Letter from the Damned

Posted on by inkbiotic

Dear Sam,

I don’t have much time so I’ll keep this brief. Last night I slept for thirteen hours, that’s the longest yet. If I keep going like this, soon I won’t have to wake up at all. My phone has wracked up seven messages while I slept – I know most of them will be from my boss since I missed my shift this morning. It’s difficult to care.

You wanted to know what’s going on with me, you’re not the only one, but you’re the only one that might actually understand, I hope you can. The truth is, I started having these bizarre dreams about a year ago. Every night I would dream that these shadowy demon figures were gathered around my bed, just watching me. Nothing about them was clearly defined, even their eyes were dark hollows, and then when they moved I could see darker streaks shifting like muscles beneath the smoky nothingness. Sometimes they would talk, but I couldn’t understand them. Sometimes they would prod me, even lift up bits of my body, and I was powerless to stop them. I didn’t know if they were bad or good, or what they wanted from me.,  I’ve never talked about it, because you’d have all thought I was crazy, sometimes I’ve thought I’m crazy too. And I kept thinking about them all day, just wanting an explanation, a plan, anything. And then I heard about lucid dreaming. In fact I read a blog about it, about how you could just take control of your dreams, kind of be conscious while in that dreamworld. I thought if I did that I could get them to speak in English, I could get up and prod them.

Like I say, I was never really sure that they were bad, they didn’t do anything nasty, but we’re taught to be suspicious of mysterious shadowy demon figures, they’re in so many horror stories, aren’t they? So when I started the lucid dreaming – writing notes to myself to stay awake, training myself to be kind of conscious while asleep – I was also getting ready to fight them. But they didn’t need to be fought. It turned out they had only come to visit and were working out how to communicate with me. Once I was able to get up and talk to them, it was pretty simple.

“You didn’t respond,” one said, speaking clearly, it turns out they hadn’t known I was English.

“It was as if you weren’t properly there at all,” said another.

“Well, I guess I wasn’t, that’s what dreaming is for us, usually,” I said.

“Ah,” they all said in thoughtful unison, they’re really very mellow. Sometimes we just sit in silence, it’s peaceful, I’ve never really known that kind of peace before.

Thirteen hours doesn’t last long in their world. We have time for a game of chess, a chat about what I’ve been up to and then I wake up. It’s been going on for a few weeks, and it’s made me realise: waking life is such a drag. No offence, but all the rush and the needless drama, I’m sick of it. I want to be where my demon friends are (that’s what they say they are, but demons aren’t bad in the dream world) but it’s ok, because I’m getting there. Each night I’m staying longer, each day becomes more of a token visit. Soon I won’t have to wake up at all.

So that’s what’s been going on. Look after yourself Sam, you’re one of the good guys. If you don’t see me around anymore, then you’ll know where I am.

Joe

17 thoughts on “Letter from the Damned”

  1. Very nice. You either had an extra-terrestrial visit of the third kind, or you’re drifting into my world. I’d like to see this story continue…maybe when you stay with your “demons” permanently you’ll discover that your day-to-day existence was your nightmare…

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  2. I’d love to see where this goes if anywhere. If that’s all there is, I’m okay with that, too, because it gives you enough to think about. The waking world is a drag especially if you can lucid dream. I’ve done it a few times before, but it only really happens under particular circumstances.

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      1. It happened randomly! I noticed that if I had to get up early to do something that required some mental usage then if I went back to bed, I’d be in this tired, but aware state. I’d be sleepy, but my brain would be awake. Every time this happened, I’d have extremely vivid dreams. I didn’t know the term “lucid dreaming” until years later, but when I read about them, I realized that that’s what I’d been having in those situations.

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  3. Creepy!

    I have lucid dreams almost every night, as well as chronic nightmares. Both a blessing and a curse sometimes, I feel everything as if it’s real. Most of the time I get shot or murdered in my dreams, so it’s not pleasant but I can usually wake myself up or tell myself “this is too much” in my dream and affect the setting/actions.

    This reminded me a lot of Insomnia by Stephen King. I’d love to see more! I’m curious about the writer’s life and what they’re avoiding, how they got to this point, etc. Intriguing 🙂

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    1. Thank you! I’m glad you liked the story, but sorry you’re having bad nightmares. I had a period of about five years where I had a lot of similar kinds of dreams, where I usually died (or killed someone). I actually tried to learn lucid dreaming in an attempt to control them, but ended up just not being able to sleep at all! I hope your brain finds some peace soon, look after yourself 🙂

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      1. Oh no! Lucid dreaming can be so much fun but sometimes it is plain exhausting haha. Don’t always feel like I’ve had a full sleep.

        I’m used to the nightmares now so they don’t bother me so much anymore. I never knew that chronic nightmares was an actual thing until Google! I thought I was just bad at dreaming haha. x

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  4. ahhh …. great story with the unusual twist of the demons as non-demons …. but then, if it continues, who knows right?

    sorry, I almost missed this – still working out kinks and bugs, I had already followed (from my new log in) but for some reason, it didn’t register (happened with a few other friends too …) so now – I hope I’ll be getting regular updates!

    have a wonderful week 🙂

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      1. I’m going to “hide out” here – I’m still having tons of trouble at the other site …. so I blow it a big fat raspberry 😉

        cake? oh yummm ….

        much better weather helps the week hold more promise 🙂

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