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The first night he heard it, Tony climbed into his bed and lay on his back. It was a relatively warm evening for the season. He slept nude, covered by only one sheet and one blanket. His mind wandered freely, as it descended into unconsciousness.
Moaning. Long, slow, low moans. "Hhunnnnhhhhhh... Hhunnnnhhhhhh... Hhunnnnhhhhhh... Hhunnnnhhhhhh..." Tony only gradually realized he was hearing a distant moaning. He couldn't move, could barely breath, his mind fogged out. He tried to scream, but the scream was caught in his throat. He tried to gasp.
In panic, his mind spasmed painfully, and he found himself away, drenched in sweat, and chilled to the bone. He breathed deeply, and discovered that he _could_ breath and move.
At thirteen years of age, Tony was far too old to go running to his parents' room screaming from a nightmare. So he breathed deeply and slowly, willing his hyperfast heartbeat return to normal.
He got up, put on some pajamas, and went to the bathroom. That was a relief right there. He returned to bed, searching for a dry place to lay down on.
The next morning, he vaguely recalled the nightmare over breakfast. The dismal prospect of going to school today preoccupied him. He spent the afternoon after school reading a nice children's novel and telling himself that he should get to work on that short story assigned in English class.
By bedtime, he had completely forgotten the nightmare, and complete forgotten his drenched bed. He went to bed nude again.
He found himself paralyzed, again, hearing moans. "Hhunnnnhhhhhh... Hhunnnnhhhhhh... Hhunnnnhhhhhh... Hhunnnnhhhhhh..." Those long moans were punctuated with shorter, higher-pitched clipped moans. Tony could only lie there in utter terror.
After he finally yanked himself awake, he couldn't go back to sleep.
He was tired all day at school, the next day. Nevertheless, he stayed as late as possible that evening. Fortunately, it was Friday evening, so it wasn't a school night. But finally, after Dad told him in no uncertain terms that he wasn't too old (or too big) to be spanked, he went to bed.
That night, the moaning got ever louder and higher in pitch. It was broken up by frequent gasping sounds and even some screams. In his fogged mind, Tony could barely wonder if anyone else heard the noises, or whether they were all in his head.
The next night, Tony woke up drowning in a roomful of white, translucent, slimy gunk.
Return to Daphne Xu.