English

NOT ALL DEMONS ARE MONSTERS

BY: AYSHA NIKCEVICH 9A

The sound of flapping wings and the shrieking of the near dead filled my ears. Not again. I open my eyes. Hell. I try to move but I am paralysed. Chained down and forced to watch as people around me are dying. I try to yell but no words escape, I can feel my throat closing up. All the while he is looking down at me. Taunting me.

I stare at the dull painting of a vase taking in every detail of the swirls. I hate it. everything in this room is plain and boring, not what you would expect a counselling room to look like. He sits across from me, a fake smile plastered on his face, his hair swept to the side in a way that makes him look like a manikin.

“How have you been?” What a stupid question. How could you expect someone to be ok when every night their dreams are haunted by monsters?

“I’m fine.” I lie. We don’t speak for the rest of the session, until he gives me my medication. I turn to leave but he stops me.

“Tomas you’ve been coming to see me for the past five years now and not in the last three have you actually shared anything with me. I know there are things you are not telling me and I can only help you if you let me in and tell me what’s going on.” This took me by surprise. This was true. I don’t know why I don’t tell him anything. “Sit back down.” I walk over and sit in my usual spot by the faulty window. “Now tell me, how are you?” I take a deep breath.

“I guess I’m just sick of it.” I say finally.

“Sick of what?” He presses.

“I guess I’m just sick of being afraid to go to sleep, waking up tired. Not being able to be a normal kid.” It felt good to get it off my chest.

“It will get better.” Bulldust. Just when I thought I could trust him and confide in him he comes out with that.

“It won’t get better!” I yell. “Every night is the same. I know what to expect. Hell. And that’s why I am afraid to go to sleep. Every night I am chained down and forced to watch as people are getting ripped in half, getting burnt from the inside out. While I am just lying there helplessly watching like a fly on the wall. So, don’t tell me it will get better because you don’t know what it feels like at all!” I storm out and slam the door so hard it almost falls off its hinges. I didn’t look back. How could I have been so stupid to think that he would’ve given a crap. He was probably just rubbing his hands at the fact that he was getting paid by the hour and every extra minute I was sitting in there was more money in his pocket. Maybe he should use it to get himself a new haircut. I left the building and started running. I don’t usually run, I was never any good at it but today it was different. I didn’t know where I was going and didn’t care. It was like my legs had a mind of their own and I didn’t have any control over them, like everything else in my life.

The thing about my dreams is that I don’t get to choose when I wake up. They do. They chose everything and when they started I knew they wouldn’t stop until they chose to.

It started off like all the other ones. I fall asleep and wake up chained to the ground while he is watching me. He is always the same, that’s one thing I can rely on. Same golden, weathered armour. Same black horns sticking out the top of his head. Same emotionless, expressionless face. The demon. Then it’s like all the monsters suddenly realise after all this time that I am there. Helplessly watching like a coward as they relentlessly destroy everything. Everyone.

They stop what they are doing and slowly start walking towards me. I try to feebly try to move but it’s like my limbs have forgotten how to move. As they approach me one of them, a winged beast with razor sharp claws and teeth like daggers lets out an unearthly scream. A scream that shattered my eardrums. A scream that made me shake uncontrollably with fear. A scream that signalled the start of my endless continuum of pain. Excruciating pain.