by L. A. Tafe
Eventually, when I was too tired to hold my eyes open for more than a few seconds, they would come to me. Beckon me to join them, knowing full well I was too tired to have a choice. That soon, I would be in their grasp.
Time and time again, I would tell my parents of my hellish dreams, begging them to believe that they weren’t normal, they weren’t “just dreams”. But not once did they give a shit.
Until one morning after I thought I had woken up, I ran downstairs, screaming at the top of my lungs. Bursting into their room and crawling into their bed, frantically trying to tell them of my nightmare. But they weren’t my parents. I was still asleep.
As I cried and pleaded them to save me from my nightmares, their bodies began to shrivel and rot, until all that was left of them were decomposed corpses.
Spiders crawled from every orifice in their dead bodies, their hollow eye sockets, their lifeless mouths, and ears. From under my mother’s nightgown came a million spiders to devour her and my father, eating them from the inside out as well, until all that was left to gorge upon was me.
I never told my parents about my dreams again, to terrified that they may just be another nightmare. From that night on I avoided them at all costs.
Not that it mattered; they were embarrassed of me anyway. No parent is proud of the son that is scared of the monsters under his bed, or in my case, inside my own head.
They padded my bank account and allowed me to take up space in their home, it’s the least they can do. With just a few months until I'm eighteen, I'm happy to spend their money and eat all the food in the house, because the day I turn eighteen I’ll be expected to move out. Nothing but time to kill.
I graduated a few weeks ago, took a look at some colleges in northern California, just the rest of the summer to go, my birthday in November, then I'm out of here. Fine by me.
My parents can’t wait for me to be out either. Not that they told me to my face but I have overheard them on a few occasions.
“When can we kick him out?” my mother says, my dads voice is distant, preoccupied, “whenever you want, dear.” “No. I mean legally?” she laughs and my dad laughs too. Fuck’em.
I get done shaving and go into my room. I look through the window in the corner while I get dressed. The moon still out, telling me it must still be early.
I lay down on my bed, propping myself up on the headboard. I hunt for the remote, finding it tucked between my bed and the wall.
As I drag it up the wall the TV turns on, nothing but snow for a second then the news comes into focus. Snow. Just like in Lancifer’s cage. The reminder of the nightmare makes my skin crawl and my heart flutter for just a second.
The Same old shit is on, a ten minute segment on an actor going to jail for a DUI, now that its her third offense she just may do jail time.
Flip the channel. The same actor is on her reality show complaining about how she only had one drink and was just fine to drive. There’s no escaping this pathetic shit.
My phone starts to vibrate and I jump just a little, knocking the phone off my lap and onto the floor. Stop being so jumpy, I berate myself as I reach down for my phone.
“Hello?” “Good . . . Morning, babe” Amy quietly says, sounding about as tired as I feel. “Hey, what are you doing up so early?” I ask. “We we’re going to go down to the beach and watch the sunset, Remember?” Oh, yeah that.
“Yeah of course, I just got out of the shower and was going to head over soon.” I hear her yawn. ”Well, I'm just getting up. I should be ready when you get here.” I know she won’t be, but I could use some company. “Okay ill be there soon” I tell her and hang up.
Amy and I have been together six months now. It took me that long after locking up Lancifer to think myself sane enough for dating. I got really lucky with her. She’s a great girl. Probably too good for someone like me. Either way, I really care about her.
I quietly creep down the stairs and out the front door. I crawl into my red Land Rover; I got it for my mom’s birthday. Or rather my mom got it from my dad but didn’t like the color, so I got it. Thanks mom.
I see sunlight is just beginning to show in the distance, already it’s warming up for the day. I wipe the sleep from my eyes before turning the key in the ignition, looking up at my mirror to back out.
“Holy shit!” I yell, immediately twisting in my seat to look behind me. But nothing is there. I look all around; no sight of Him.
