My Living Nightmare

My Living Nightmare

By Saphhia

I'd landed in that very spot so many times it was almost too familiar. The weather was atrocious and the only way on was through that small hole in the wall that I knew led only to horror and entrapment. Nevertheless, I knelt and tried to worm my way through the circular opening in the cold wet stone.

Just as predictably, I found that my cloak and petticoat were too bulky to fit with me inside. Pulling back out into the driving rain, I shed my clothing, until I stood there in nothing but my shift. I felt the stone abrade my skin as I struggled again, this time managing to slink inside the pitch-black hole.

My arms above my head, and my only locomotion being the pressing of my toes against the floor, I inched forward, until my chin dropped over the edge on the opposite side. My shoulders finally through I managed to extricate myself from the hole, my last bit of covering shredded and falling away from the naked skin beneath.

I allowed the garment to fall into the puddle around my bare feet, leaving the rest of me just as naked. My nudity seeming secondary to my predicament, I pushed forward into the darkness, eventually coming to a door. I'd never made it this far in the dream before, having awakened trapped inside the hole.

The door was tall, perhaps twenty feet from top to bottom and I wondered if I might even be able to shift it. Grasping the large ring I pressed with all my strength until it gave way with a horrendous shudder.

It was quiet inside. Too quiet, and I felt very uneasy. The massive door had closed behind me, despite my best efforts to keep it from doing so. With no handle on the inside, there was no going back. A light shone dimly at the top of a long flight of stairs that circled up along the perimeter of the hall.

My footfalls fell too loudly as I slowly climbed the stairs, the only thing driving me forward being my knowledge that this was simply artifice, a dream that went well beyond its normal conclusion. My skin was still damp and soiled, and my hair hung in rivulets, still dripping from the soaking of the driving rain.

I'd reached the top, and I stood motionless waiting to wake up, but it wasn't to be. Light leaked profusely around the frame of the old door, and I knew I had to see what was inside. With every ounce of my being screaming not to, I turned the handle pushing the door open and moving through the jamb.

I started, as a flurry of ghostly vapors swirled around me, pulling me to the center of the room. The door slammed closed behind me, and I was once again alone. If there was any consolation, a torch glowed brightly in one corner of the room, where a corridor slipped into the darkness beyond.

Taking in my surroundings, the walls were of the same stone as the rest, glistening with the moisture that might never dry in so dank a place. Looking down, I took in my naked frame, my skin streaked with soil and scrapes that almost bled, but didn't. My breasts peaked with the cold, and I tried not to think of how vulnerable I was.

There was nothing there; an empty room. Staring beyond the torch I tried to see where the eerie hallway went. It was long enough that the torch failed to penetrate its full extent. I pulled at the torch, finally releasing it from its sconce, managing to singe my hair as it proved heavier than I imagined. Had it not been so wet, I fear it may have burned so well as to leave me bald or nearly so.

Pressing on, the torch held high above me, I moved down the seemingly endless passage. The walls became more and more irregular until I realized I was no longer in a hand-hewn hallway, but rather a cave. I hated caves.

Still quite naked, my bare feet slipped here and there as the stone floor became slanted. Suddenly, they were out from under me, and I was sliding down a flowstone bank, coming to rest in a slot, and not gently either. My left side hurt from the impact, and I looked down to see a large abrasion on my thigh. I closed my eyes, thinking I must surely awaken now. Opening them, I was still immersed.

The torch had fallen a few yards away, so I reached to retrieve it. I just managed to grip the handle before it slipped deeper into the crack I found myself in. A flurry of sound echoed along the passage, and I stood in time to see a cauldron of bats circle around me and then out from whence I had come.

I shivered at the thought of them, vile, horrific creatures of the underworld. I was glad they had moved beyond me. Now the place was silent, save for the dripping of water from the formations that hung precipitously from above. Painfully, I pulled myself upward, until I was once again on the path.

A strange itching began on my shoulder, and I looked down to discover two symmetrical slits sliced into my flesh. Blood oozed from them, and I began to feel quite unwell. Had one of the bats bitten me?

Fearing the worst, I hurried back along the top of the bank until it slowly merged into the familiar hallway of laid stones. I hurried to insert the torch back into the sconce and tried the door. It was locked, of course. "Please, wake up!" I screamed into the night.

My hands felt numb and useless, and a strange smell filled the air. What was happening to me? I tried to calm myself, saying over and over that it was all a dream, a horrible nightmare. Trapped, I saw my only escape. An open window looked out over the mountains beyond, but the drop would surely kill me. Panicked, I sat back against the wall and dragged my useless fingers through my hair.

To my horror, my hair came away from my head with no effort at all, tangling between my lengthening fingers, their color fading to a greenish grey. The itching had spread all over, my scalp the worst of all. Dreading the result, I dragged my deformed fingers over my scalp, trying to quell the nagging itch. Hair came away in handfuls, and I knew I must soon be bald. The more I pulled at the offending strands, the more tolerable the itching became.

Soon I was sitting in a puddle of my raven locks, but at last, the itching had subsided. Reaching up, I knew that there would be nothing but barren skin, and my suspicions were correct. I wept, but as I did, my body fell straight, and I was unable to move at all, paralyzed at the center of the cold stone floor.

