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This story is a horror story done when I wanted something Poe-like, but different. Finally finished it (except for the revision process, but I want feedback for that part). Read and enjoy. ^_^

Piri's Nightmare

The cold water crushed Piri as she was pulled under, siphoning the breath from her body as the liquid fought her efforts to escape. It surrounded her, offering none of the comfort she had seen others take in it, stealing her life and her breath. The silent behemouth held her under its surface with ease, not caring that she didn't want to be there. Piri opened her mouth to scream and sucked in a mouthful of water. She began to drown.

It had been the family dog to finally pull her to the surface, jumping in to save the girl from her apparent fate as her older brother, only seven, watched with his mouth hanging open. Her mother came running out, screaming her name as the family dog managed to somehow drag her from the water. Her mother, her protector, shoved Piri's brother out of the way and batted at the dog to grab the girl who was coughing and vomiting. She bundled her daughter up in her arms, kicking the dog out of the way as she turned to the pool and threw Piri back in.

Piri woke up with a gasp, whimpering and shaking as the dream faded from her. It had happened so long ago that she remembered very few of the details, except that her brother had been trying to teach her to swim by pushing her into the pool, and her dad had the dog euthanized because he was more comfortable believing the family dog had tried to kill her. But the dream was a dream and not a real memory; it told her to be afraid. And she was. Piri's life was controlled by those seconds spent in the family pool, unable to breathe, lost in an alien environment where there was nothing but an inescapable cold entity forcing her under the water.

The phone rang, piercing through her train of thought. She took a deep breath and forced herself to stand up and go into the kitchen to answer it. It's just a dream. Nothing more. "Hello?" she said, trying to smooth out her voice as she picked up the reciever.

"Well, it's about time you were home." The woman on the other end sighed. "you know I worry when I don't hear from you."

Piri looked from the calender to the clock. "I've been busy."

The was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. "I see. That doesn't mean you should ignore your mother like that. I just want to make sure you are all right, after all."

"I know."

The silence on the other end of the phone was slightly longer this time. "Well, I was talking to some ladies, and they were able to give me the number of a psychologist that is supposed to be very good. I thought you would like to go see him. It would be good for you, you know."

Piri's temple began to throb. "Mom, I'm fine."

"Just please, take down the number. I know you don't think you need to see someone, but it might do you some good. Especially now that you're father isn't with us any more." There was an impatient sigh at the other end. "I want to make sure you are all right, Piri."

"I know."

This time the silence stretched on for an eternity before her mother broke it. "Well, I have some errands to run, and Denise was going to take me out to eat this afternoon. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine Mom, really. Have fun."

"Of course. Take care."

Piri didn't bother saying bye as she hung up the phone. It didn't matter, as it wasn't what her mother wanted to hear anyways. And besides, she wasn't the only one with plans that day, either.


Vanessa greeted Piri with a smile when she opened the door. "Piri! It's so good to see you." Vanessa enveloped her in a hug, overjoyed to see her friend. "It's been far too long."

Piri pulled back and smiled as well. "It has." Vanessa was one of those people whose happiness was infectious, making those around her instantly feel better. "Ive just been so busy with everything, I haven't had time to do anything."

"You poor thing." Vanessa ushered her into the house. "Come on, Doug isn't here yet, but the tea should be ready." Vanessa winked at her as they made their way into the kitchen. "I think you two will get along."

Piri smiled at her friend, letting out a small laugh. "Maybe we will."


Halfway through the movie, Piri began to sweat. Vanessa had let Doug choose the movie, and he had picked something with action, adventure, and hot girls that needed rescuing. Halfway through, however, the hero of Doug's movie found himself diving into water as dark as a sapphire. Her heart sped up as she felt everything press into her, against her. She gasped, feeling her world shrink into a small metal box as it filled with air as thick and deadly as water.

Piri tripped over her purse as she stood up and fled, having to get out before the theater trapped her the way the pool did.

Vanessa found her in the woman's restroom, throwing up and crying. "Piri, are you okay?"

Piri shook with fear as she heaved. "No," she managed to get out. "I...I need to leave."

Vanessa pulled her friends hair away from her face. "It'll be alright. Let me go get Doug."



