Into The Realm of Fear

Free AI web copilot to create summaries, insights and extended knowledge, download it at here

3076

Abstract

oming to me from the inside of the tree. Black burnt fingers holding on to the entrance from the top. I was shaking with fear; I took a few steps back. I looked at the burnt fingers, and just then a head popped out, eyes staring directly at me, with a red tongue licking its mouth like it had been waiting for its meal to arrive. Soon a few other heads popped out from both sides of the entrance. These were the inverted burnt people I saw in my nightmare. The tree housed burnt corpses that were alive, and there was a fire inside the tree. They walked inverted upside down inside the tree.</p><p id="c022">I so badly wanted to wake up, I didn’t want to go inside the tree as that’s where the guy with the red hoodie lives. The one with the burning face. He lives in the dark forest inside the tree. The swaying hands of the undead inverted corpses brushed past my hair as I walked in. For some odd reason, they never harmed me, no matter how many times I came here in my nightmares. Like they spared me for something far more dangerous lying in wait.</p><figure id="4401"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*s-sz3JJ9w4wkFyV2HoYD-A.jpeg"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/n_gelz/12111994584/">lucy liew</a> in <a href="https://www.flickr.com/">Flickr</a></figcaption></figure><p id="1c06">I reached the other side of the tree, and there was an opening to exit. The exit opened into a dark forest-This was the realm of fear. I kept walking, I could hear my heartbeat so loud as fear tightened its grip on me. Whatever you feared amplified here. I could hear his footsteps. I ran, going further deep into the dark woods. I ran past the bio-luminescent mushrooms that lined the path as they were the only thing that guided me through the dark. They were beautiful, but I didn’t waste time admiring them, because I knew what was to happen next. I knew I had to run before he came.</p><p id="1483">“I’ll wake up soon and this will all be just a memory of the same old nightmare that had haunted me throughout my childhood,” I told myself as the 25-year-old me was running for my life through the woods. I was 12 years old when I saw this repetitive nightmare last. I never saw it again until now. I could see the huge tree that I always saw in my nightmares, upon reaching which I usually wake up with a start. I told myself all that I had to do now was to run as fast as I could to reach the tree. As that’s when I’ll wake up from this scary nightmare. I had to wake up.</p><p id="45c2">I looked back for just a second and I could see that huge monster of a man chasing after me, just like he always did. I couldn’t take this any longer, the fear was killing me from the inside. I reached the tree and closed my eyes and thought of my home. The first thing I saw was the puppets hanging on the wall opposite my bed in my room. The mere thought of home made me happy.</p><p id="bf74">I was ready to wake up and slowly opened my eyes, but what I saw instead scared the hell out of me. The man wearing the red hoodie was runnin

Options

g towards me with a huge hammer, screaming my name. I could also hear my name being called out from sources unknown, like distant cracked voices calling out my name. I didn’t have time to think of the voices I heard, as the man with the red hoodie was getting nearer. He had a strange face, a face made of fire, I realized with intense pain and fear that this was no dream. The nightmare that I had been seeing all these years finally had come true, and I was in it and had no clue how to get out ALIVE!!!</p><p id="5542">Back in his room, the paramedics were frantically trying to revive him from an overdose of Psilocybin mushrooms (hallucinogenic mushrooms also called magic mushrooms). The cracked voices he was hearing while being stuck in his hallucinogenic nightmare was that of his friends trying their best to keep him awake as per orders from the paramedic.</p><p id="23f1">©Aswathi Ashok 2020. All Rights Reserved.</p><blockquote id="37f2"><p><i>Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to read my stories. It means a lot to me. If you like reading my fictional stories, please do consider supporting me by joining in as a member on medium, using the link below. What this means is, by signing in as a member you’ll be directly supporting me with a part of your membership fee (5$) and also supporting thousands of other writers on the platform as well</i></p></blockquote><div id="2ff3" class="link-block"> <a href="https://realmofstories.medium.com/membership"> <div> <div> <h2>Join Medium with my referral link - Aswathi Ashok</h2> <div><h3>Read every story from Aswathi Ashok (and thousands of other writers on Medium). Your membership fee directly supports…</h3></div> <div><p>realmofstories.medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*khR836roKLSQKl1_)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="ede1"><i>If you decide to join in, please know that I’m truly grateful and I can’t thank you enough for all the effort you put in to support my work as a reader. If you’d like the stories I write to be delivered directly to your email as soon as I publish newer content on medium, subscribe below:</i></p><div id="385a" class="link-block"> <a href="https://realmofstories.medium.com/subscribe"> <div> <div> <h2>Get an email whenever Aswathi Ashok publishes.</h2> <div><h3>Get an email whenever Aswathi Ashok publishes. By signing up, you will create a Medium account if you don't already…</h3></div> <div><p>realmofstories.medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*_4FKwnL48s8jqXxj)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="138d">Happy reading!</p></article></body>

Into The Realm of Fear

I managed to survive the nightmare all this time, but will I survive it this time?

It was dark and dense. I could smell the wet ground and the mushy woods. Fog surrounded me, making it really difficult to see what lay ahead. I knew I was lost in what seemed like an endless forest. Fear had a tight grip on me since childhood.

