Hooded Dead

I woke up in the middle of the night. It was 3:00 AM when I checked the clock. Of late, I have been getting this weird dream. I should actually be calling it a nightmare. So in this dream, well, actually a nightmare, I see some woman climbing into my room from the window. She gets into my bedroom and makes me do things like the one I had last night, where she made me jump off the terrace. Well, I didn’t actually jump. Thank God! It was by God’s grace that I was saved by a man who was passing by the building.

All I remember about that woman is that she had thick red hair as if she had bathed in blood. Well, it was a nightmare after all, so it shouldn't bother me much. But somehow, it does. So this entire dream fiasco started four days ago when I shifted here in this beautiful yet cheap apartment in Montana. I would rather not give many details of the place. All I can mention is that it was near Yellowstone National Park. But I was lucky to get such a huge and well-designed apartment at half the market price. In introspection, I see why I might have got it at such a lower rate.

I couldn't sleep after that nightmare, so I thought of arranging my stuff in my new apartment. While arranging, I found a half-written diary in the closet locker. Now I know it is morally wrong to read someone else’s diary. But you see, we humans have curiosity. So I picked it up and started reading it. Prima facie, it seems to be written in the nineties. Her name was Amanda. And by the looks of it, she came from a well-off family who later married a businessman. Then I opened her first page of diary entries. It was a regular entry diary. Or else that was what I thought it was. And later, hoped.

I skipped a couple pages ahead to see something written in blood. I turned still and numb as if I was being frozen. I threw that diary as far as I could at that very instant. It flew long outside my window. But I was still scared. The next morning I went downstairs to get some fresh coffee and newspaper when I met my neighbor, Mrs. Deloris. She was a very sweet old lady. She invited me for tea and cookies. So I obliged and visited her home.

She told me about the building, followed by some jaw-dropping news about my house. Apparently, the apartment that I lived in was home to an insane lady who killed her own husband. I told her about the diary and those freaky nightmares. All she could say was that Amanda was obsessed with her things. It got me to thinking if the nightmares were connected with the house, or was it just the stress of moving to a new home. And with that conversation, I called it a night. It was 3:00 AM, and I woke up gasping with another nightmare.

I had flashy memories this time. All I remember is how the woman with blood-red hair was sitting over me, with a knife on my throat. She made me play catch with the knife as if one was throwing the knife to kill someone. At the end of that nightmare, she hit my collar bone with the knife. It pierced through me. I bled and yelled my lungs out. Mrs. Deloris ran to the apartment, and I woke up gasping. It is getting so difficult for me to sleep after getting up because of those stupid nightmares. But last night’s nightmare was different. My head hurt and my body did too. I go down at the stroke of dawn to get some coffee to feel refreshed. I heard Mrs. Deloris call me. She asked me how I was. She asked with a face of worry and concern while touching my shoulder, and ouch, it hurt.

I was terrified. So all of my nightmares were nothing but reality? I ran back to my apartment and sealed the window with plaster, from which she used to climb in through. That gave me a percent relief until I found Amanda’s diary, which I threw, placed on my desk. A chill ran down my spine. With a lot of struggle and hesitation, I opened it, and the diary had new entries. And there it was on a new page, my name Clarissa in blood.

Now I don't know what's going to happen to me. But I will keep on updating here. So that if one day you do not see any update from me, it might be a sign that I succumbed to her. I succumbed to Amanda’s wrath.