Natalia’s nightmares

*This story is underneath my folder “A monster creeps along”. Gacha Club character designs are under this forum: https://www.youngwriterssociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=116005&start=1305. Enjoy!*

Introduction

Natalia sometimes wondered what would happen if she would go on a sleepover with her friends. She saw it in movies, but never had the heart to ask.

Oh, but she didn’t have to ask anybody. One of her friends would already ask the question. They’d all have a ball of a time at one of her friends’ house, with not a single adult in sight.

No adults meant more fun from what Natalia heard. Lots and lots of fun, with nothing bad!

Nothing bad at all!

Chapter One

Natalia sat with her friends, Katherine and Sophia, listening to them talk. They always sat together in class, for friends just had to sit together. She wished that she could contribute to the conversation, but they were talking about making bracelets and Natalia knew not how to make such things.

Perhaps when Scarlett came, they’d all find something relatable to talk about. Then they’d all converse like friends and Natalia wouldn’t feel so lonely!

But why couldn’t she just come up with something to talk about? It came so easy for other children and not her?

Why couldn’t Natalia just talk?

Chapter Two

After a few minutes had passed, Natalia saw Scarlett arrive at class out of the corner of her eye and watched as she stuffed her backpack and coat into her cubby. With a smile on her face, Scarlett walked towards their table and asked:

“Want to have a sleepover at my house? My parents said that I could do it!”

Natalia felt a smile crawl up her face. A sleepover? At Scarlett’s house? Most of the time her parents were too busy to let that happen, so a sleepover was an exciting prospect!

“A sleepover? We can have a sleepover at your house? Really? Like watch movies and eat snacks together?” Katherine asked, her eyes wide with anticipation.

Scarlett nodded, her own smile on the edge of giggling.

A sleepover together would mean fun and games! It would mean that they were all included, that they could all talk to each other about anything and everything, that Natalia would know exactly how to keep a conversation going.

And so, when Scarlett asked again if they all wanted to go, Natalia joined in with Katherine and Sophia, declaring:

“Yes!”

Because why wouldn’t she want to do a sleepover with her friends?

Chapter Three

THE WALK HOME

Natalia walked home from school, the November leaves crunching underneath her booted feet. Her house wasn’t too far off, she could walk home safely.

She wasn’t afraid of much, but for some odd reason, she felt as though there was something in the shadows, something that was watching her. Natalia’s gut twisted inside of her, as though it were being invaded by cobwebs upon cobwebs upon cobwebs.

No, no! She was paying too close attention to the scary movie commercials! She was just going home! There was going to be a Saturday sleepover!

There was so much fun things in store for her!

Chapter Four

LATE AT NIGHT

Natalia lay in bed, thinking of the sleepover that would come the next day. She didn’t say anything about it to her parents, out of fear that they would say no or how would she be able to go?

What if they said no? What if she missed out on all of the fun? What if she never got to hang out with her friends? What if she spent her whole life not doing what she wanted?

It was only a sleepover. Nothing to get too stressed over. Everything was going to be okay. Natalia thought, taking a few deep breaths, just like her Dad taught her.

She had to sleep, that was the right way to get ready for the next big, wonderful day!

Chapter Five

Sleep came and went, the sun glared in Natalia’s eyes.

But her body was filled with anxiety, as though she had seen such terrible things. Why was it so? Why did she feel the chills inside of her?

Could it be something about the dreams? But then, Natalia didn’t remember her dreams…

Chapter Six

BREAKFAST

Natalia stabbed her fork into the pile of pancakes, the only loud chewer in the room. Mom said that it was “unladylike”, Dad said that it “hurt people’s ears”.

But she couldn’t help it! She would simply eat her food and then the loud chewing would start! Frankly, Natalia didn’t care if she was being loud. If she wanted to eat, then she would.

However, she did care about the sleepover. Would Mom and Dad let her go? What if they said no?