I often wondered if the others saw repetitive nightmares like how I did. “Dreams”- I have seen plenty, but there is this one nightmare that I am terrified of. The one that I have seen since childhood. When you see something so many times, it shouldn’t bother you because you already know what happens next, isn’t it?

This nightmare brought in a familiar yet eerie atmosphere about it. Every time this nightmare happened the time slowed around me. I was back again in the middle of the forest. It was getting darker. There was no wind nor the rustling of the leaves. The trees stood like statues. The only thing I could hear was the bats hooting and the crickets chirping. I looked around me and found the entire forest empty; it was just me and the huge thick trees around. Some were straight while the others were crooked. I walked ahead. As I walked, I could hear voices and laughter. In the nightmare, I knew I was dreaming and that none of this was true. I so badly wanted to wake up. That’s the strange thing about nightmares, isn’t it? — You can’t walk out of it at will.

As I continued walking forward, I could see a bright orange light ahead of me. I walked closer. There was a huge thick tree standing right in front of me, glowing orange from the inside. The tree was on fire from the inside. I wondered how the tree could hold fire inside it? How is it that it never burnt down? But that’s how it was. A burning tree with the fire inside it (in case you are wondering, the outer bark looked perfectly normal).

As I kept looking at the tree, I knew what was coming next. I had to wait for the door to be opened since I had seen it a hundred times. I waited. Nothing happened. I waited slightly longer this time. Finally, the bark of the tree opened inwards like a carved door. I had to close my eyes as the bright light hurt my eyes. I slowly looked at the entrance but didn’t move. I was standing just a few steps away from the tree.

And then I saw it. This is where the most terrifying journey of the nightmare began. I saw them crawling towards the entrance and coming to me from the inside of the tree. Black burnt fingers holding on to the entrance from the top. I was shaking with fear; I took a few steps back. I looked at the burnt fingers, and just then a head popped out, eyes staring directly at me, with a red tongue licking its mouth like it had been waiting for its meal to arrive. Soon a few other heads popped out from both sides of the entrance. These were the inverted burnt people I saw in my nightmare. The tree housed burnt corpses that were alive, and there was a fire inside the tree. They walked inverted upside down inside the tree.

I so badly wanted to wake up, I didn’t want to go inside the tree as that’s where the guy with the red hoodie lives. The one with the burning face. He lives in the dark forest inside the tree. The swaying hands of the undead inverted corpses brushed past my hair as I walked in. For some odd reason, they never harmed me, no matter how many times I came here in my nightmares. Like they spared me for something far more dangerous lying in wait.

I reached the other side of the tree, and there was an opening to exit. The exit opened into a dark forest-This was the realm of fear. I kept walking, I could hear my heartbeat so loud as fear tightened its grip on me. Whatever you feared amplified here. I could hear his footsteps. I ran, going further deep into the dark woods. I ran past the bio-luminescent mushrooms that lined the path as they were the only thing that guided me through the dark. They were beautiful, but I didn’t waste time admiring them, because I knew what was to happen next. I knew I had to run before he came.

“I’ll wake up soon and this will all be just a memory of the same old nightmare that had haunted me throughout my childhood,” I told myself as the 25-year-old me was running for my life through the woods. I was 12 years old when I saw this repetitive nightmare last. I never saw it again until now. I could see the huge tree that I always saw in my nightmares, upon reaching which I usually wake up with a start. I told myself all that I had to do now was to run as fast as I could to reach the tree. As that’s when I’ll wake up from this scary nightmare. I had to wake up.

I looked back for just a second and I could see that huge monster of a man chasing after me, just like he always did. I couldn’t take this any longer, the fear was killing me from the inside. I reached the tree and closed my eyes and thought of my home. The first thing I saw was the puppets hanging on the wall opposite my bed in my room. The mere thought of home made me happy.

I was ready to wake up and slowly opened my eyes, but what I saw instead scared the hell out of me. The man wearing the red hoodie was running towards me with a huge hammer, screaming my name. I could also hear my name being called out from sources unknown, like distant cracked voices calling out my name. I didn’t have time to think of the voices I heard, as the man with the red hoodie was getting nearer. He had a strange face, a face made of fire, I realized with intense pain and fear that this was no dream. The nightmare that I had been seeing all these years finally had come true, and I was in it and had no clue how to get out ALIVE!!!

Back in his room, the paramedics were frantically trying to revive him from an overdose of Psilocybin mushrooms (hallucinogenic mushrooms also called magic mushrooms). The cracked voices he was hearing while being stuck in his hallucinogenic nightmare was that of his friends trying their best to keep him awake as per orders from the paramedic.

Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to read my stories. It means a lot to me. If you like reading my fictional stories, please do consider supporting me by joining in as a member on medium, using the link below. What this means is, by signing in as a member you’ll be directly supporting me with a part of your membership fee (5$) and also supporting thousands of other writers on the platform as well

If you decide to join in, please know that I’m truly grateful and I can’t thank you enough for all the effort you put in to support my work as a reader. If you’d like the stories I write to be delivered directly to your email as soon as I publish newer content on medium, subscribe below:

Happy reading!