Phantoms

"So, should I talk about the next couple of nightmares? You aren't getting tired of that, are ya?"

"Well... not If you think it's important," Sunny muttered.

Kerfuffle laughed, then threw back a shot of whisky. "It’ll all make more sense with context. Y’see, when I went to bed that night, I got the one full of eyes again..."

This was probably the first time I'd seen a monster a second time. You'd be amazed how much even the slightest bit of familiarity does for you; I was almost relieved to see it. I had this inexplicable urge to strike up a conversation with it, ask about its family or something--but when I opened my mouth, I realized that there was the chance this blind monster was deaf or mute as well.

As if to remind me, it stumbled right up to me--came so close that its cheek brushed against mine. I could feel this shallow, strained breath brush against my ear. Just like that, I froze in place, partly because I didn't want to hurt it, partly because I thought it might hurt me. "You're warm," I said--and he felt much warmer than he did the first time. Was I imagining things? Had this eye-covered monster changed since I last met him?

He shook his head. For a moment I wondered if he could read my mind, but before I could utter another word he delicately touched a hoof to my maw. "Be not afraid," he said--with a voice that seemed to emanate from his very being. He wrapped one of his forelegs around my neck--as gently as before, as though he truly meant no harm. I slowly wrapped my forelegs around his neck in turn, taking care not to touch any of his eyes...

And that’s when I felt a needle pierce my neck, a rush of something pouring into my veins, and everything started to spin. My vision went blurry, but I could still see the floor--and the monster with the eyes, walking away without another word. I scrambled after him, kicking a wheelchair aside and nearly tripping over a fallen IV bag stand. It was like the walls were zooming toward me, but never actually reached me... instead, a crash cart rolled into my path, seemingly out of nowhere. I jumped over it but didn't stick the landing. Whatever that thing had drugged me with, it was making it difficult to even move.

That thing was getting away, casually walking past what looked like a sea of random ER equipment. Whenever I took a second to look at something, it stood still, but everything on the edge of my vision was shimmering and vibrating.

Suddenly, a cart laden with surgical tools rattled, and I ducked as a pair of scalpels shot over my head. Following that eye-covered monstrosity was no longer a priority. I had to try and survive this nightmare for as long as I could.

I turned to run, only to get blindsided by a gurney--I felt something in my wing crack as that cold aluminum bar collided with me at surprising speed. I rolled to the floor, wheezing. My tongue felt dry and my gut was trying to do a loop-de-loop. When I heaved myself back onto my hooves--and when my stomach was done trying to heave up a lunch that didn't exist--I saw that the gurney had a dead body strapped to it. It looked familiar. As I stared, clipboards and pencils and forceps and belts all began swirling around, whipping up into a tornado of miscellaneous trash. The leather straps holding the body down came undone, and it rose into the air, twirling madly--positioning itself in the center.

In the reflection from a steel dinner tray, I could just barely make out another figure--an equine figure, but it was made of smoke. I’m confident it was a phantom.

The powerful winds, possibly conjured by this phantom, then hurled the corpse at me. Just as the body struck me in the chest, the stench struck me too--rotting meat and formaldehyde, a foul combination that burned my nostrils. I screamed, kicking the body away before I turned to run for it--only to trip over my own hooves and land on the wing that had been fractured earlier. My screams were indescribable. It was the most debilitating pain I had ever felt at the time.

I rolled onto my back, gasping and wheezing, just in time to see an EKG machine--a massive, bulky, wall-mounted affair made of weathered metal with thick glass displays. It broke off the wall and came down on my head. Well, half of my head.

"It had to have been on purpose because I was actually pretty lucid for a while there," Kerfuffle said, as Sunny poured her another shot.

"Luna, that sounds horrifying."

"The worst part is, I think it got the part of my brain that handles language. I saw that thing--I like to call him Mr. Eyes--anyway, he walked up and looked at me... and I swear heard him say something, but I didn't know what. I remember hoping I'd see him again so I could ask him. Oh, and--the pain lingered."

"What do you mean?" Sunny asked, pouring himself a second shot.

"Well, I woke up with a splitting headache--"

Sunny cringed.

"Yeah, I know. Couldn't pass up the opportunity.” Kerfuffle snickered. “Anyway, I woke up with a headache, a sore wing, and...well..."

"And?"

"A good excuse to wash my sheets," she muttered.