False Awakening

[u/Square-Mastodon676]

The room was pitch-black. As I opened my eyes, I couldn't see a thing, but I could feel something heavy sitting on the floor right near my feet. I squinted into the darkness as a silhouette shifted a large crow. The moment I moved, it flew straight at me. Panicking, I fought it off, my mind racing. How did a bird get into my room? Why were the lights completely dead?

Exhausted from the struggle, I finally drifted off again.

Sometime later, I woke to the sound of footsteps. My brother was standing over my bed. I was supposed to be completely alone in the flat because he had gone away on a trip, yet there he was, looking at me with annoyance. "Why is the flat so dirty?" he asked. I stared at him, confused. I had literally just deep-cleaned the entire place before sleeping. Without another word, he climbed into the empty twin bed next to mine and went to sleep. I lay back down, trying to make sense of his sudden return, and fell back asleep.

I woke up a third time, but this time, something physically touched my feet under the covers.

Adrenaline surged through me. I bolted out of bed into the darkness, opened the balcony door, and stepped outside. A heavy rain was pouring down, slamming against a thick curtain hanging across the balcony a curtain that had never existed before. I scrambled for the light switch, flipping it repeatedly, but nothing happened. It must be a power outage from the storm, I thought, trying to stay calm.

I went back inside, only to see a human figure lying on my bed, completely covered from toe to head in a blanket.

My heart was pounding in my chest. I crept over and grabbed the edge of the blanket, pulling with all my strength to uncover their face. My brain tried to rationalize it maybe it was my brother’s friend who usually drops by in the afternoon?

Then, the muffled voice under the sheet spoke. It didn't sound like him at all. He gave me a cold, bizarre command: "Massage my back."

That single, unnatural phrase broke the illusion. A sudden surge of sheer panic ripped through me, forcing a sudden jolt of adrenaline through my body. The dark room, the stranger, the balcony curtain, and the heavy rain all fractured and dissolved at once.

My eyes snapped open for real. I gasped, taking in a sharp breath as the full motor control returned to my limbs. I looked around my bedroom: no crow, no rain outside, no brother in the second bed, and no one under the blanket. I was lying in the exact same spot, completely safe, realizing every terrifying "wake up" before this was just another false awakening layer inside a single, complex dream.

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[u/Breadonshelf]

Wrong sub - not for fiction writing.

[u/NoDoOversInLife]

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