Well, all three of them were at the breakfast table. It wouldn’t hurt to ask. Of course, she’d wait until she was done eating, because while she may have been “unladylike”, she wasn’t a complete monster.

Chapter Seven

“There’s a sleepover at Scarlett’s house later today? Can I go? Please please please?” Natalia asked, hoping deeply that they’d let her go, that she could spend the night playing games with her friends.

“Will her parents be there?” Mom asked.

Natalia nodded, hoping that would be enough to let them both say yes. Scarlett’s parents were hardly ever home, but they’d certainly be around for a sleepover, wouldn’t they?

Mom and Dad exchanged looks and sighed. Wait, sighed? Sighing wasn’t good, that meant that they were still thinking, that they were considering, that-

“Since Scarlett’s house isn’t that far of a drive, we’ll take you there. But listen, if you ever feel weird about something, call us. Okay?” Dad asked.

Natalia nodded, taking his words deep into her skull. She wouldn’t forget to bring the emergency phone, she’d keep it with her at all times!

They were letting her go to the sleepover! They said yes! She was going to have so much fun with her friends!

Chapter Eight

GOING TO THE SLEEPOVER

A few hours had passed, Dad was driving Natalia to the sleepover, Mom was sitting in the passenger seat.

She fidgeted with a loose string on her yarn fairy doll, excited but nervous at the same time. It was the first time Natalia had been invited to a sleepover and she knew not of what would happen next. She hoped that they had fun, but she hoped that fun didn’t mean watching any scary movies.

Her parents said that she was “too young” to watch scary movies anyway, but sometimes, kids at school watched them. They acted like they were so cool, like they were the best. Usually Natalia didn’t think much about them, but there were days where their words got to her heart, where their words made her feel like a baby.

No, no. She was six years old! She wasn’t a baby, she was growing up! There was going to be joy at the sleepover!

Sleepovers were never bad!

Chapter Nine

After a few minutes, Natalia had made it to Scarlett’s house! She grabbed her pink bag and opened up the car door, ever so excited for her parents to get her suitcase in the backseat.

Scarlett’s house was big and grand enough to be a mansion, but small and humble enough to be a house. It looked like the perfect place for Natalia to run around in case things weren’t as fun as she imagined them to be.

But that wouldn’t happen, because she was going to a friend’s house for a sleepover and there would only be excitement in store for her!

Natalia was certain of it.

Chapter Ten

“Natalia! I’m so glad you’re here! I think Kathy and Sophie are outside now! Isn’t this great? You’re all coming together! We can play now!” Scarlett beamed.

Nobody else was in the house. Natalia didn’t hear any parents nor the voice of Scarlett’s older sister, Juni. Was she really all alone? Dad said that being anywhere without parents or guardians was dangerous.

Maybe they were just busy. Maybe she shouldn’t think about it too much.

But still, it wasn’t right. Right?

Chapter Eleven

Scarlett was right, Katherine and Sophia had arrived at the same time as Natalia. The four of them played many games and watched TV late into the night. Soon enough, Natalia had forgotten why she was so frightened in the first place.

Sure, there was nobody around but them, but it wasn’t like they lived in a bad neighborhood. Nothing terrible ever happened, it was too boring for such things to occur.

Of course, she still didn’t want to go to sleep, but that was because sleep wasn’t fun! Not because she had a slight note of fear still bubbling in her. It was just because sleep wasn’t fun…

But friends made everything better, didn’t they?

Chapter Twelve

LATE IN THE NIGHT

Natalia closed her eyes, for the day had ended and night was beginning to rise. Her friends all lay in their sleeping bags, done with playing games and watching movies.

She crawled deeper into the sleeping bag, determined to see no light from any passing cars, for the four of them were all going to sleep in the living room and outside the window was the neighborhood street.

The cars on the road were calm like the ocean waves, the softness of her sleeping bag lulling Natalia into dreams.

There wasn’t a single thing to be afraid of.

