Camisado

It happens when you least expect it, like most unappealing things do. When the dreary day comes to a close and you snuggle beneath your blankets cozily and the warmth surrounds you, finally allowing you to become comfortable, you succumb to a deep sleep. One of the most restorative you've had so far.

Your mind isn't there anymore. You find yourself drifting off more and more with each passing second feeling like an eternity. You know you're about to release your mind at rest. . .until you find yourself in a much different place than you imagined.

Are you asleep? You don't know. You can't know. You see a white light before you, and it feels pleasant to the touch of your now-frozen flesh. You're cold, and you know something isn't right, but you can't move because your brain has paralyzed your spine.

You try to speak, but can't. If you make an effort to move, it will get you nowhere, and it is only then do you realize you're faced with a helpless situation. Your body begins to sting like your cracked skin from reloading your rifle in the unforgiving Winter.

You convince yourself that if you can move, you can snap out of this delusion. That is all you can assume it is, merely a nightmare. You're assured now that it will end soon. You imagine you will wake up in a cold sweat, but will come to settle down again.

You imagine this until you don't. The white light is becoming more and more distinct, and you still have no idea what it is. What it could be is unimaginable to you at this point, and you know this because you came upon the realization that your brain was spilling chemicals into you. You read about this process somewhere, but you never imagined it would happen to you.

And then nothingness.

Your blood runs as cold as your murderer's intentions as he treads away into the night.