Prompt Eight: Nightmares

Prompt Eight: Nightmares : Word count 504

He'd left the Inn early, promising to see David again soon, and looking to be well rested in the morning for his church-date. But despite the good turnout to the evening, Sej wasn't sleeping well.

"Gah...!" For the second time in the last hour, Sej jumped awake, clawing and kicking out at the blankets, trying to banish the figments in his mind. Finding some semblance of consciousness, he leaned out and grabbed the glass of water by his bedside. The night-chilled liquid was refreshing and helped bring him the rest of the way out of his dream. No, not a dream, a nightmare.

He remembered nightmares when he was a child, or at least remembered the feelings they'd left him with, but nothing like this. And there was no parents in the house to run to, and beg to sleep in their bed.

He remembered falling in a darkness so complete it was if light never existed. Endless and all consuming. Whispers all around, from voices he didn't recognise, taunted him. Screams rent the black with claws of pure terror. Sounds of crunching bones, and monstrous creatures tearing into flesh faded in closer and closer before vanishing. Children begging for their parents, men and women begging for their lives.

He shuddered, and put the glass back on the night table. The memories were so clear, and not fading like his dreams did. A pale strip of moon cast his bedroom in a faint blue tinge, but did nothing except manifest shadows across the walls. The remnants of the fire in the fireplace had died down, only a faint glow of the smoldering coals were left. Sej staggered out of bed, grabbed the poker, and stirred the remains. A faint flame re-ignited, and he fed it some smaller pieces of wood from the basket beside the grate. The cheery flames lit up the room, and he felt his breathing calm down.

What would be causing such visions? He was making changes in his life. He had a friend again, he was meeting a woman, he was drinking less. Things were going well. Why now?

He moved to the window, and noted the moon's position. It was still a few hours from dawn. He felt exhausted, as if he'd run for leagues. The images were fading, and a deep yawn added emphasis to his tiredness. There was nothing for it, he had to go back to bed. Perhaps if the nightmare came back, he might learn something to explain it.

He settled back down into the blankets. The small fire had done nothing to warm the room from the night's chill, and he shivered as he snuggled down further, seeking the remaining warm spots. Another yawn, but his eyes wouldn't close. The details might have been fading, but the feeling was still strong. Sej lay there silently for the rest of the night. The fire's light died out slowly, and was replaced by the first tinges of dawn in the window.

The rest of the day was going to be hell.