Short Story

I great friend of mine shared with me her ideas for a short story she is writing. That reminded me of the short stories I wrote when I took English classes in college many years ago. Although I know for a fact that my writing is far inferior to anything anyone may write, at the time I was proud of them. This story called No More Nightmares I remember writing for an advanced writing course on fiction I took in the summer. It was the first writing that the professor would see so I was aiming to impress. I spent hours working on it and like most of my short stories it had a bit of truth in it from my childhood; embellished of course.

No More Nightmares
By: LunaMars331

The butcher knife was lifted high in the air ready to strike its sleeping victim. The new moon gave its edge an eerie glint as the shadowed figure crept closer to the woman sleeping on the canopy bed. “So beautiful, so kind… angel,” said the male figure as he stood at her side. Just then the door opened.

“Ayami, wake…” those were the last words of the intruder before her throat was slit open. She fell to the ground with a thud but it fell on deaf ears. Her assassin cleaned off the knife and dropped it next to the gun in the intruder’s hand.

“No more nightmares sweet princess,” said the man as he opened the bedroom window.

Morning brought the sound of chaos as Ayami woke to find her beloved aunt Hikari dead in a pool of blood next to her bed. Her terrified screams woke everyone in the house bringing to her room concerned staff who added their cries while their masters looked on in shock. Soon sirens were heard and medics brought in to calm the family and take away the body after pictures were taken of the crime scene.

Detectives badgered everyone in the house seeking answers but none could give any. The knife was clean of fingerprints, not a sound was heard all night, the gun was not fired, and the window was left open. The case was soon dropped as unsolved due to the lack of evidence. “The perfect crime,” said one detective to his colleague as he put away the case file.

Ayami stood silently by the coffin of her aunt as it was lowered into the ground. She was an orphan and alone in the world again. Little by little family and friends went home until only she, uncle Kenny, and Edmund were left to ponder over her aunt’s life.

Aunt Hikari was a mystery to her only niece who loved her because she was the only relative she had in the world. At age ten, Ayami’s parents were killed in a car accident. They were on their way to the airport to pick up Hikari who hadn’t seen her older sister in years. Ayami was thrown into her aunt’s care since no other living relative could be found. Her aunt was not fond of children and soon put Ayami into a boarding school that she paid for with the money Ayami’s parents left her in their will. All in all Hikari only had to see her niece during the summer vacations.

Kenny Stone was a successful lawyer who lived in a grand house with his only son Edmund. His wife died of cancer when their son was barely fourteen. The house was lonely without her even though they had a staff of people working round the clock to keep the house in order. It was at a party of mutual friends that Kenny first met Hikari. He was infatuated with her good looks and worldly personality. They soon married and when Kenny learned she had a niece he insisted that the girl should live with them and be a sort of sister to his son who was by then fifteen.

Edmund’s first impression of Ayami was that of a scrawny fourteen-year-old with lanky dark brown hair and dull green eyes. She was not worth his time and clearly not an equal so in that first year he chose to ignore her. It was not until his sixteenth birthday that he began to notice Ayami’s good qualities. That day his best friends came early for his birthday party so they went off together to ride their bikes for a while before more guests arrived. Edmund was forever forbidden by his father to jump Dead Man’s Cliff with his bike but that day he felt like all was well with the world and no harm could come to him. So with the encouragement of his friends he jumped it and for a few blissful moments his landing was perfect but then came the downward hill and the jagged rocks. He was thrown off his bike to roll down the rest of the hill without it. He survived with only a few cuts and bruises but his clothes were all muddy and torn. That’s how he appeared to his stepmother Hikari who went into a fit of hysterics over the stupidity of his actions. To say the least he was grounded and the party was canceled by his father who sent him up to his room without anything to eat or a “happy birthday.” It was Ayami who snuck into his room that night to relieve him of hunger and surprised him by bringing a cupcake with a candle that he could blow out. Since then he include her among his best friends and together they became mutual confidantes.

It was on one of their confession nights that Ayami finally told Edmund why her eyes were such a dull shade of green. “It’s because I can’t sleep Edmund, and it’s not insomnia, I have what I think is called chronic nightmares.” He had to laugh at her seriousness and the use of the word ‘chronic.’ “Please don’t laugh Edmund, I’m not laughing.” It was true she was not in fact there were tears in her eyes. He immediately pulled her into a compassionate embrace and afterwards she leaned her head onto his shoulder and told him everything.

It was her first summer vacation when the nightmares started. “Oh Edmund they felt so real as if I wasn’t dreaming but I always woke up from them in the morning.” The dream sequence started with someone waking her up but in the darkness she couldn’t see who it was. They next covered her mouth so she couldn’t scream then flashed a gun in her face. A cloth was then placed over her eyes and she was given the instructions to not move otherwise the gun would be fired. The events that happened next were too horrible to describe, they involved touching and prodding. “Sometimes I wake up with some bruises but not often so I think that I must move too much in my sleep. What do you think Edmund?”

He could not think the description was too horrible that if it were him he would choose never to fall asleep again. “It sounds too real to be a dream,” was the only thing he could say. “Is the voice man or woman Ayami?”

“It was always muffled but every now and then it sounded like it was a woman. But now I hear a man sometimes, it almost sounds like your father’s voice but that’s silly of me because many voices can sound like your father’s.”

Yes, it was silly Edmund knew his father was incapable of such a crime but this needed some investigation. For the next few weeks he tried to stay up and watch Ayami’s door making sure no one got in or out. Sadly he was only human and succumbed to sleep often except for one night. That was the night of his aunt’s death. He first heard the footsteps, someone creeping through the front door, another running to the kitchen. Then the one from the kitchen crept up the stairs to Ayami’s room. Edmund was about to make his move to barge in and catch whoever was causing Ayami her horrible nightmares when he heard the front door open again. Whoever it was skillfully climbed the stairs without the slightest creak. The moon chose that moment to shine on the one coming up the stairs. Horror of all horrors Edmund saw his stepmother holding a gun to her side walking toward Ayami’s room. She stopped at the door and whispered words that Edmund will never forget, “I forgot the clothe, now what am I suppose to use to keep that little slut’s mouth shut?” It was then she opened the door, stepped in, and soon afterwards he heard the thump and next saw his father come out of the room and stand in the moonlight. It was then Kenny turned and saw his son crouched in the shadows watching him.

“No more nightmares, son, no more, now go to sleep.”

“What’s that in your hand father?” Edmund noticed his father was holding some object.

“A tape with my voice on it. She can’t use it anymore… good night son, I’ll see you in the morning.” And with that they went to bed.

Only two of the three people standing by the now pile of dirt, truly knew what happened that night Hikari died. Kenny walked up to Ayami who was shedding silent tears and gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze. “You know you are not alone Ayami, Edmund and I will always be your family no matter what. We will protect you.” With a smile Ayami turned around and threw her arms around her uncle in an honest heartfelt embrace.

“Thank you uncle, thank you, now I will have no more nightmares, she’s taken them with her.” And with that the three left the grave sight where nightmares ended and which let green eyes finally shine brightly.