Chapter Thirteen

Natalia was in a glittering faerie forest with her friends, pointing out all of the different faeries that hid within the branches of the trees. All of them were flying to different holes in the trees, playing their happy-go-lucky games.

Why couldn’t Natalia and the others hide with them? Why couldn’t the faeries talk to them? Weren’t they all friends? Didn’t they like each other?

Yet in the distance, Natalia saw a looming black shadow, a thing that looked as though it swallowed the sunlight.

Chapter Fourteen

Natalia watched as the shadow got closer and closer, her heart racing with terror. She couldn’t run, she couldn’t hide. Her legs wouldn’t move.

The screams of her friends rang throughout her ears. Her vision was getting dim, she couldn’t even see the sunlight.

Finally, she felt something slash through her chest. A scream strangled out of her mouth, yet it was all clogged up, blood pouring from her lips.

Natalia woke up.

Chapter Fifteen

The living room where they all slept in was only lit by the moonlight, but she could still hear her friends screaming next to her, crying out for pain. Natalia saw a looming dark shadow in the room, snatching them up…eating them alive?

She couldn’t let them die! She got up from the ground, trying her best to push down her fear and ran right up to the monster creature, prepared to kick it…

It picked her up in an instant. She could only flail about, completely defenseless, completely helpless.

Its teeth crushed her bones, rocket-hot pain burning her body.

Chapter Sixteen

Natalia found herself in a forest that glittered with blurry, dreamy sunlight. Light that wasn’t quite real nor fake.

Next to her, she could see Katherine and Sophia, except they looked all bloody, missing either limbs or eyes. Natalia’s own vision was blurred slightly, edged with red.

Where was Scarlett? Why was her own heart tinged with dread?

Chapter Seventeen

In a few seconds, Natalia saw Scarlett running towards them, except Scarlett looked all wrong too, she was bleeding from her head to her toes.

Yet the forest all around her had flowers and grass that sprawled in such vibrant colors, the sunlight casting blurry shadows just like some of Natalia’s pleasant dreams.

The only sounds that Natalia could hear were birds chirping in distance, their song just like the melody of wind chimes in Katherine’s front porch.

All the same, Natalia felt unease swell inside of her.

Chapter Eighteen

“Come here, girls. Sit down on the ground. This is never easy to talk about.” A rasping, yet somehow kind voice said.

Natalia and her friends turned around. Sitting on a log was a figure shrouded in a black cloak, a scythe propped up next to it on the log.

As she stared at the figure, thinking back to the blood on her friends, the weirdness she felt inside of her and the familiarity of the figure…

Could it be that they were all dead?

Chapter Nineteen

Natalia listened intently as the Grim Reaper told them about a monster that came into Scarlett’s house, a monster that ate them all, a monster who was a cursed human…

But her heart did a somersault inside of her. How could it be that an actual monster had come into Scarlett’s house and ate them?

Yet still, Natalia remembered it clearly happening to her and her friends.

Why did the monster have to kill them? Didn’t monster always punish bad children? Wasn’t that what her parents always said.

Then why did the monster kill them?

Chapter Twenty

“And now it is time that you must go. Life is cruel, but death is peace.” The Grim Reaper said, standing up and picking up their scythe.

Somewhere along the lines, Natalia remembered the Grim Reaper saying that the monster killed them because “it was hungry” and it was “cursed”, but that it “didn’t excuse its’ actions”.

But still, as Natalia and her friends followed the Grim Reaper to whatever awaited beyond, Natalia felt her heart twinge in pain.

None of it was fair.

Epilogue

Natalia spent the rest of her days playing in the flower garden of Heaven, where the sun and the moon would gleam and glitter with happiness that was incomprehensible to the living.

While Natalia loved that she and her friends were free, that the air was clear, and that everything looked like a landscape straight out of a fairytale, she couldn’t help but feel a lingering sense of terror at the thought that a real monster with teeth and claws had killed them all.

Why couldn’t they all live?