NLH Publishing

  © Copyright 2023

  1st Edition

  Short adult horror story

  All rights reserved. No replicating, transferring, or sharing of any of the contents of this book will be permitted. This is a work of fiction and all names and actions in this book are fiction.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  In Your Dreams

  About the Author

  Michael kissed his wife goodnight and rolled over in bed, tired from the day of work. The week had been long, and nightmares had been plaguing him almost every night. He hadn’t had nightmares like these in a long time, but with everything that had happened, he wasn’t entirely surprised they had started up again. This time they were in full force. Michael prayed he'd get at least one night's rest, at least one night. All he wanted was sleep. Just a good night's sleep.

  He lay in bed and listened to his wife’s soft breathing until it eventually turned into a small, quiet snore. He knew to expect it after eight years of marriage. The same small snore that she always denied. It was a pleasant thing to hear at night. It was never obnoxious. Never kept him awake. It was just a small thing. A familiar thing. It gave him comfort to listen to it at night. Sometimes her snores would turn into a snort and elicit a hearty chuckle from him. They always made Michael feel better. Especially on rough nights filled with nightmares.

  He pulled the sheets up closer to him and welcomed the comfort of his bed. Eventually, his eyes drifted closed and he fell to sleep.

  Michael snored and woke himself with a slight jerk. Shivers ran down his back as a cold breeze hit him. He glanced at the clock. 3:00 AM. He sighed as he closed his eyes and willed himself to go back to sleep.

  He didn't know how long he had been lying in bed trying to fall asleep when he first heard it. A noise... creaking... and bone crackling. His eyes shot open. Michael glanced around the space in front of him at the end of the bed. The only light in the small room was the moonlight that streamed through the gap in the curtains and created eerie shadows and silhouettes of the furniture in their bedroom. Michael couldn’t move. He closed his eyes and tried to convince himself that he was imagining it, that maybe it was just an odd dream. But then he heard it again. A creak. A snap. As if bones were breaking or snapping in half. He opened his eyes again and glanced sideways at his wife, still unable to move.

  Panic rose within Michael; his heart thumped hard in his chest. He glanced around the room and tried to see what had made the noise and then a slight movement caught his attention.

  Something in the shadows just behind the door.

  Again, it moved. Then he saw a long, creepy hand reach around the door. Long, bony fingers with razor-sharp claws wrapped around its edge. It was so dark; he wasn’t sure where the finger ended, and the claw started.

  “What is that?” he whispered, but he heard no words come out. His lips moved but no noise crossed them. Panic became real when the creature pushed the door, causing it to swing closed and reveal the monster behind it. He stared at the creature and screamed inwardly. Only silence and the creaking of bones filled the room. Even his wife’s snores had been silenced. “It's another nightmare. Another nightmare. This isn’t real.” He tried to force himself to wake up by doing what he had done before, but no matter what he tried... the creature still stood by the door.

  Michael tried to move. He tried to warn his wife about what lurked in the shadows. What inched closer, and closer... and closer to them, but she didn't move. She didn't make a sound. He watched her and noticed that her chest wasn't even rising when she breathed. “I know this is just a nightmare. I know it! But why isn't she breathing? What if she's actually dead?” he screamed inwardly. He knew she wasn’t, but that doubt was still there. That fear.

  He stared as the monster crept closer to the foot of his bed. The rest of its body was just as horrifying as it stood in front of him. It was covered in pitch-black skin that glistened in the moonlight like Mercury. Its body seemed to ooze. It was an odd thing to see. Something that looked so moist and gooey but sounded so brittle. It towered over him. It stood eight-foot-tall, easily, with minuscule, blood-red eyes. It glared as if it knew exactly what Michael thought. Again, he tried to scream.

  The creature opened its mouth, and a terrifying grin bared two rows of sharp, ragged teeth and a slimy, green tongue. He had never seen a creature like that before. A monster. It moved even closer and wrapped its clawed hands around the footboard of the bed. It grinned terrifyingly at him as a snot-colored string of drool dripped from its open mouth.

  Every fiber of his body urged him to scream. To get up. To run. To warn his wife. To shake her violently. To tell her to run, that a monster was there, but he couldn't move. He couldn't move anything except for his mouth and his eyes. He could barely raise his head. Not a sound came out of him as the monster turned around jerkily, bent backward with a sickening pop, and leaned over the footboard of the bed. It twisted its head around absurdly to look at him and crawled backward onto the bed.

  One clawed hand on either side of his outstretched legs, the knees of the creature came down right by his feet. The monster crawled up over him and grinned maliciously. A new string of drool dripped from its mouth and onto him and covered the blankets in a pool of disgusting, pus-colored goo. His eyes widened in fear as it crawled on top of him. The monster twisted and sat face forward on him and let loose a blood-curdling screech. One clawed hand slashed down, ripped open the blanket, and exposed Michael’s bare stomach. The other hand sliced through and slit his stomach open with five long, deep cuts.

  He screamed in pain, though no sounds came out still. All he could do was watch. The monster gently fondled his bare, open stomach. Then, it plunged its clawed fingers deep inside of him and ripped his stomach open wide.

  He thought he might pass out from the pain, but he felt wide awake. In all of his nightmares before, he had never felt pain. Not even in the ones where he woke and felt paralyzed. Those had been the scariest, but this... this was so much worse. This was a nightmare found in the pages of a book or a scene in a movie.

  Pain radiated throughout Michael’s body like a wave of electricity. Blood poured out of him as the creature stared. It leaned close to him and opened its mouth wide. Its green tongue slid out of its mouth, stretched longer and longer, and licked up his face. He tried to scream over and over, but then the monster licked Michael’s lips. Scared of what would come next, he clamped his mouth shut and tried to at least shake his head away from the creature’s face and tongue. He tried his best to move, to get away from the monster, but was still unable to budge. Its tongue slid down Michael’s neck and torso and lapped up the blood from his stomach. It retracted its tongue back into its mouth, reached into his open stomach, ripped out his intestines, and took a large bite... and ripped away a chunk of his guts with a rubbery snap.

