Atony

 

It was nearing eight o‘clock and the heat was killing me. I crawled on top of the couch and attempted to relax. I leaned over to the windowsill and adjusted the curtains to shield myself from the direct force of the bright orange-red sunset. My parents were gone for the weekend and I knew in about forty minutes my friend, Jerome would come by and help me survive this heat with some ice-cold beers. I lay down on the couch, in order to receive the full force of the tiny electric fan in the corner. My eyes started to become heavy the more I continued to lie down on the couch. I tried to stay awake, but the heat was too much for my tired body and I drifted off to sleep.

---

“Shit, what time is it?”

I mumbled to myself as I looked around the pitch-black room. Everything was silent. The only thing I could hear was the sound of dogs barking in the distance.

“Must be a power outage,” I thought to myself.

I reached into my pockets searching for my phone in order to find out what time it was. There was nothing but pocket lint in it. I leaned over and felt the floor next to the couch. All I could feel was the black coat of my dog, Trey who was sleeping next to the couch. Finally, I stretched out my arm to reach the coffee table in front of the couch; but there was still no sign of the phone at all. I sighed.

“I must have left it in my room.”

I spent the next several seconds contemplating whether or not I should get up from this reasonably comfortable couch and search for the phone in my room, which was undoubtedly as hot as a brick oven right now. Of course, I immediately rejected that idea.

“Jerome would have raised hell outside my house to get my attention if he did in fact come over,” I assured myself as I fell back asleep once more.

---

All of a sudden, a loud and quick screeching filled my ears and reawakened me. I could barely open my eyes, let alone move any of my arms and legs. I could tell the power was still out as the living room was still pitch black. I looked at the door leading into the even darker dining room. I swore I could see movement in the dining room. I shrugged it off as my eyes playing tricks on me, but the jittery movement seemed too real, too alive to merely be an illusion. Fear overwhelmed me as a small shape moved out of the dining room.

“It, it must be Trey!”

I tried to rationally explain the shape creeping slowly out of the dining room. I looked down at the floor, to confirm my theory, but there was my black lab still sleeping next to the couch in the same location.

I felt as though I could leap outside of my body from the fear that shot through me at that moment. There was somebody in the house. If I got up now, I might have enough time to get the pistol in the closet my Dad bought after a series of robberies in our neighborhood last summer. I tried with all my might to move a single muscle in my arms and legs, but I could not move at all. I looked back at the dining room. The shape had grown to about six or seven feet high and now resembled more of a human being than a vague fog. I wanted to leap from this couch and run, but I couldn’t. I felt as if I were trapped in a tiny corner of my mind, unable to control any aspect of anything. I felt completely powerless as I looked at my useless limbs that stayed motionless despite my attempts to move them. I went against my instincts and looked back at the giant shape. Now I could see there were many others following behind it, they were much smaller than the giant shape, but they were so great in number that they appeared to have become one. The fog of beings began covering the walls and ceiling and submerged the already dark room into a non-pierce-able void of darkness.

I felt completely helpless before the beings slowly approaching me. I stared at Trey, who I felt was my only possible salvation. He was still asleep in the same position as before, unaware of what was happening around him. I wanted to call out to him, but I knew it was no use trying. I closed my eyes as the shapes moved closer to Trey and I. I attempted to persevere, as I thought if I remained mentally strong, I could somehow defeat that void.

"I will not lose."

I repeated to myself in my head.

"I will not lose."

I kept on repeating it over and over.

"I will not lose."

Trey started barking wildly and I felt him jump on the end of the couch.

"I will not lose."

Trey's fierce barking transformed into a pathetic whimper. His firm stance suddenly weakened and he collapsed on top of me.

"I will not lose."

I could feel void encapsulate us and slowly start to pull us.

"I will not lose."

I could feel tiny hands start to grab my limbs and started to pull me away into the black void.

"I will not lose."

I was pulled off the couch, but I did not hit the floor. I suddenly became suspended in nothingness as I could feel my body slowly dissipated and my mind lose consciousness.