NIGHTMARE FIVE

The door to my house swung open as I walked out with a heavy sigh, knowing that I would detest everything that would happen today. The clouds overhead brought on a dreary feeling as I walked down the street, my head filled with so many thoughts. The main one being how to get on with my life.

Every night I have nightmares about horrible deaths and ponies, and during the day it seems like it's starting to bleed into my life. What's happening to my mind? I thought. Was I going insane? Was it Pinkie that did something to me? Or was it just me being my paranoid self?

I was almost certain that the latter choice was out for the count. The first two, however...they were still up for debate. I looked up to search for the sun, but it hid itself from me. I shook my head slightly, then kept walking.

My destination was just another mile, so I had time to think to myself. That's when my phone rang. I took it out of my pocket, curious. It was James.

The incident at the school replayed in my head and I nearly didn't answer, fearing his wrath. However, I pressed the answer button and put it to my hear, continuing my walk. His voice came through, "Hey, Sam, how's it going?"

He sounded strange, like there was something wrong with him. I couldn't put my finger on it, so I simply put the thought away for later. I smiled and replied with, "Oh, it's fine. Ya know, just the usual." However, he didn't say anything afterwords. It was another minute before I asked, "Hello?"

His voice came back, the same strange quality to them, "Oh, sorry, sorry, I'm driving is all..." I blinked, why was he driving right now? Though, the question was already answered. School was today, so I wasn't too surprised that he might want to drive to school today, "Driving to school, huh?"

James let out a slight chuckle before saying, "Nah, I wasn't feeling to good last night...I woke up from this...nightmare and puked my guts out."

It didn't surprise me too much that he puked from the nightmare, James wasn't much of a strong gutted person, he'd puke if he saw too much blood. Tentatively asked, "How bad was it?"

There was a heavy sigh from the other end before he responded with, "I don't want to think about it...let alone talk about it. I don't remember a lot anyways, just...something pink. I think you were in it too."

I almost screamed at him to come to my house, but I refrained myself. I couldn't seem like a maniac, but if what I had thought was right...then he was in serious danger. I then asked him, "Just one thing, what happened to me in the nightmare?" I waited a few moments on him, it was as if he was thinking about telling me.

"Well, the thing I remember at the most is...well, you were in some...dirt road. There was a car and-" I cleared my throat to stop him, telling him that was all I needed. If Pinkie could somehow link us through our dreams, that means she could attack him too.

Immediately, I feared the worst, "Listen, do you think you can stay at my house today?" He took a moment, then answered, "I guess, yeah. What time after school?"

I shook my head as if he could see it and said back, "No, like, now. I'm not feeling great either." I said more than asked, "Uh...I dunno, Sam. Do you really want me to?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but stopped. What i was going to say now could change a lot of things, but what could I tell him? That I was being attacked by a cartoon pony in my dreams, which was going to kill me? He'd never speak to me again, and James would probably get me in a loony bin. Not to mention this could be what Pinkie wanted.

Or maybe Pinkie's not even real, and I'm just insane! I mentally beat myself, then ran a hand through my hair to calm myself. The silence obviously made James impatient so he said, "Well, I'm gonna go now, there's a long tunnel coming up, see you after schoo-"

And like that, I lost my chance. I knew the tunnel he was going through, it'd take at least 20 minutes for him to get through. I decided to go mind my own business and went to school, my head still filled with possibilities and ideas.

It was the last hour of the day, and I stared out the window of the classroom, already done with the homework she was going to assign. It was simple, and it took only a couple minutes.

The sun was slightly past the middle of the sky, showing the rough time. I sighed, knowing that James must have gone home because he felt ill, more maybe he did come to school, and was just avoiding me. I hoped the first choice, though it wasn't good.

Then, i heard a noise.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I felt my body try to move, but I held it steady. It was probably someone tapping their desk with a pencil or something. I turned to look back at the class, and of course, everything was as it should be. However, while there were kids tapping their pencils as I assumed, the noise...it was closer.

I stole myself and looked out the window, and I would swear as true as the sun would come up tomorrow, I saw something. Something pink. My horror grew as I attempted to seem like nothing was wrong, but noises haunted my mind, and I kept trying to avoid it. I tried not to listen, but it was so loud, so...fucking...annoying.

Before long, the bell rang. I got up and ran out the door, like some of the more rambunctious students, and let out a exhale, extremely happy to not be stuck in a desk any longer. I walked quickly to my locker, fidgeting whenever anyone touched me, and the sound of my shoes hitting the tiled floor filled my ears with impossible loudness.

Everything is so damn loud, I can't concentrate! My hand fidgeted and shook as I entered in my comm, leaning against the locker next to me and grabbing my things. I couldn't concentrate, I could barely do anything. It was so damn loud, and I felt as if everything was crashing down into me.

After grabbing my bag and the necessary supplies to do the homework, I simply walked to the bus, but my eyes darted from side to side, and I couldn't bear what was going on much longer. Every sound, every movement I made was amplified in my mind, not even my ears.

I tried to walk normally, my stride a bit off kilter. Make it stop, please, somep- someone make it stop... I began hyperventilating slightly and saw that my bus was right in front of me, That was quick.. I thought, then stepped onto it sitting in a seat.

I looked up slowly, my position in the seat awkward. The bus was empty, the engine off. No one was here. Then, I felt a looming presence behind me, and got up as calmly as my terrified mind and body could. The sound was drifting away, at least, the loudness of it.

I started walking, knowing that this was no longer my school. Though, I had to wonder now that I wasn't so distracted, was the noise a factor of Pinkie trying to manipulate me, maybe so I didn't notice that it all changed? I didn't know, and I probably never would.

