Mister Sandman,
Bring Me a Scream

by Chris Dämn

Walking inside the abandoned house was like nothing Stephanie had seen before. On the outside, it looked like any other rundown, once-was, trap house. Inside, the walls seemed as if they were alive. They looked as if they were breathing. They felt as if they were human skin. The creaking of the floors were more like small moans. Still, she didn't want to seem scared and continued her way in.

“Brock, are you sure this place is safe?”

“Yeah! Probably. Well, mostly. Hopefully? I honestly don't know. He just said to meet him here.”

“Who is 'he' Brock? What are we doing here?”

“I don't want to spoil the surprise, Steph, c'mon. Trust me.”

Stephanie sighs deeply, “Okay, fine.”

They walk to the beginning of a dark hallway. The walls had red wallpaper with what looked like thorny vines of them. Torn in spots, showing the dead wood underneath. What looked like mold was growing all around. It smelled like waterlogged wood with a slight hint of dirty pennies.

“Oh my god, it reeks!” Stephanie said while putting her hand over her mouth and nose.

“If you ask me, god abandoned this place long ago.” Brock joked. He looked at Stephanie with a loving smile and grabbed her hand. “It's only a little further. Come on.” He takes the first step into the hallway. The creaking of the floor louder than in the first room. With each step you could hear how damp it was. “Wow, the floor sounds like queefs.”

Stephanie laughs and loses her balance slightly. She puts her hand on the wall for balance. The mold felt like hair between her fingers. She lets out a small scream and jumps forward, knocking Brock down. “I'm so sorry!”

“It's fine, hun.” Brock says as he's getting up and spits. “Whatever is on the floor does not taste good though.” He chuckles and turns to look at Stephanie.

“Oh god, you're bleeding!”

“What? I didn't fall that hard.” Brock wipes his mouth with his hand and looks. His fingers covered in dark red. “This can't be my bloo--” Just then the floor creaks loudly and both of them fall through it. They scream and fall hard onto the floor below. Brock lands on top of Stephanie.

Stephanie opens her eyes and looks around. She sees a red sky with black clouds and blue lightening. Each strike of lightening she hears screams and not thunder. “Brock, get off me.” She says in a panic. He doesn't move. “Brock! Get off of me!” she screams while pushing at him. “Brock! Off!” She finally gets out from underneath him and onto her feet. Looking around she sees blood everywhere. “Where are we?” She asks while starting to hyperventilate. “Brock? Where are we?” She kneels down beside him and notices he's not breathing. “No! Brock! Brock, wake up!” She shakes him. “Brock!” she screams and starts to cry. “Oh god!”

Brock's head turns all the way around and spouts blood like a volcano. With a gurgling laugh, he says, “I told you, god abandoned this place long ago.” He smiles and then corrodes into the ground.

Stephanie screams and falls on her ass. She shuffles her hands and feet around in total panic. Bones clank together as she does. She turns and scrambles to her feet as the bones beneath her shoes move around rapidly. She looks around again and sees what looks like sunlight off in the distance. She runs towards it, screaming and crying.

Out of breath and energy, she starts to slow down. She doesn't want to stop, but her body needs rest a moment. She falls to her knees and closes her eyes to collect herself. She manages to calm her breathing enough that she can hear more than her own heart pounding. She hears the squeaking of a swing and grinding of gears on a merry-go-round. With her eyes still closed, she thinks to herself, “Okay, it was just a dream.”

Stephanie opens her eyes to see a bridge in front of her. She looks to her left and sees the playground she was hearing. “No,” she says softly as she looks around more. The playground was made entirely of human remains. The swing was 2 spines and skin holding them together to sit on. The seesaw, going up and down by its self, was moaning. The merry-go-round was bones and stretched skin. “Where the fuck am I?” she asks herself while getting back onto her feet.

She turns to go across the bridge and it starts to sprinkle. The bridge is made of human limbs that twitch and spurt blood. Below the bridge is a river of blood with skulls and bones on each side. She walks slowly across the bridge. It feels like it could collapse at any moment. She shakes, but continues forward. She gets to the other side, and falls back on her hands and knees. The sprinkling turns into a hard rain, which she now notices is blood and not water. Panting loudly and not sure what else to do, Stephanie starts laughing like a maniac. She laughs so hard she wakes herself up.