My breasts flattened on my heaving chest, as it assumed that ghastly grey hue, that was spreading all over my body now. I felt my legs pull inside me and my fingers spread into enormous webs, a sickly membrane suspended between them.

"I must end this dream once and for all!" I yelled, pulling myself to the brink of the window ledge and tossing my deformed body into the night. I should have fallen, I should have awakened, but I flew instead.

My heart was pounding as my eyes shot open, and I struggled to catch my breath. Was it finally over? I dragged my beleaguered form from under the sheet and stood, my body as I remembered it. But I was naked. I never slept that way. I sensed something was wrong, so as I stepped before my mirror, my face fell.

Had it been a dream? Because, as I took in my reflection, the one thing most decidedly missing was my hair. My fingers seemed sore but appeared normal as I explored my hairless skull, finding not a single strand still attached. Were it not for the stigma associated with one of my own sex being so rendered, I would say I did not despise the look.

I noted that my head was not the only thing snatched bald in the night. No, my nether hairs had disappeared as well as my brows. Was I utterly hairless? Had I not really awakened? I took a pin from my vanity and pricked my skin, the pain lancing inward, confirming that this was no dream.

I fell, forlorn on my bed, knowing I must somehow face the world as I am. A slight tingle brought my attention to my shoulder, where two small slits had once been in my dream. There they were, just as in the dream, only now they were healed closed, evidenced by the raised red lines in her otherwise flawless skin.

But these were not the only remnants of my dream, oh were it that simple as to don a wig. My teeth had gone, all but four opposing fangs that resembled some strange, polished metal. Such was my shock as I opened my mouth that I nearly fainted.

I had taken great pride in my flawless smile, so as I examined my edentulous gums, I mourned the loss of them. There was no evidence of them ever existing at all, my shrunken gums having the appearance of a toothless old wench. I slid my tongue over them, finding it too had endured a horrific change. Black and pointed, it would loll out of my mouth should I let it.

I decided I was hideous now. What was to be done? Nothing but to escape into the wilderness. I dressed quickly, donning a black cape and hood, which seemed strange to my maids in the middle of the day. I paid a stage to carry me into the wilds, where I paid him handsomely, despite his concern over where he was leaving me.

As I heard the horses leave me, I wandered off the road and into the woods. It was dark and overgrown, and I struggled for a while in my gown and cloak. As if driven by some force beyond my understanding, I shed everything right to the skin, and continued on, naked.

Were I to be encountered by anyone, I would surely be shot for the monster I was. So, I moved into forests and mountains so vast and deep that I could never be found, or ever find my way back. I eventually came across a small cave, its entrance not obvious to anyone. Crawling inside I found my eyes were well accustomed to the dark. Strange, as I had never been so gifted.

Wet and muddy, it was the best I could do with one day's journey behind me. I hid in there, my skin soon covered in the slime that coated the floor of the cavern. Despite trying to ignore it, my sex called to me desperately. It was an odd sensation, as I had never pleasured myself in all my twenty years.

My thoughts ran to my dream, and how hideous I had been made now. The more I thought about my ghastly state, the more aroused I became, finally reaching my peak, rubbing my skull, and slathering my tongue over my gums and fangs. Was this to be my fate? I mourned afterward in the stark reality brought by my sated desires.

As night fell, the dim glow from the entrance fading into blackness, I began to itch all over. It was happening again, just as in the dream, if indeed it was a dream. I emerged from my hole, taking in the last gasps of daylight as my body began to spasm.

The transformation was much quicker this time, and I had taken flight over the dark mountains of my country in short order. I knew I must be even more frightening now than I appeared during the day. Swooping down over a glassy lake I tried to catch a glimpse of myself in the shimmering moonlight, but the water offered no reflection at all.

I lighted on its shore, feeling thirsty but having no appetite for water. Taking flight again, I spotted a line of smoke rising from a hillside. I knew I must avoid being seen, but at the same time, I was drawn to the beacon like a moth to a flame.

The firelight danced through the trees as I approached the camp, a single figure huddled before it. Drawn to the form, knowing that in this there must be an answer to the cavernous thirst I had. Silently I lurched forward, catching the person entirely by surprise. To my horror, it was a woman. She screamed, reaching for a knife at her side, but I was quick to sink my fangs into her neck, drinking the blood that satiated my desire.

Her lifeless body had draped over my wing as I gazed upon her face. Although her pale face had been drained to a ghostly white, I was quick to know it. I tried to scream, but all that came from me was a bloodcurdling cry that sounded more beast than human.

Sick with rage, I buried my face in her breast, mourning her and myself at once. The ghastly screams continued until I was unable to breathe. A rush of color and a splash of wetness, and I was no longer at the most horrid place of my existence.

"God, help you, wake up, Felicia!" A female voice cried, my body too limp to move, I opened my eyes. There, before me was my lover, her ample bosom almost bursting from her corset. "Your lips will never touch this again, and that's a promise." She held a bottle of Absinthe, its contents nearly depleted. "What possessed you to take so much of it?"

All I could do was reach for her and pull her into the bed, holding her as if my life depended upon it. "Oh, my dear Isabeau, I have been gone, but now I must be sure."

Finding the energy that I surely must have dragged from a debt to the devil, I stood, lunging for the mirror. "It was a dream, oh my God, Isabeau. Please do not ask, for I could never speak of it." I looked into her luscious blue eyes. "Love me, my darling, for I may never sleep again."