I walked into the school, then, heard absolutely nothing. The only sound was my breathing, and the footsteps. My footsteps, I hoped. I slowly made my way into the cafeteria. Since this was a dream, maybe I could find something to drink? As ridiculous as it sounded, I was thirsty in the dream so no harm drinking in the dream.

I walked into the large, open, yet eerily empty room. I walked over to the small, compact refrigerator where drinks are held and saw that the lock was open. Actually, there was no padlock on the thing. I opened the fridge and grabbed a water bottle. While it was still ridiculous in my mind, I knew for a fact that I was thirsty, so I nearly downed the drink in one go.

I then made my way into the hallways, and tried to look for where the occasional giggle or hoof step came from. Then, as I neared the end of my water, my face twisted up at it's taste. This isn't water, it's... I looked down to see a deep red colored drink in place of my water, still in the bottle. I nearly puked, and spewed the "water" out of my mouth, tossing the bottle to the floor. The tile was painted red with the blood.

I began walking, the discarded drink behind me. I moved almost numbly up the steps, trying to spit out the remains of the red liquids. Then I heard a gasp. I looked up slowly, afraid of what I might find. I saw someone.

A young, small child stood in front of my, eyes wide, staring at the mess behind me and back at my mouth and hands. I tried to speak, but i felt my throat dried out and it was impossible. I looked back to where she was looking. On the floor laid...me.

My chest and stomach ripped open with deadly precision, eyes wide with horror and staring into nothing, my arms twisted at impossible angles and torn up through the flesh and bone. My mouth hang limply, blood no longer leaking out of her- my arms and chest. I than realized what I just thought. Her? Wait...I said somepony almost before...and- With horror, I looked down to where I expected feet. Yet, pink hooves stood there, looking like they were always there. I screamed in horror, trying to jump back and scrape off the illusion. It was so real, I felt the bones, the muscles, the fur. I felt a tear or two fall from my face, then looked back up to the child.

I then realized who it was. She was me. Her eyes stared in horror at me and the body behind me. I slowly extended a shaky hoof, and she backed away quickly, horrified with me. I finally opened my mouth, saying a simple word, "Run."

The girl turned and ran, and I looked down at myself, seeing the horror. What had happened? What was happening?! What did Pinkie do?! I felt myself snarl slightly, anger building quickly. I looked up, then saw the Pinkie right in front of me. I almost moved, but then felt my arms pinned to the tiled floor. I looked at the blood smeared all over my clothes, rips in it everywhere.

"You are kinda smart ya know Sam? Oh well. It's a shame that you don't have your doll this time...I guess I can do whatever I want with you. Looks like your MY doll now!" She said with an excited tone of voice. I shrieked, then got up and ran. However, I found myself tripping onto the stairs and pain surged to my head. I sat up, and stood on my shaky feet. Blood dribbled down from my forehead, showing how injured I was.

"Come back here, little Sam. You know that it's pointless to run, and as much as I love a good game, I'm a little tired today so..."

Before she could finish, I was sprinting down the hallway towards an exit, but I didn't find one. Instead, I found myself falling. The floor was gone, and I fell into a pool of...something. It was red, and I pushed my way up and tried to get out, but I couldn't. There was something firm and cold on top of where I was. I kept pushing, pulling, anything. Eventually, I gasped out and felt my lungs begin to ache.

I banged against the floor tiles, trying not to scream in horror of the situation. I gasped again, my lungs starting to burn with need. Then a cough, and I tried as hard as I could not to inhale. I failed.

The red gore flowed into my mouth as I tried to breath, and I tried to spit it out, but it had already flooded into my body, my lungs, my stomach, everywhere it could go. I cried out, searching for anything, anything! But nothing came, and I coughed and choked, slowly my vision being encroached by darkness.

Then, I heaved, throwing up the contents of my stomach into the abyss. I kept swimming up as best as I could, but my arms went almost slack, the oxygen needed was gone a while ago. I coughed and sputtered, still un-wittingly taking in more and more of the red, thick liquid into my lungs. I then felt myself sputter a few more times, still clinging to life. Then my vision began it's fade to darkness.

The last thing I heard was a loud laugh, one of triumph.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I sat up, gasping in air, and realized that the teacher was standing in front of me. He gave off an air of disapproval. The whole class was gone, and I felt beads of sweat fall from my forehead. I then opened my mouth to speak, my voice hoarse.

"I-I'm sorry, Mr. Digney, I didn't mean to-" He shook his head and said a measly, "I'll deal with you tomorrow, go get your stuff. Go home."

I was in a good mood to be alive even and was walking home. My eyes still scanned the environment for any sign of...her. I tried to understand what happened, why wasn't Dash there? Did she...fail? Or maybe she left...Honestly, I wouldn't blame her, I've failed so far anyways... As much as it stung, I knew it to be true.

I walked into the house, my hair a mess and my backpack finally finding its way into the closet near the door. I kicked my shoes off without even saying hello, then sat myself down. Not in my chair, on my bed. I stared at the floor, trying to control my breathing. I finally found myself in control, and got on my computer, my shaky form slowly calming down.

Whatever happened, Rainbow Dash wasn't even present. Come to think of it, she wasn't there the first time either. She was there, but she only actually saved me once. The other times...she simply laid there. Watching. As much as I didn't want to think it...

Could I trust her?

TO BE CONTINUED

Author's Note

Whew! I'm sorry for making you all wait! I hope this was satisfying.
I'll be writing again sometime today maybe, but trust me, the next part of this chapter is gonna be a big turning point.