She was trapped inside a car filled with water. No matter what she did, Piri could not escape. Something drifted by the car windshield and she pounded on it. Her fathers dead and bloated face swam into view, eyes wide and unseeing as Piri tried to scream and sucked in a lungful of water. She began to drown.

Piri knew she was dreaming, but she could not break the dream. She had been driving, when she lost control of the car and it veered off a cliff into a lake. Try as she might, she could not open the door and escape. The water poured into the car, lapping at her ankles, a reminder of what was to happen to Piri if she could not escape. But the door would not budge. She was trapped.

Nightmares had always been a problem for Piri, though she was loathe to admit it. Everyone had nightmares on occasion, but how many had them night after night? She had learned long ago to function on little to no sleep, to catch bits and pieces of it when she could manage. She couldn't avoid it, the Deep Sleep, forever, but she learned over the years how to stall the inevitable. For most it seemed sleep was a time to recharge, to float through a make-believe world where everything was harmless, senseless, meaningless. For her it was different. It was in her dreams that she confronted that which she tried to run from, that which she tried to hide from. It was while she slept that her mind told her she was in trouble. That she was trapped.

She no longer woke up screaming, and for that small gift she was eternally grateful. But it was a small favor indeed, granted with pity from whatever beings ruled sleep, for her nights were no less troubled. They were still filled with all she had come to hate and fear over the years. It was a pitiless landscape carved by wounds left to fester deep in her own mind.

Piri slowly began to slip into depression, haunted by what she tried in vain to run from. Her mother, though she tried to be understanding, just didn't quite grasp how or why her daughter turned out the way she did. After all, it wasn't her fault her husband had the dog put down, nor her fault he blamed Piri. She had nothing to do with his atitude towards the children. Or his car accident, either. None of it was her fault. She just couldn't understand how her daughter had gone from such a joyful, carefree child to an adult who hid in her apartment and scorned her





Piri dreamt, and couldn't escape. Slowly she walked down the isle of the church, drawing ever closer to her father's coffin. It was the same dream she'd had since his death, her as a child going to see him lying dead in his coffin, only to find it filled with water. The water churned and two hands shot out, her father's dead bloated face swimming just underneath as his hands grabbed her and pulled her into the water filled coffin.

Why did my father have to down? Piri asked herself as she woke up from the dream, panting and slick with cold sweat. Within seconds the memory of how her father died resurfaced, never far away. She remembered. He didn't, She told herself, he was in a car accident.


Dinner had seemed like such an innocent offer, and she liked Doug. So Piri said yes. When they got there, he blindfolded her to make it a surprise. As they walked along, Piri noticed that the ground was...moving. She froze, forcing Doug to stop.

"We're on a pier." The words were barely a whisper, but carried. Fear gripped her,making it hard to breathe. "I...I can't Doug. I...can't. No. No.


Doug had lied. He had told her that she would be safe with him in the water, and he had lied to her. There was no one to save her this time. Panic consuming her, she took a deep breath to scream for help.


Doug held Piri close to him as she tried to calm down. The water was right behind him, the water that she knew would take her life if she let it. She couldn't let such a fickle creature earn her trust when it had tried to take her life once before.

"It will be alright," Doug said as he stroked her hair. "You'll be okay."

He's going to kill me! The unbidden thought had no grounds and she knew it, but it was all her fear needed. Panic rose inside her and she struggled, trying to pull away. Doug, caught off guard, stumbled backwards as she ripped herself out of his grip with a wail. Under normal circumstances he would have just righted himself. But the dock was unsteady and he was on the edge. Arms pinwheeling, his face registered surprise as he fell backwards and struck his head on the corner of the dock, the light in his eyes gone before his body even toppled into the water. Piri let out a terrified scream as she turned to run, but the water wanted what it had been denied all those years ago. Her foot caught on a coil of rope on the docks edge, carelessly forgotten by an unknown person. She plunged headfirst into the waiting water, no breath left to scream.

She began to drown.

Thanks! I still have to edit and revise it, but that's the basic story. Like I said, my inspiration was Poe, so I hope I captured that well.

its a really awesome story. but you know i love all your writing