Numbered Nightmares

My name is James. I have two other friends in on this danger named Sam and Luke. Ever since it all started we have been together throughout it, and we would all die for each other if we have to.
It started a few months ago, probably five. Some of you might want to know what is happening now with us, but what's the point in that? You'd just get confused. As they all say, start at the beginning. Well, not all of them say that; only a few. Ok, I'm getting off track here...
Anyways, it started five months ago. Me, Sam, and Luke were doing stupid stuff like normal teenage guys do. We were on the computer, and were trying to find a guitar on eBay. Not much luck for a while. Everything was either overpriced, in crappy condition, or just didn't look reliable. I would have given up soon and gone to play the PlayStation 3 with the guys, but we hit the jackpot.
A perfect looking guitar, only about $50, and, we were able to email the owner and talk with him through that. We were all so happy, and planned to meet him to purchase the guitar. He gave us an address, which we were all pretty sure was legit. Before we knew it, the day had arrived to go pick up the guitar.
When we got there though, that's when all this craziness started happening. We followed the address, but it only led us to a run-down two-story farm house on the edge of a dense forest. None of us knew why this location had been chosen, but I guess he didn't want us to know where he lived or something like that. Whatever, in we go.
The place was pretty creepy by itself. Dusty, old furniture and antiques littered the place, and the room overall had just a negative feel to it. I just felt all sad all of a sudden. The first floor, nothing. No guy was waiting with a guitar to give to us. The least I could say is we were pretty confused. Then Sam started to get pissed.
"What the heck is this guy's problem? Is this some kind of practical joke?"
"Sam, calm down," I whispered, "We haven't checked upstairs yet."
We were all on edge at this point, because of that negativity in the room I suppose, and the dust was getting all over us. Like every run-down house, the stairs creaked. Every step to be exact. We were almost up the steps, when I heard what sounded like an animal running through the forest, towards the house. I stopped, and Sam ran into me.
"What's the hold up, slow poke?" he asked.
"Can't you hear that outside?"
"No, should I?"
"...Never mind, must be a fox or something."
Up we continue to the second floor. Once up there, it felt like the negativity grew stronger, even Sam and Luke looked miserable. The room was completely bare, except for a broken mirror at the end of the room. A small crumpled paper rested at the base of the mirror. We approached slowly, fearing something unknown to any of us. I picked up the piece of paper. There were two sentences on it:
"It Begins. Beware the Nightmares"
Then, I heard what was definitely a thud on the first floor. I can tell Sam and Luke heard this time because they were both looking at me. "Don't look at me, I don't have a clue what that is," I said. We turned to examine the mirror, but that turned out a bad idea. In the cracked reflection, a figure was standing behind us. He was wearing a blue hoodie and a blood-splattered medical mask each hand was wrapped in cloth, and I don't know if it was my imagination, but he seemed to be surrounded in a shadowy aura. I couldn't see his eyes well, but I didn't see any pupils or irises at all. I slowly began to turn around like Sam and Luke were doing. An even worse decision than looking at the mirror in the first place. The only reason I say that is because nobody was behind us...
A small squeak escaped Luke's mouth. There was a mysterious figure in the mirror, yet we were completely alone in the room. I turned back to the mirror, and the figure was gone; but every edge of the mirror was covered in red, as if each shard had been used to cut into a person. So obviously, I turned back around. This time the figure was physically there, staring at us with his pale, empty eyes.
The aura was still there, everything I had seen in the mirror was on his figure. Another squeak from Luke. The figure took a small limp toward us, then another. All three of us were frozen where we stood. Limp, limp, limp. When he was about two feet from us, he lunged. But before he made any contact with any of us, he vanished. In a way he dissolved into that same shadowy aura.
We stayed frozen in place for a few minutes, breathing lightly, fearing that thing would reappear. After about five minutes, I stood up straight and dared to inspect the other side of the room. The negativity seemed to have lifted since the figure vanished. I decided that the thing was gone and we could leave. I motioned for Sam and Luke to follow, and they sheepishly kept a few feet behind me. I walked down the ever so creaky stairs, and was shocked at what I found.
Instead of the dusty furniture neatly placed around the room, everything was torn up and messy. Ceramic vases were shattered on the ground. Most stuff looked like it had a few splotches of blood on it. I realized I'd had enough, and all three of us bolted out of the house to the car and left.
That's when the dreams started.
A couple days later we were all walking down the sidewalk to a gas station to get some sodas and Luke started talking to us about a dream he had the previous night. He said he was in a bare room. Nothing was in the room and he felt extremely sad standing there. He turned to face the wall behind him and pounded on it to try and escape, but had no success. When he turned around, that blood stained  mirror was at the end of the room.
He walked up to it, but in the mirror wasn't his own reflection. He was the figure with the blue hoodie and medical mask. He was staring into those empty eyes, surrounded by the shadowy aura. But when he looked at his hands they were normal. He kicked the mirror over and it dissolved into black mist. He heard a strangled cry from behind him, and when he turned around there was a small girl standing there. She was wearing blood-stained pajamas and had those same blank eyes. He also noticed her throat was slit wide open. Luke remembers blinking, then seeing she was standing only inches away from him; then he woke up on the floor screaming.
The description of the dream unsettled all of us, but in the end we discarded all of it as Luke’s overactive imagination and his paranoia. After that, we enjoyed each day and almost forgot the experience altogether. But of course, eventually those fears have to come back again. We got an email from the guy with the guitar.
This is how it went:
Hey, James or whatever your name is; you’re in danger. I don’t know how to explain this without sounding crazy, but you have to believe me, please. To start with, I’m possessed. Well not now exactly, but I’ll explain in a sec. Remember that address I gave you where you were supposed to pick up that guitar? That wasn’t me writing that. Honestly, I’m just figuring all this out myself. As soon as I realized what I had done, I did research on it and it all clicked into place from then on. That house is demonic. In the 1800’s, some people sacrificed a little girl to try and ward off a demon, but it didn’t work. Since that time, it’s been on a warpath, and now it’s after you three. It infects your dreams, giving you nightmares. But it counts the nightmares, meaning you can only have eight. But after that eighth dream, you’re taken by the spirit and become a crazy, or someone who is possessed by it. That’s what I am now, but I can’t remember whenever I go under, or am under its spell. Don’t try to find me and save me, I’m a goner. I might go after you, now that you’ve visited the house. Stay safe.
You have numbered nightmares.
Category:Dreams/Sleep