“Good night. It’s been a long week, try to have a good rest tonight.” Alyssa the maid grabs my water and leaves the room.
After endless tossing I finally fall asleep. “Urgh my hands are burning,” my thoughts mutter as I wake up. I start to realize that I am pulling a thick rope. It is so heavy that I am constantly getting pulled forward. My shoulder feels incredibly stiff. It must be from the pulling, I think. My eyes follow the rope, and there is someone hanging on the other end draping down the ceiling beam high above.
“Argh!” I let go immediately with a quiet cry. “What the hell is going on?” Surprisingly, the body swiftly lands on the ground rather than hitting it with a loud thud. The tall black figure turns around, revealing his face—a pumpkin head. Holy cow! He’s a real life Jack-O’Lantern.
He floats towards me and starts talking: “HI…THERE…”
I stand there in silence.
“AS…YOU CAN SEE…YOU’VE HUNG SOMEONE…WITH YOUR OWN HANDS…YOU ARE…. A MURDERER…” Jack-O’Lantern continues.
“Emm…what? But this is a dream.” I clearly remember I went to bed several hours ago.
“OH IS IT…? OR… THIS IS… THE REALITY…? NO MATTER… I AM GIVING YOU…A CHANCE…TO FIX IT…”
“No thanks. I will just wake myself up.” I try to open my eyes, but nothing’s happening. My body is as stiff as a block of iron.
“What the heck is going on?! Just move!” I use all my strength to swing my arm and it’s finally moving. “Ouch!” The accidental punch lands on the pumpkin head, spinning it around. “That’s gonna leave a bruise.” I look at my hand—it is not even red. This must be a dream! I mean. Jack-O’Lantern is talking and I could NEVER murder someone. NEVER! I don’t even know anyone that I hate so much! “But…why…why am I feeling the pain?” If this IS a dream, I should not feel the pain. Sharp siren tears my thoughts apart. Shit, cops! We can think everything over later, but the bottom line is I can’t go to jail now!
“Fine, what do you offer?” Do I really have another choice to get out of this?
“FINALLY…” Jack-O’Lantern surrounds us with a thick black smoke and the siren fades away. I am teleported to a city that I’ve never seen before. “HE IS HERE…LOOK FOR THE GUY…WHO’S PUT YOU HERE……INSTEAD OF HIMSELF…HE SHALL BE…PUNISHED…” Jack-O’Lantern whispers and disappears, leaving me standing there like a lost lamb.
“Phew, at least the cops are nowhere to be found now.” Is this real? I gotta confirm my thoughts on whether this is a dream. I use all my strength to kick the telephone pole next to me, “Take this!” “Ouch!” Oh man this really hurts! So…I guess it is reality then. I AM A MURDERER if I don’t find this guy who’s framing me! Seriously, how did I even get into this mess?!
Panic suddenly floods me. Clouds show underneath my feet, and I feel lightheaded. I gotta find this guy now. I HAVE TO. Thinking to myself, I start walking down the street for clues. Jack O’Lantern did tell me the real culprit is here. I will go check on everyone in these nearby blocks for clues.
“Man! I wish he left me at least a weapon or secret magic spell,” muttering to myself. “At least I will feel a little safer asking around. You never know when the real bad guy will show up, and I really don’t want to get in trouble.” Though I’m complaining, my pace has picked up.
After looking for clues for a while, I decide to take a break. There is a 7-Eleven around, so I walk in to grab some water.
“$1.99 please.”
“Kay.” I bring up my Apple Pay on my watch. The card looks really different from when I used it yesterday. I guess it’s some updates from the bank? Card number looks right though, thinking to myself. I pay and walk out with my water.
“IT IS HIM…HIM…” Jack O’Lantern’s voice suddenly penetrates my mind. I anxiously look around; a slender tall figure wearing a suit is glowing in black smog right across the street.
“FOLLOW…FOLLOW HIM…FIGURE OUT WHERE HIM LIVES…” Jack O’Lantern keeps whispering into my mind.
“Okay, fine. I guess this is it.” I tail him back to this big house with a front yard. Tall weeds are all over the place, which looks awfully similar to my own front yard that I couldn’t take care of in the last month. Never mind, let’s stay focused and don’t get busted. I don’t want to be the murderer. If we catch this guy, it will be over and I can finally sleep well. With this idea, I get closer to the yard and attempt to hide myself in the tall weeds.
“Urgh, what did I do to deserve this.” I definitely struggle with the weeds. They look tall, but for some reason I cannot fit myself into the shades. As I battle with the weeds, the man comes out of the house and sees me! “Oh no, this is not going to be pretty!” I start running as he chases me down the street. I have never run as hard as this before. I can’t tell where I am going! Which way can I escape? I turned left, and it’s a dead end! “Oh no, he’s coming!” Screaming and sweating, I start to shake. The shake almost feels out of control. My whole body is going back and forth.
“…Owen! Hey! Owen!…Are you ok?” A distant voice pierces through the sky and I…wake up…for a second time.
My neighbor Mr. Penpick is shaking me back and forth, his tight grip almost snaps my upper arms in half. And here I am, sitting up in my front yard, in the weeds. Alyssa storms out of the house with tears and terror on her face. “Oh my god! I am so sorry! I missed the alarm to wake you up this morning and look at this mess! Please forgive me!”
They hurry to carry me inside. As I sit down on my couch I notice the red bumps on my right hand and left foot. And this referral note from my doctor yesterday:
“Patient started to experience sleep paralysis. Appearance of occasional sleepwalking has reduced during monitored sleeps in the lab last week. Recommending continued usage of the prescribed drug and having the current live-in maid wake the patient up around 3 am prior to the sleepwalk hour to prevent injury from happening. — Dr. Holmes”
KW is a DePaul University alumnus. She does a lot of technical writing at work now, which requires her to be concise and technical. But, KW still enjoys fictional writing and once in a while, she will turn some crazy ideas into a piece of work. She likes cake and coffee.