaks to me, "some people think that my coat is really my skin." She then turns to show me her back. Sprawled across her back are etched letters. The bizarre aspect is that the letters are bloody. I now understand that her coat really is her skin. At this moment, we leave the hotel. Dream ends.

I wake up

Late Night Frights

A Dream From the Past

It's late at night. Far past midnight. Most people are asleep. My sister, brother-in-law and myself are awake and wanting to go for a late night drive.

Driving down the dark, quiet road we see a haunted house. It's the type of place where teenagers and young adults pay to get scared. Inside this particular haunted house is a vampire. All who enter eventually come face to face with the hellion. The house is closed at this time.

We enter anyway. The lobby of the house is an arcade and although the lights are off, the room is lit from the arcade video games. A person is here but I never see his face. He is a stranger to me. He speaks to us. Nothing else happens. The place is closed. Dream ends.

I wake up.

Psycho Killers

Nightmare 5/26/2017

A group of students take a trip across the world to a foreign land. I am in this group.

While in this land, we come to a dead end road with an old, broken down house near the end. Those who live in this house greet us. They seem pleasant at first but quickly turn sinister. Some of the students who walk into the house find a shock near the back of the house when a large man with another face on his own chases them down with a chainsaw.

Somehow, myself and a handful of friends survive this hellscape and find our way across the ocean back home. When we arrive to our homeland, we are greeted by a group of people whom we don't know. Most of them are nice except four of them who are dressed in body bags. They don't speak, they just stare at us. I can't see their face outside the bag but I feel that I know them somehow. They are the killers from across the sea.

My friends and I run back to our families, who do not know we are alive. At this point it has been four years since we last saw them. We have been presumed dead for quite some time. Our families are in a giant outside play place, similar to the one you find in McDonald's. We run toward them and try to lose the psycho killers. Nightmare ends.

I wake up.

Monster 2

Nightmare 5/17/2017

There is a boy at my school who is the same age as me. Something is wrong with his brain. He is a little slower than most people. I come to find out that he once killed a person.

After school, I go over to the elementary building where my mom works. I have to wait for an hour for my mom to finish her work. While sitting in my mom's office, I see the boy with brain problems enter the office. At first, I am cautious and I talk with him, just a little, but then I realize that he is wildly dangerous. I run back to my mom's office and tell her that we have to go to the back room and call the police. We go to the back room. There is a window that separates the office from the back room. We can still see the boy.

I lock the door both on the doorknob, the deadbolt, and the chain lock, but the chain lock is flimsy, it probably won't do much good. The boy comes to the door and tries to get in. I remind my mom of how dangerous this situation is but she doesn't seem to understand. She keeps working. I think I see the boy holding a knife. We both try calling the police but neither of our phones has service. We move to the window in the room, trying to get just one or two bars. Eventually, the boy's mom comes in and calms the situation. Nightmare ends.

I wake up.

Cinema Confusion

Dream 5/11/2017

My sister and me are watching a movie at the cinema. During the movie, Kristen, my sister, has to step out for a moment. I am unaware of where she has gone.

The movie that I'm watching is scary. I'm not sure whether or not it is considered a horror movie, but it scares me for some reason so I step out. Right outside of the theater is an arcade. I find my sister in the arcade. I tell her that I want to play some games but I need to find an ATM to get some cash and to first check my balance, to be sure I have enough money in the bank. My balance shows that I have $8,000.00 dollars in it. I have no earthly clue where that money came from. I even check my debit cart to be sure that it is mine. It is.

I exit the cinema, leaving my sister there by herself. I find my mom at home. She finds a movie ticket that says "Egypt 1." She asks if I saw the movie called "Egypt 1." I freak out and say no. I have no idea where that ticket came from. My mom and I get into the car and drive toward the movie theater to find my sister. At one point we make a wrong turn and drive down a dead end road. We turn back around. Dream ends.

I wake up.

Future Serial Killers of America

Nightmare 1/4/2017

I know a boy. Something is wrong with him. Wrong with his demeanor. Wrong with his mind. He is the kind of person who tortures and kills animals just for fun. He is setting his eyes on a new target. A greater challenge. He is planning to kill my friend's mom with a knife. I couldn't tell you how I know this. I just do.

Time is running out. My friend and I rush back to his house to stop any planned execution from taking place. Our only hope is that we're not too late. When we enter his house we immediately yell for his mother. She answers. She is there. She is safe. No harm befell her. Where is the boy who tortures and kills animals just for fun?

...I never see or hear from him again. Dream end

I wake up

Deja Vu

Nightmare 3/4/16

A group of twenty to thirty people are having a get together in a house near the highway.

There is no road that connects the highway directly to the house. You must take a back road. The people gather. A monster is coming. Evil is coming. He is 11'7. The face he wears is not his own. He wields a rusty chainsaw. His fantasy is blood. I have deja vu. I know this feeling. I've been here before. I know he is coming. If I were to walk outside the house right now, I would see him trodding up the dirt road. I have to get out. I run out of the house and toward the highway. Cars drive up and down. I don't need a ride, I just need to get away. I run down the highway and never stop.

Later, I hear that the monster found the house. He killed everyone in it. Dream ends.

I wake up


(That same night, I'm not even kidding, my mom had the following dream.)


"We gather in our house. The family is all here. A monster is coming. He has blades for fingers. He wants to murder us. The second oldest nephew, Owen, somehow gets outside the house and runs. We have to get him before the monster does. We chase after Owen. The monster keeps coming." Dream ends.

Cult Fiction

Dream 6/13/2015

My mom and I take a drive into town. We lose track of time. We find ourselves in Chicago five hours away from where we started.

We search for the Willis Tower.

We end up in a room with many familiar faces: People we’ve known much of our lives--from church, from school etc. They are holding a christian conference.

 One issue with this location is it’s problem with tarantulas. Every now and then you’ll find one crawling on the floor below you, someone will scream across the room and you figure they found a big, hairy friend. A small Asian boy sees one and tries to pick it up. He gets bitten and let’s out a scream. 

The leader of the conference asks us to split off into groups for discussion. I end up in a group that I don’t care for.

Within a matter of seconds, the conference turns from a good-hearted, christian conference into a macabre, Occultish meeting of horrors. The leader (who looks suspiciously like Meryl Streep) is now in the crowd and her daughter (looks like Rachel McAdams) has taken the reigns up front. 

In a chant-like way, the mother says, “I don’t know where the children are but I’m sure you do,” pointing at her daughter. Streep let’s out a series of “whoos.” Some are longer (Whoo-hoo) and some are short (Whoo). Cheering and applauding, she screams out, “I just got married to a man yesterday,” and then she turns to where nobody can see her face, when she turns back, her face is old, as if it has aged thirty years. Dream ends.

I wake up.

Dark Hallways

Nightmare 3/6/2015

     It's night. I'm at my old high school. Other than the two friends with me, there is nobody here. I think.

     Inside the dark hallways of the school is an elevated tram. We step onto the tram and it begins to move. A loud noise from below frightens us. We look over the tram bars and see a demonic man dressed as a clown with a circular saw as a hand.

     He chases the tram. He reaches up with his saw hand to hurt us. Several of us get slashed and cut. I tell my friends that I don't want to be here anymore. I take out my smartphone and push exit. A loading bar appears. It takes way too long.

     I jump from the tram and make a run for the exit. I make it out of the school. My friends don't. Dream ends.

I wake up.