Nightmares

3rd Grade, 1st Place

by Saffana Altalib, Fulton Science Academy

I woke up this morning with nightmares. I couldn’t tell anyone because I heard that if you tell really scary dreams to others they will come true. I know that some people don’t always tell the truth, plus who would like to hear scary nightmares anyway? My mom then called from downstairs, “Time for breakfast honey!”. As I came downstairs I slid on the rug and tripped onto the table right into the sharp cheese knife. Blood soaked my shirt but I kept smiling to hide it from my parents. If they knew they wont let me go on that field trip I’ve been waiting all year for. As I hurriedly ate my bagel and left, my mom asked “Has anyone seen the cheese knife?” 

I got ready for school and chose a baggy maroon shirt to camouflage the seeping blood. When I walked to school I saw a dark Cadillac driving by with a mysterious man in a cape. He looked like he hadn’t seen the sun in forever, with whitish pale skin and very red lips hiding a creepy smile. My body ached all over and I tried to walk faster but my stomach hurt and my legs felt weak. A trail of blood was dripping behind me. His window slowly rolled down, and he asked me with a heavy voice “Would you like a ride?” I ignored him and tried to run but I slipped on the stickiness that was my own blood. The knife dug deeper inside me and I started choking out of fear and pain. 

“What’s wrong young child?” he asked. I tried to avoid him again and started crawling and coughing blood. His car stopped at the stop sign at the end of the road. The school was just a couple of blocks away but the school bell rang and all the children had gone in. I was the only one left outside. I shuddered with the cool autumn breeze and froze in fear. My mouth was dry, my body paralyzed, my throat gurgling in blood. I heard his footsteps, and then I saw the blackness of his boots in front of me with his cape flapping in the wind. 

“MMMMmmmmmm……the smell of fresh, crispy fall mixed with the sweet, iron-twinged blood is my favorite! Let me introduce myself….. I am Count Dracula, king of darkness, legendary caller of those who seek blood and eternity” I shuddered, closed my eyes and anticipated his sharp bite onto my neck. But as I felt his cold breath come nearer I pulled out the knife that was dripping with my sticky warm blood and slashed him in the face. He growled and struck me with his sharp claws. 

What can I do? I thought to myself. I don’t want to be one of them. I don’t want to transform into a bloodthirsty night dweller. I cried and weeped. My last thought was of that field trip I wished I never had waited for in the first place. Then I felt the sharpness dig into me as I screamed in the silent autumn sky watching crows flutter….or were they bats? Into the sky. Then…….. 

I woke up and realized I was living a nightmare within a nightmare. I was so glad that it was over and was just a bad dream. I got up to get ready for school, and squinted in the mirror. Were those two marks on my neck? No, those are probably mosquito bites I nervously chuckled. Then I opened my closet to find a blood stained maroon shirt dangling off a hanger … .and looked down to see a postcard of Transylvania with a scribbled….. “Welcome to the dark side”.