I check my rear view mirror again, moving it with my hand like if I fix the angle I will see what is no longer there. I pull out of the driveway and head towards Amy’s house. In my head I can still see Lancifer in my mirror, looking at me, his knife like teeth spread into a smile. I drive through my neighborhood, checking my mirror ever few seconds, slowly calming down each time He isn’t there.
School is out for the summer and the roads are pretty dead. The only people on the road either work close by or got up late and will be stuck in dreadlock for quite a whole. Sucks for them.
I turn down Amy’s street and there Lancifer is, right in the middle of the road, his black shredded hood is up and his wide grin is spread across his face.
I slam on the breaks and stare at him, only half believing that I really do see him. “Leave me the fuck alone!” I yell. Lancifer doesn’t move.
I slam down on the gas and the car lurches forward, accelerating right through Lancifer like he was never there. But he was. Wasn’t he? His laugh echoes inside my head and all doubt subsides.
Fear runs through my body, He is relentless this time, I’ve never seen him so much while I was awake. What does it mean?
I look at my mirrors and see Him still standing in the road, laughing hysterically and waving his claw at me as I drive away. I’m in trouble.
Amy is sitting on the curb in front of her home as I drive up, waiting patiently for me. My nerves settle with the sight of her and I stop looking at all my mirrors for any sight of Lancifer.
Amy hops in the car and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Hey!” she says, bubbly as ever, I'm impressed she is actually ready on time.
I turn my head to look into her great blue eyes, “hey, sweetie” I kiss her properly and the last my unsettled nerves melt away.
“Ready?” I ask her, an uncontrollable smile on my face. “Of course.” She smiles right back and I pull away form the curb.
With the roads so empty, the drive form Amy’s to the beach takes only a few minutes. “How did you sleep?” Amy asks me, knowing I have always had trouble sleeping, just doesn’t know why.
“I slept fine.” I lie. “How about you?”
“I slept great! I was soooo tired . . .” she says, breaking off into what she did when she got home last night.
I wish I could tell her about my dreams. I wish I could tell anyone about them. But how could she understand, how could anyone. After all, they are just dreams.
We get to the beach and park along the sand, no one to fight for parking with when the beach isn’t open yet. We throw our shoes in the backseat and walk down the beach till Amy decides where the “perfect spot” is.
It’s just us on the beach, sharing a beach towel watching and listening to the waves crashing on the sand. Both of us are watching the horizon, the water glistens in the rising sun.
Amy curls up into me and puts her head on my chest. I know she will be asleep any minutes. That’s my Amy.
To me, there is nothing like the California coast. Born and raised just a few minutes from the beach in Newport. The beach has always been the best place to go no matter what’s bothering me. The smell of the salt water, the cool breeze that makes the warm sun feel even hotter, the sand between your toes, doesn’t get much better.
I stare out over the water, watching the sunrise up over the water with Amy asleep against my chest. Everything is perfect. Everything’s just right.
I begin thinking about my dreams, more optimistically than before. Maybe it was just a one-time thing. I’ll dream of Him again, but not fo
r some time. He can’t be strong enough to face me, not yet anyway. I can handle this. All will be over after tonight.
I stop thinking of what awaits me in my dreams and focus on what is right here in front of me, pulling Amy tighter to my body and kissing her forehead sweetly. Here on the beach with Amy, it’s all I need to think about.
My eyelids begin to get heavy, the late night and the early morning beginning to take its toll. I need to stay awake. I don’t want to dream of Him right now. I open my eyes wide trying to wake myself up a little, watching the sun over the water. Amy will wake up soon and we will go get some breakfast. All is good.
I see Lancifer’s hood first rise up out of the water. He is massive, eclipsing the sun as he rises in the distance. His mouth opens slowly, his laugh roars over the water, giant waves form and crash down upon me, soaking me to the bone. Wait. Where is Amy?
I twist around, frantically looking for Amy while Lancifer continues to rise out of the horizon, bigger than the sun itself. Lancifer lets out another fit of laughter, a giant smile spread across his massive head. His razor sharp fangs shining in the sunlight. Small Bits of bone and flesh stuck between his teeth.
