It wasn't the first time Nicole has seen a strange place in her dreams. It happened so many times that she could easily draw it on paper. Not that she was happy to travel there again and again and be surrounded by what seemingly appeared to be spirits of the dead. The red door at the end of a dark corridor has already become an object of hallucinations, even in real life. She was very afraid of that place, and afraid for a reason.
The door contained a horrible secret behind it, and Nicole had found it out.
Nevertheless, all would be bearable if it wasn't for this... red-faced thing she has begun to see, or, more precise, to hallucinate. He or it, whatever it was, haunted her dreams every time she got to a place that reminded her of a theater a bit, but all was so dark that it was hard to see a thing. And the music... there always was this strange music, the source of which appeared to be an antique gramophone. Nicole felt rather surprised that this thing listened to music while being busy with whatever it was doing. She couldn't see what though, as the creature's lair was located at least one floor higher than she was. Besides, the room the monster lived in was full of some strange, demonic decorations.
And that's where this monstrous creature lived.
Behind the red door.
Nicole was happy that at least she hasn't encountered this demon directly so far and returned to the real world unharmed. She was sure that those were just dreams, no matter how real they might seem. Yes, they were indeed creepy, but nothing bad could happen.
Or could it?
Nicole smiled and giggled a bit, thinking of that. Many people had something bad happening to them in their dreams, but all was happily gone when they awoke. Life is not like those silly horror movies about a dream demon named Freddy who murdered his victims in their dreams, and it resulted in their death in real life. It is fun to watch, but nothing like that is possible in reality.
Nicole sighed and got up from her bed, ready to go to the bathroom. Last night she made another travel to that sinister place, so finally it even stopped frightening her so much as it did in the beginning. Despite her dream travels, there was not a single sign of exhaustion or bad sleeping, and no one had any idea what she was going through at nights. Today was Friday, and she was planning to visit the cinema with two of her friends - Jodie and Linda, and after that invite them both to her place for tea. With that thought she walked into the bathroom, but before she managed to open the water tap, the bathroom door slammed shut behind her with a loud noise, making her heart almost jump out of her chest. Nicole froze on the spot, facing the door and feeling all her insides trembling. This was the first time something like that occurred in her apartment, and she didn't like that. All windows were closed, and all the doors weren't self-closing ones. Still shaking, the frightened female scratched her head, trying to concentrate.
Finally she took the courage and opened the door in one swift movement, but found nothing out of ordinary. Never before she had been that confused, but understanding that thus she would be late for work, Nicole returned to her business and opened the water tap to brush her teeth. Cool water created pleasant feeling of refreshing when she splashed it on her face, but as soon as Nicole lifted her face from the wash basin and looked into the mirror, her piercing scream of terror echoed through otherwise empty apartment. Beside her own reflection she saw a red-faced creature standing behind her, grinning and showing its sharp teeth. Nicole froze again, this time the feeling of pure, unadulterated terror was five times stronger. Although she could see the creature's face for a mere second or two, but it was enough for her to recognize its identity.
It was the same red-faced demon from her dreams.
Nicole was too scared to think anything, so she quickly wiped her face, grabbed her back and keys and rushed out of her apartment, not bothering to eat anything for breakfast. All she wanted now was to stay out of her apartment and hoped that no hallucinations would bother her at work.
The day at work passed without any disturbing occurrences, and Nicole was happy about that. She already began pushing the dreadful things that happened at her place into the depths of her mind, but she was unable to erase them totally. Such things cannot be easily forgotten. She really needed some kind of entertainment at the moment to occupy her mind with something else, and in a few moments her phone rang. It was Jodie. She had already finished her work, and soon Linda would be joining her as well. Nicole didn't have to wait long, as in five minutes her own day at work was over. Three best friends met at the entrance of the cinema and spend a few hours full of fun and laughter during a nice comedy full of kindness. Nicole felt much better after they left the place, and as soon they entered her apartment and she made tea and some snacks for her friends, both Linda and Jodie noticed that something wasn't right with their friend.
She looked a bit worried.
"Nikki, are you alright?" Jodie asked. "I can see you're worried about something. Is anything wrong?"
Both Nicole's friends watched her with questioning looks. She sighed sadly, hesitating to tell them the truth.
"I don't even know how to explain it to you," Nicole began. "If I tell you the whole truth, you girls will probably think that I'm crazy."
Jodie and Linda exchanged glances in confusion.
"What makes you think that?" Linda asked, tilting her head. "You have told us weird things before, like these dreams of yours, and have we ever mocked you? No. So you can tell us. Nobody will laugh at you."