Faces: A Nightmare

The following story is a real nightmare I had as a child. A nightmare that I remember vividly, even now as an adult. Perfect for the spooky Halloween season!!

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As I walked through the state park with my parents and older brother, I felt a sudden knot in my gut. Something was wrong.

The sun was setting behind the mountains.

Being at the base of the mountain line, it was getting dark fast. Underneath the massive pines, the sky grew dimmer, and more grey. The beautiful landscape, was washed of its color. The green of the grass seemed to be the last color to fade.

I looked nervously around us. I felt eyes watching me. My family didn’t feel the way I did, they just continued to chat and giggle amongst themselves.

As I turned my gaze behind us, I saw a face…emerging from one of the big pines. It’s face seemed to just pass through the bark of the tree, like pushing through sand. This being looked like a human, but it was wrong. Pale grey skin, hollow black eyes, deathly thin and no hair to be seen.

As I started to find the words to speak, more of them began to melt out of the trees from all around, looking directly at us.

The first one was mostly out of the tree now, all but his legs.

I touched my moms arm while still looking behind us, “we need to hide, now!” I said this quietly but with urgency.

My family finally saw was I was looking at. The car was too far away, we wouldn’t make it, and the beings were closing in on us.

I looked over to my right and saw a very very small camper. I pushed my family towards it. We piled in the small cramped space as quickly as possible and shut the door behind us.

Everyone was shaken and in bit of shock. No one said a word, but we all were thinking the same things. What did we just see? How do we escape?

The beings clawed and and banged on the walls trying their best to rip the camper open, as if we were a can of sardines waiting to be devoured.

I knew we needed to leave, and soon. I could see a few holes opening up in the ceiling. We didn’t have much time left. I stared at the faces of my family. I love them too much to watch them die, I had to do something.

I grabbed the handle to the camper door. My family looked at me in confusion and disbelief.

“They won’t stop. These walls won’t hold them off much longer, it’s now or never.”

They looked around at the holes forming in the walls. Tears were welling up in their eyes, and mine. I gave huge hugs to each of them.

“I am going to open the door and run. And I want all of you to run the other way and get to the car. I will draw them away so you can get out….I love you.”

I opened the door and I ran as fast as my legs would carry me. I looked behind me to see my family running in the opposite direction, safely making their escape. A sense of relief washed over me, and my fear subsided.

All of the pale beings chased after me. There were so many…

I kept running, not knowing how long I could run, or how long it would be before they caught up to me.

I just kept running…

~A