He stops laughing and opens his mouth wide, swallowing the sun in one big gulp. Everything goes dark, only a dim glow coming from Lancifer’s throat as he swallows.
“YUMMMM!” Lancifer bellows, like a giant child that just had a bite of his favorite candy. His voice is so loud it makes the earth beneath my feet shake like an earthquake. He just ate the fucking sun!
I get to my feet, mouth open wide at what I just behold. A massive thirty-foot wave crashes down upon me, taking my footing and smashing me against something way to solid to be sand.
The water slowly drains away and I hear his laugh again, no longer as deep or loud as it was. A light clicks on above my head, one of those single bulbs that are normally in closets with a pull string to turn them on.
I jump to my feet and swiftly take in my surroundings. The faces on the ceiling telling me exactly where I am, all of them seem to be peering through their lifeless eyes right into my soul. I’m in His room.
I cry out, “Lancifer?! You mother fucker! Leave me alone!” Anger building up inside me like a raging fire.
“I’m right,” Lancifer whispers, “HERE!” I spin to face him. But he is nowhere in sight. I spin again, looking all around the room to find him but find nothing.
Suddenly His breath is on my neck, an awful hot stench that makes my skin crawl. Lancifer rips into my left shoulder with one of his claws, lapping up the blood that pours out.
I stand still and wait for him to face me, numbing my shoulder wound with my thoughts.
He never faces me, coward. I reach behind me and grab his hood, he tries to pull away, but can’t. I face him but he isn’t there, his black garb still firmly in my grasp. I know he’s in there.
I hold the black garb in front of me, looking into the top hole where his head should be.
“Why are you back?” I say calm and commanding. Lancifer begins to cackle, the sound comes from his black garb. I sneer at the garb and snap my fingers. A small red flame appears at the tip of my index finger. I hold Lancifer’s black garb to the flame, burn, you piece of shit.
Before the flame lights the garb, Lancifer’s claws fly from the inside of the hood, slicing both of my arms at the wrists. I growl at the pain and drop the garb to the ground.
“Bastard!” I yell, my hands bleeding steadily. Lancifer’s body fills the black garb and he faces me. “Me? You tried to set me on fire!” he says it seriously but then begins to laugh. I’m so sick of his laugh.
“I’ve had my fun with you for now” Lancifer says, taking a bottle of whiskey from his garb and snapping his fingers, a small flame ignites at his fingertip. Lancifer takes a long drink and spits the whiskey into the flame right at me.
My clothes burst into flame and my skin boils instantly. Before I can scream in anguish, I wake up.
I scream as I wake up, scaring Amy awake as well. “What the hell?” she cries, looking around looking for the danger. I calm down when I see her, now more embarrassed than startled.
“I um . . . I . . .” I stutter, “I had a bad dream. I’m sorry I woke you.” What else was I going to say?
Amy softens up and asks me delicately as if talking about a big secret “Is that why you have problems sleeping?”
I nod, embarrassed to admit it. She kisses my cheek, “I'm sorry I snapped at you.” “Its okay. I wouldn’t want to be woken up like that either.” I say, trying to ease some tension.
Both of us laugh just a little, a bit of tension still present. “So, what was it about?” Amy asks. “What was what about?” “Your dream.” “Oh.”
That is something I know I cant tell her. As much as I don’t like it, I lie. “I don’t really remember most of the time. It’s like I wake up and then forget what I was so afraid of.” Amy nods her head, satisfied with my answer. An answer I wish was true.
Amy puts her hands up to shield her eyes from the sun, now well past the horizon shining brightly upon us. “It’s getting hot, hon. Can we go?” Amy asks, looking amazingly cute shielding herself from the bright sun.
“Yeah we can go. The beach will be open soon anyway.” I tell her. She smiles at me and we hike back to my car.
I throw the blanket in the back seat and climb into the driver seat. Amy puts down the center seat and scoots next to me, kissing me on the cheek, resting her head on my shoulder.
