I wake up to the smell of thick smoke in the middle of a suburban street. The sky is coated in a blood red. The pale white houses are all cast in an orange glow, almost as if they are up in flames, but there is no fire in sight. As I look around, the street seems more and more familiar, but I can’t remember where I last saw it. Almost like a distant memory. A forgotten dream. A déjà vu. A seemingly endless row of houses go on as far as the eyes can see. All the houses are identical. A never ending row of clones. All with a white picket fence. All with red roses lining the yard. All with a blood red door.
A nasty growl emerges from behind me. I turn around, only to realize the noise is coming from all directions. The snarl gets louder and louder. A creature emerges from the smoke. I stand there bewildered as it slowly approaches me. I can see its long, spider-like legs, each making a clicking sound as they hit the ground. Click-click. Click-click. Click-click. Its head is covered in fur as thick as an ox. The eyes were barely visible, pulsing red, as if they had a heartbeat. The body coated in an exoskeleton, resembling that of a beetle. Click-click. Click-click. Click-click. The creature inches slower. Each step seems to make it taller and taller, eventually becoming the size of a house.
I snap back to reality. I turn the other direction and start running. Running as fast as I can. Running to the point where I can’t feel my feet beneath me. The creature picks up speed, catching up to me, still with that piercing growl. The road keeps going. The houses, each the same as the last, seem to extend as far as I can see. I keep running. Running to nowhere. Running in the only direction I can, straight ahead. The creature is on my tail, one wrong step and I’m done for. My heartbeat pumps out of my chest, my breath running out. As I am ready to collapse, I’m relieved to see the end of the street in the distance. I push my limits, i’m almost there. So close.
I use the last energy I have left to make it to the end of the street. I jump the white picket fence and sprint up the front steps. I frantically slam on the door, trying to get in. The creature crashes through the fence. I grab the doorknob. My arms are too weak to twist it. I’m stuck. All of my strength. Turn the knob. Using the only energy I have left, I twist and pull. It was my last hope. The doorknob failed to serve the one purpose it was created to do. The knob falls off onto the ground, tumbling down the steps behind me.
As I turn around I am met face-to-face with the creature. I see his eyes more clearly now. Glowing pure evil. I take one last breath before it lunges. I’m thrown to the ground. At that moment, I become his afternoon snack. He tears me apart limb-by-limb. I can feel my own blood dripping all over my body as the life is ripped out of me. I try one last cry for help, but nothing comes out. I’m gone. Everything goes black. I wake up dripping in sweat, living in fear for the next time I close my eyes.