The Nightmare Series Part 3

Paralyzed by Chris Morin

    I was sleeping perfectly still, calm, dead to the world. A feeling suddenly came over me that wasn't quite right. Something was terribly, terribly wrong and I was slowly brought back to consciousness. I awoke with a startle and sat up quickly. I noticed a dark figure in the bedroom. It turned to look at me. Probably just my wife, I thought. But then I realized that I wasn't alone in the bed. My wife was sleeping next to me, completely oblivious to what was happening only a few feet from her resting soul. No need to do anything stupid so I slowly raised my hands into a surrendering posture. I knew that if I played it safe the stranger wouldn't hurt my wife or me.
    A car drove past the house and the light from its headlamps lit up the room for a brief second. The light revealed that the figure in my room was a boy, no older than seventeen. His gaze sent a shudder up my spine and I knew right then and there that I needed to be careful. This boy was dangerous.
    "Please take what you like, leave, and never come back to this house again." I said in a whisper loud enough for him to hear but quiet enough I hoped, that my wife wouldn't waken. All I needed now was a hysterical woman making a terrible situation much more dangerous than it already was. "I will forget everything I have seen as long as you promise never to come into my home again."
    The young man looked at me, thought about it for a second and then pulled out a gun from his coat. I sat up even straighter this time and raised my hands higher to the ceiling.
    "Hey, I don't want any trouble." I said. But I began to feel that trouble had already entered my world and was about to change my life forever.
    The boy snarled at me. "What if I just shoot you and then rape your wife?" His voice was deep and raspy like he had a bad case of laryngitis. "Or better yet," he continued "what if I just rape your wife in front of you while you watch?"
    I felt my heart drop into my abdomen. I was paralyzed with fear. My jaw was in my lap and I suddenly had lost all of my manhood, all of my confidence. The fear had taken over and I was no longer in control.
    "Get up." He said motioning with his gun. I stumbled to get to my feet as he waved the gun at me. My legs were trembling and I could feel the tears flow down my cheeks.
    The intruder turned to look at my wife but kept the gun pointed at my chest. "She is a looker." He said and I could see a smile forming on his face. He was actually going to attack her. I could see it in the glow of his red eyes. They were eyes of a cat on the prowl, an animal, and he was ready to pounce. He turned his attention back to me and the smile was gone.
    "Get on your knees. I want you to watch." he said. "If you so much as move, I will blow her away."
    It was then that my wife woke up. All she did was turn to her side and open her eyes. It took her a couple of seconds to realize that the person standing at the foot of her bed was nobody she recognized. She gasped. It took the intruder's attention away from me long enough to do what I had to. I took advantage of the distraction and lunged at the boy. I slammed into him with my shoulder. The boy flew backwards, hit his head on the edge of the bureau and the gun flew out of his hand. He was down but only dazed.
    I went for the gun but he kicked me in the back and my hand pushed the gun under the bureau. My wife meanwhile, sat up in terror and screamed. The intruder looked at her and then started towards her. I tackled the boy from behind and got an elbow in the mouth for my trouble. He got to his feet but I grabbed his left leg and pulled it as hard as I could. The teenager tumbled to the floor.
    "GET OUT OF HERE!" I yelled at my wife who was paralyzed with all of the confusion. The scream broke her fear-induced trance and she got out of the bed and ran out of the room. The boy kicked me again, this time in the groin. The shot of pain hit me instantly and I doubled over. But instead of going after my wife, the boy began to search frantically for the gun.
    I gained my composure and started after him. He saw me and swung his arm. I ducked the punch and hit him with an uppercut to the jaw. I heard the shatter of his teeth, my hand or a combination of both. Either way, I knew I was in trouble. This kid was a lot younger than me and in much better shape. I was running out of gas and he knew it. I had only one shot of getting out of this fight alive.
    I ran for the door and a moment later, the intruder followed me. I darted around the corner but didn't go downstairs. I stopped a few feet past the stairs and hid in a dark corner of the hallway. The boy didn't see me and started down the stairs.
    "Hey!" I yelled.
    The boy turned his head as my foot hit him squarely on the shoulder blade. The kick sent the boy tumbling down the darkened stairs. He reached the bottom and slammed head first into an old iron radiator. It was a sickening thud. The boy's neck was snapped and he died instantly on impact.
    I took a deep breath and turned on the hallway light. I could not believe what I saw. There were two bodies, not one, at the foot of the stairs. One was the intruder. The other was my wife. While in her haste to get out of the room and away from the intruder, she must have slipped on the stairs. She hit her head on the radiator and died instantly on impact.
    I stood in horror, paralyzed.

About Paralyzed

    I know what you are probably thinking, "Chris, two stories into the Nightmare Series and your wife dies in each one. Are you trying to tell us something?" No I am not. Notice that this is Part 3. I have written another part to The Nightmare Series previous to this one called WW3 but I have yet to write an ending to it. I have debated about including it here without an ending but some of you might say, "Okay, now what?" so I have decided to wait to post it until I can finish it properly. In the meantime, I decided to post Paralyzed.
    To be honest, your nightmares contain your worst fears. And those fears can be quite disturbing. In The Blast, two of my great fears, nuclear holocaust and the loss of a loved one play a major role. In Paralyzed, two of my worst fears are also realized: the loss of a loved one and waking up to a burglar in your house.
    Both stories are quite similar. The main character, in both cases the husband, tries to save his wife but in both instances his actions are directly responsible for his wife's death. The keyword to keep in mind here is nightmare. If these stories were to have happy endings, I don't think I would have called this The Nightmare Series. I can assure you and my wife as well, the loss of a loved one especially a spouse won't be a continuous theme in this series.

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