Trapped in a Nightmare

I was alone at night when I heard the scream. A chilling, blood-curdling scream. The kind of scream that makes goosebumps rise all over your body and that makes you wish that you where somewhere else, anywhere else. I put my hands over my ears but the scream continued, even louder. I pulled my pillow over my ears but that did nothing to muffle the horrible sound. “Why isn’t my family waking up” I wondered. I raced to my parent’s room. Mom and Dad were still sleeping. “This is crazy” I thought to myself. Mom and Dad are super light sleepers. If I wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, they always wake up as I pass by their door, no matter how quiet I am. I went to the side of their bed. “Mom, Dad?” I said. Nothing, they still slept. I reached over and shook Mom. Nothing. No response. Same thing happened when I tried to wake up Dad. “MOM, DAD” I shouted. Still nothing. Neither of them moved. I felt their chests. No heart beat. “No” I said to myself. I stumbled backwards. “No, it can’t be”. “I must be dreaming” I thought. I grabbed a pin off their desk and jabbed my finger. It bled. “You don’t bleed in dreams” I said out loud. “Oh, No, they can’t be dead” I cried. The screaming continued, loud and chilling as I raced down the stairs. I grabbed the telephone and dialed 911.

 

Nothing happened. The phone wasn’t working. I raced outside and ran down the street. No one else on the street had heard the screams. All of the houses were dark. “HELP” I screamed, running down the street. “HELP ME, PLEASE” no one seemed to hear me. I collapsed in the middle of the street, sobbing. The bloodcurdling screams continued as I sat there. I ran over to our car and tried to start it. Nothing. It was as if the whole world was dead. I was trapped in a Nightmare. I raced around our house to investigate the source of the screaming. I hurried into the woods behind our house. I reached the clearing where I had my tree house, and gasped. There was a young girl, who looked about my age, thirteen. She was lying on the ground, and above her was a thing wrapped in a tattered black cloak. It was slowly lowering itself toward the girl and the girl was screaming, her eyes wide in terror as the thing slowly came down on her. I picked up a large rock and was about to throw it at the thing when I felt a tap on my shoulder. A man stood behind me. He had a knee length gold beard, shot through with streaks of silver. He was wearing a long fluorescent green, yellow, and pink cloak. He was holding out a sword. The swords blade was about 5 feet long and was gold with streaks of red. The handle was gold, with turquoise jewels set into it. “Try this” he whispered. “It’ll work better than a rock. The Dead King hates golden swords”. He handed me the sword. I looked at it and grasped the handle, ready to charge and kill the horrible thing.

 

“Wait a minute”, I said, jolting back to reality. “I don’t know how to use a……………..” I had turned around while I was talking. The man was gone. I turned back towards the clearing. I stood, frozen with fear, as the thing slowly reached out towards the girl. It’s arms were slimy and gray, and its cloak seemed to move out as though to smother the girl…………. I saw the strange man behind a tree on the other side of the clearing. He motioned towards the thing and mimed brandishing a sword. “Go, Go” he mouthed. He made a strange motion with his hand. Suddenly, I felt ten times stronger, ready to take on anything that came my way. I raced toward the thing, clasping the sword in my hands, pointing straight at the thing.

 

The thing turned towards me. Its face was awful, a gray skull with bits of flesh clinging to it. It made a horrible sound that I must say was probably laughter. It sounded like a combination of a cat being tortured and fingernails being scraped down a chalkboard. “Fool” the thing screeched in a voice that was as awful as its laugh. “You think you can defeat me, the master of all evil?” The thing laughed again. I almost lost my confidence, but I remembered how terrified the girl had looked and I raised the sword again. The thing stopped laughing. “We will meet again, Hero”, the thing hissed. Then it vanished.

 

The man came out from behind the tree and the girl got up. “What was that thing!!?” I screeched. “And why did it call me a hero”, I demanded. “Also, is it gone for good?” The man smiled. “Patience, child. You’ll find all the answers soon enough. First, what’s your name?”. “Uh, Isabella” I said. The girl looked at him. “Should we tell her?” she asked. “All right” replied the man. So he began. “My name is Marshall. I am a sorcerer in the land of Atalania.” “What’s Atalania?” I demanded. Marshall continued as though I hadn’t said a word. “This is my apprentice, Justice. The thing that you saw back there is the Dead King. He appeared in Atalania several years ago. What happened is that he used to be a live citizen in the proud land of Atalania, but he was unfairly charged with a crime he had not committed, so he was executed unfairly. He returned as the Dead King to seek revenge on Atalania. Unfortunately, you are the only one who can save us.” “WHAT!” I shouted. “Shhh” whispered Justice, “It’s true, I’m afraid”. “Why” I demanded. “Last year, the town
Oracle-“You have an Oracle?” I cried. “Yeah, and you don’t” said Justice calmly, as though she hadn’t been screaming her head off a few minutes ago. “Well anyway, the Oracle, Aquaria received a prophecy that a girl with red and blue eyes from another world would be the only on who could save us from the Dead King” Marshall continued, “every month, the Dead King snatches two Atalanians and takes them off to the Castle Of The Night and they are never seen again. He wanted Justice and I, so we tried to escape through a portal to this world. He followed us and attacked Justice. The reason why I couldn’t help her was because he put a shield around them that only the Hero could penetrate. He isn’t gone permanently; he probably just went back to his castle. Only you can save us, and you must.”

