No Sleep.

Oh shit. Damn.

These nightmares… they keep coming back. They keep happeNing.

Why dO they keep happening?

That thing alWays gave me plenty of nightmares, of course. But these ones… these are dIfferenT. And far more horrifying.

In these ones, I'm chasing myself. I'm in the forest and I'm chasing myself through the trees. My dream self can't run from me, not for long; I always catch up to hIm eventually. He screamS when I find him, horrible, fearful screams.

Then I pick him up easilY, bringing him up tO my face, looking over the terror in his eyes. I smile.
And then I open my moUth inhumanely wide, and I swallow him whole. Jesus... the sounds are so Real. I can actually taste blood in my mouTh, and I can feel and hear the bones crUnching between my teeth.

What happens next, though, is faR more horrific and much worse.

I walk to a Nearby glassy pond, and bend down to scoop water up with my hands to wash the blood from my face. But when I look into the water at my reflection, I don't see myself.

I see the thing, staring back at me. And when I scream, I realize that I am the thing.

I always wake up panicking and screaming. Every single time I have that nightmare, I wake up in a cold sweat. And I keep having the same fucking dream, over and over again every single night.

Oh God. Oh Christ, I...

It's so, so real. So damn awfully real…

It's Just illness. It has to bE. Just a fever dReam I bet! All part of what's causing the nausEa and tiredness. I bet I'M just getting delirious in mY sickness. I'm not going nuts, I'm not still being stalked by that thing. It's only a fever dream!

But if that's all it really is, then why does the nightmare last so long, and why does it feel so damn much like I'm wide awake during it?