  The monster straddled him and chewed slowly, as it took its time to relish every bite as it ate Michael alive. He stared in shock and horror and wanted to throw up or pass out. Tears slid from his eyes as he felt the monster dig farther inside of him and pull out an organ. It bit a hunk of the organ off and the remains of Michael’s dinner he had eaten only hours ago oozed out of it.

  As Michael watched the monster chew another bite of his organs, he cried as a clawed black hand pet his torso. It let loose a guttural growl of pleasure and unexpectedly punctured Michael’s neck with a claw. Blood poured from his neck like a spout, covering his body and everything else on the bed in moist warmth. He choked and spat up blood. The monster dipped the last bite of his stomach in the blood and smiled wickedly at him as if it had just dipped a biscuit in a runny egg yolk. It popped the chunk in its mouth and grinned. Blood and guts covered and snagged on the ragged edges of its teeth before it swallowed.

  It paused and stared at Michael. It sat, motionless... and watched.

  Michael waited as fear welled up in every fiber of him.

  It watched.

  And watched.

  Not a sound. Nothing moved. Just silence.

  It watched.

  And watched.

  It lunged forward and screamed a shrill, bloodcurdling yell, an inch from Michael’s face. He could feel the monster’s spital spray over his face, and a glob of it found its way into Michael’s now moist ear.

  Michael screamed and his voice echoed through the room. The monster jumped off the bed and disappeared out of sight. He realized he had his voice back and screamed over and over and cried. “Mary! Mary! Wake up! Mary!” he choked.

  He stared at his insides, now splayed out on the bed in the sopping puddle of blood and slime. Pain burned throughout his body. It ebbed and flowed with the still-flowing blood pooling everywhere. Though he still couldn’t move his body, he could feel himself growing weaker. “I’m dying. It was real. It wasn’t a nightmare.” he muttered. “Mary, please wake up! “ He glanced frantically around the room and tried to see if the monster was truly gone. Not a noise. Not a creak or crack of bone. Nothing.

  “Mary!” His voice croaked as he spat up more blood. What if it comes back? He looked at the door to the bedroom, and the shadow beside the door. Again, there was a movement within the shadows.

  “Mary!” He turned to look at his wife and desperately tried to wake her.

  A creak and a crackling of bone sounded. “Mary!”

  She shifted slightly.

  “Mary!”

  She moved and turned. Tears stung his eyes. “Oh, Mary!”

  She turned and lunged at him. Mary screamed a shrill, bloodcurdling yell, her ragged teeth bared.

  He screamed as her teeth clamped down on his neck. She raised her head with a mouthful of his bloody neck meat and stared at him with a guttural moan of pleasure. He closed his eyes tight, willed it to be over, and screamed again.

  “Mike? Mike! Mike! It’s just a dream! Mike!” Mary screamed.

  “No! No!”

  “It’s just a dream. Mike! You’re ok.” Tears slid from his eyes as she shook him.

  Michael opened his eyes and blinked the tears away. He breathed heavily as his body slackened. “Mary... I- It was a nightmare. Just a nightmare.” He blinked and raised his head to see her.

  His eyes began to focus as she whispered and smiled assuredly, and bared a mouthful of sharp, ragged teeth. “Of course, it was. Dear.”

  For more from N L Hiser, go to:

  https://linktr.ee/nlhiserbooks

  Other short horror stories by N L Hiser:

  Sucked Dry

  When the Rotting Starts

  Not Clowning Around

  In Your Dreams

  Fantasy:

  Lost Star (book 1 in the Tale of Two Hearts series)

  Thriller:

  Watching Me

  About the Author

  Nicole Hiser is a nonfiction author, as well as a fiction author writing under the pen name N L Hiser, and a children’s book author writing under the pen name Nikki Hiser. She has several books published.

  Her fiction consists of a thriller named Watching Me, a fantasy named Lost Star (books 2, 3, and 4 are releasing in 2024), and short horror stories Sucked Dry, When the Rotting Starts, Not Clowning Around, and the upcoming short story release In Your Dreams. As well as a paranormal horror novel, Forest of Bells, to be released in 2024. Her nonfiction consists of Sprinting for Productivity Workbook, 10k in a Day Challenge Workbook, multiple journals, and her upcoming release coming out in December 2023, This Generational Curse Ends With Me. Her children’s books, which her daughter illustrates, consist of her new release, Hi! I’m Sissy Bear! and an upcoming children’s coloring book, both of which are designed for grade school-aged special needs children.

  Nicole Hiser is also a planner shop owner, Organized Chaos Corner on Etsy, where she sells her planners designed for small business owners and entrepreneurs and other products such as bookmarks. She also works as a motivational and personal development speaker, using her experiences and story to help women heal from their trauma, dissolve obstacles holding them back, and live limitlessly.

  Throughout all of this, Nicole and her daughter are working hard to get SKAFA Charity on its feet so they can begin supporting other special needs families like theirs. Nicole lives in West Virginia with her daughter, Autumn, and their 3 cats (Merri, Pippin, and Aowyn), enjoying their free time hiking, reading, creating art, watching their favorite movies, and looking for new ways to help connect with and support their LGBTQ+ community.

  Also by N L Hiser

  Tale of Two Hearts

  Lost Star

  Standalone

  Sucked Dry

  When the Rotting Starts

  Not Clowning Around

  In Your Dreams

 

 

  N L Hiser, In Your Dreams

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