 

It took me a minute to process all that. I mean, why me? I always thought that my eyes were my most special feature, because they are blue and the blue part is shot through with red streaks. I couldn’t believe it, why did I have to be the subject of some dangerous prophecy? Suddenly I remembered something. “My parents!” I gasped. Marshall smiled. “Don’t worry” he said soothingly. “They’re okay”. “How do you know?” I cried. “It will wear off as soon as you have fought the Dead King” said Justice, still calm. “You mean I have to or I’ll be trapped in a nightmare forever?” I cried. “Yup”, said Marshall. “Please don’t let us down”, begged Justice. I had no choice. “Fine” I grumbled.

 

“Excellent!” cried Marshall. He waved his hand and a circle of bluish-green light appeared on the snowy ground next to him. “That’s the portal to Atalania!” Justice whispered excitedly. “You first” said Marshall cheerily gesturing at the portal. “Uh, what do I do?” I asked nervously. “Just step through it, duh” said Justice. “Well excuse me” I said sarcastically. “I’m sure everyone knows about how to get through portals to Atalania”. “Sorry” said Justice, covering her mouthy with her hand. “I keep forgetting that you’ve never done this before”. I picked up the sword and stepped through the portal.

 

I landed on a grassy field dotted with purple and green flowers. A few seconds later, Justice landed beside me, followed by Marshall. “So how am I going to defeat the Dead King” I asked Marshall. “Shhh, not here, the Dead King has spies everywhere” he hissed “We’ll go to our hideout and talk there!” Marshall led us through the field into the woods. The trees were huge, with lots of branches, just perfect for climbing. He led us to a tree with a tiny, almost not noticeable star carved into a root and began climbing up. Justice and I followed. We climbed up for a few minutes until we got to an amazing tree house. It was huge; several stories high, made out of leaves and wood so that from the ground, you couldn’t even tell that it was there. As soon as we were all in the tree house, we sat in a circle sipping fizzy red drinks that tasted like a combination of raspberries and strawberries, discussing how I’d get rid of the Dead King. “First,” said Marshall, “you and Justice will sneak into the Dead Kings castle and look around for weak points for when we attack later. Afterwards, we’ll discuss tomorrow’s battle plan here, okay?” Justice and I agreed. I grabbed the sword and a bottle of water and we were about to head out when Marshall stopped us. “Those clothes” he said. I looked down. I was wearing a green tank top, frog pajama bottoms, and fuzzy froggy slippers. “Oh, yeah”. After putting on black clothes, Justice and I headed out.

 

“Hurry up” I whispered to Justice. We were climbing the wall of the Castle Of Night and Justice was slow. Finally, we managed to climb into a window on the third floor. “Come on” she whispered. We headed towards the door. “Not so fast” hissed a voice, and a shadow blocked the doorway. It was the Dead King. Justice and I backed away until our backs were to the window. The
Dead King slowly advanced, laughing wickedly. Suddenly, I got an idea. “I’m going to dump my water on him” I whispered to Justice. The Dead King was too busy laughing to notice. “As soon as I soak him with water, run for it” I whispered. “Okay” she replied. Slowly, I unscrewed the cap from my water bottle, pulled my arm back and…… SPLASH. A wave of water hit the Dead King, drenching him. He wiped the water away from his eye sockets. No time for Justice and I to run. “Now you will feel the power of my wrath”, the Dead King hissed menacingly. He reached towards us. His bones made wet clicking sounds. Suddenly, he started turning red. “The water!” he groaned “NOOOOOOOOOOO” he screamed. His body began throbbing. Several seconds later, he was a pile of red dust. “You did it!” exclaimed Justice happily, hugging me. “YES” I shouted, punching the air with my fist. Atalanians were surrounding the castle, cheering, and I couldn’t stop a grin from spreading across my face.

 

Several hours later, Justice and I stood in front of a portal that led back to earth. It had taken us a while to get away because of all the celebrations. “Bye Isabella” Justice whispered, hugging me. “I’ll miss you”. “I’ll miss you too Justice”, I whispered back. I stepped through the portal. THUD! I landed on the carpet outside Mom and Dads room. They were next to me in a flash. “Are you okay?” asked Mom. “Did you have a bad dream?” “Did you fall?” asked Dad. I shook my head. “I’m fine” I said, hugging both of them. As I headed back to my room, I wondered if I had dreamed the whole visit to Atalania. In my room, the sword was sitting on the bed, along with a purple flower. A note was attached to the flower. I didn’t read it, “I’ll read it in the morning” I yawned, and happily fell asleep.

 

THE END

COMING SOON, THE SEQUEL TO TRAPPED IN A NIGHTMARE! EXPECTED TO BE OUT IN MARCH!