“Don’t worry, babe. I’ll protect you from your bad dreams.” Her voice nothing but passionate and caring. I don’t know what to say so I say nothing, just enjoy her warmth on my shoulder.
It takes all of my power not to shake in my chair, as I continually look into my rear view mirror, seeing Lancifer in his black garb, his big white smile of razor teeth spread across his face. Ignore him. He isn’t there.
Lancifer just laughs and laughs at me.
CHAPTER THREE.
I drive along the coast, Amy next to me telling me every bit of gossip she can remember from the last week. I think about Lancifer and the night he came into being. How I wish I could take it back.
I got into a fight at a party with some guy, apparently the girl that was all over me the whole night was his girlfriend. I was to drunk to really fight back and he kicked my ass.
The girls name was Bethany, Beth for short. To me she was just being friendly. I did know she had a boyfriend but neither of us were doing anything wrong; we were just being friendly with each other. No harm done. We would probably never talk to each other again after the night was done.
That night I got home still reeling, my drunken stupor fueling my rage all the way home. I was passed out before I ever hit the pillow, pissed off I got my ass kicked and looking for something to take my anger out on.
I opened my eyes, finding myself in my dream home standing inside my room, screaming into nothing for my nightmares to give me something to kill.
My dreams had been under control for so long, I was ready for something big, a challenge. I had forgotten how bad my nightmares could get.
I wanted something I could grind into nothing with ease, just simple focus of my thoughts and it would be destroyed. That’s when Lancifer was born. Arriving at the front door of my dream home, ready to rip me to shreds, and he did.
It took weeks for me to get him into a cage and out of my dreams. Now he is free again, stronger and smarter than before.
I snap out of my thoughts, realizing Amy has paused, clearly waiting for me to reply to whatever she had said. “Right?” Amy says, I think it’s the second time she has asked.
“Yeah, babe” I tell her. She kisses my cheek in response; I guess I got the answer right. “I know you don’t know what I said, but thanks for listening.” Amy says, giggling like a schoolgirl. Oops.
“Late breakfast?” I ask, trying to make a good recovery with an offer of pancakes and eggs. “We can go to that breakfast place you like.” she nods in agr
eement, “Least you can do is buy me breakfast after ignoring me for ten minutes.” Amy teases. I kiss her cheek and continue driving, not far from the pancake house.
The place is pretty big and pretty old. Even before Amy and I started dating I had been here once or twice, now we go together pretty often.
As you walk in there is a diner like area to the left that only serves breakfast, with a bar, simple checkered tiles for flooring and a few tables with old-fashioned chairs around them.
To the right is a formal dining area, where they will serve you breakfast, lunch, or dinner any time of the day.
The place is packed so we grab two seats at the bar. Personally I always preferred the bar, has a more personal feel.
Amy rests her hand in my lap after we sit down, upturned and waiting for me to hold it. “Bossy aren’t you?” I tease. “Nope. I just know what I want.” She responds, winking and picking up a menu to look at.
“Hi, how can I help y’all?” The waitress asks, a thick southern twang in her voice. A southern accent beats a normal Orange County accent any day.
“A short stack and OJ for both of us, please.” I tell the waitress. “Alrighty. Anything else for ya?” I shake my head no in response.
“Okay. Be out in just a second with y’alls drinks.” The waitress smiles and walks away. When the waitress is out of earshot, Amy teasingly confronts me. “I don’t get to order my own food anymore? Kind of controlling don’t you think?” I wink at her, “Nope. I just know what you like.”
Amy smiles and scrunches her nose like she is mad at me. As much as I try to keep smiling, Lancifer plagues my thoughts and my smile slowly fades.
Amy and I chit chat through most of our meal. Where we would like to go to college, how we plan on paying for college. Amy tells me about how her parents are talking about going on vacation sometime this summer and we should have a party while they are gone.
When the waitress takes our plates and leaves the bill, an all to familiar smell flows through the air. Blood. He’s messing with me again.