Little Lucy's Nightmare

Lucy looked over at her clock radio. The red numbers of 3:00am stared back in the darkness. 1

(Damn)2

She had to be up in three hours and write her final math exam at nine. Sighing she turned over to face the opposite wall. Her bed felt hard as a board tonight. Whether it was because of her nerves or her recently bruised tailbone, Lucy wasn’t sure. 3

The wind knocked against her windows. Lucy groaned and sat up. Sleep just wasn’t coming to her tonight. Of course it would be THIS night. 4

(Maybe I can get some more studying in before day break)5

Lucy flipped her lamp on. The warm light flickered for a moment but soon steadied into a gentle beam. Lucy grabbed her note book that was resting under her bed and began absently flipping the pages. Growling quietly at the blurred words gawking up at her, she rummaged around for her glasses. After searching in the shadows to no avail, Lucy wiped the non-existent sweat from her forehead and shoved the book back under her bed. Strange that her glasses weren’t there, but Lucy was beyond caring. She slammed back onto her mattress and forced herself into sleep. 6

(Oh God, kill me now)7

Sleep didn’t come to Lucy, but at least now she was comfortable. The pain that had tortured her lower back for so long had dissipated. Her mattress softened and almost swallowed her in its warmth. This contentment was to be short lived.8

The silence forced Lucy to sit up again. The wind was gone. A look out her window confirmed Lucy’s ears. The trees were dead still. Everything was dead. There was absolutely no movement anywhere. Lucy shrugged it off. 9

(Good. One less thing)10

Leaning back down to her pillow, the lamp began to flicker again. Lucy leaned forward to shut it off, but the light sputtered into darkness. Again, not thinking anything of it, Lucy fell back against her pillow and stared at her clock. No numbers were visible. 11

(Power must be out)12

Fluffing her pillow thoughtlessly, Lucy tried to settle back down. Her eyes darted across her room nervously for a moment, but nothing came into focus. Lucy’s room was shrouded in complete darkness. Her eyes burned in their sockets as they strained to capture the tiniest amount of light. This sudden pain shot Lucy straight up in her bed. Wiping her soft eyelids, she looked outside again. 13

There wasn’t anything out there either. The sky was clear, but no stars came in relief. The streets had vanished, the suburban houses gone as if uprooted from their foundations. The world had disappeared and had left Lucy and this intolerable darkness in its wake. Lucy sat back down into her bed and tried to shield herself in her quilts only to discover they had taken their leave as well. 14

Instead of the familiar warmth of her blankets, a cold shield descended upon Lucy, so intense it sent her into a coughing fit. 15

The choking waves brought on additional stinging to her eyes. Lucy tried to rub the moisture back into them, but when her fingers came up to her face, the soft tissue of her eyelids wasn’t there. In fact, her thumb hit the back of her eye socket with such force; it shoved Lucy onto her back. Lucy let out a silent scream. Her mouth was open. It had to be, so where was the noise? Her hands grabbed at her throat, but only snatched handfuls of cold. Lucy fell back against the bed, but there was no bed to stop her. She began to fall. With each passing meter, Lucy felt colder and colder. Her hands were no longer there to grip at anything. Her body was gone, but Lucy was very much aware. The cold she had felt earlier had been replaced by an intense pain, like that of a severe frostbite. Why wasn’t she dead? 16

(Oh God, kill me now)17

Lucy looked over at her clock radio. The red numbers of 3:00am stared back in the darkness. 18

(Damn)19

…20