This is for contests_99's Contest #8.

It's my first horror story! Or, at least, my first attempt at one. 

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Its fangs extend from their unseen source, tearing through its victim's flesh as it digs for its hidden prize. Fortunately for him, the young man is long dead by the time it extracts its treasure: the precious thing for which it has done everything. It reaches into the man's open chest cavity, extracting the wet, gooey mass of his heart. The organ is still warm, and oozes blood. 

Just the way it likes it. 

I jerk awake, my hands clenching at my sides as I tear at the meager blankets that cover me. For almost a year now, I have experienced this same nightmare night after night. It is inexplicable and downright creepy, but I cannot understand how it manages to instill in me such a deep-rooted terror. 

Every day, I am sentenced to watch some horrible creature maul an innocent person to death and eat their heart. Each time, the dying man or woman is different. Sometimes, it is a person I know, and sometimes it is a complete stranger. However, I am never the object of the monster's nightly rampage. 

Whatever the cause of my morbid fear of this nightly occurrence may be, it has come to the point that I would rather spend my nights curled up on my couch with a mug of coffee, answering emails or watching Netflix, than have to experience it yet one more time.  However, sadly, there is only so long that one can go without sleep before fatigue and other more serious medical issues begin to set in. 

Sighing to myself, I look at the alarm clock beside my bed and see that the time is 2:03. Since the nightmare never appears more than once a night, I should be able to safely snag four more hours of sleep. Attempting to dispel the gory images I have just seen from my mind, I allow my spent body to drift away into the peaceful world of slumber. 

However, after what feels like just seconds, I am back in the dark woods, the location of the nightmare. It is easily recognizable to me now, by the unnaturally wide leaves of the trees which obscure all traces of moonlight, and the dry crunch of fallen foliage at my feet. Yet, this time, there is no monster. In fact, there is nobody at all. 

The time is coming. 

I jump at the sound of the voice, slowly rotating around in an attempt to discern its location. However, this task is impossible. The deep, throaty growl comes from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. When I focus very hard, I realize that it may very well be emanating from my own head. 

"The time for what?" I ask, my voice as tremulous as my buckling knees. Only after I utter the words to I realize how stupid I sound. 

Here I am, talking to a random voice in a dream. 

Surprisingly, the unidentified being responds. 

You will know. 

And then, almost as if on cue, my eyes snap open. I find that I am fully dressed in an outfit suitable for the Cincinnati winter, from my red knit cap down to my brown fur boots. To my horror, my bedroom door has been left ajar. 

I could've sworn that I closed it before going to bed. 

The unshakable feeling that something is very wrong rises in my chest, and I decide to change back into my pajamas and go to sleep. The best way to forget something is to pretend it never happened. 

I reach for the zipper of my jacket, but am interrupted by the voice from my dream. 

The time is coming! 

It is faster and more insistent this time, blocking all other thoughts from my brain. In this moment, I can concentrate on the voice and the voice only. It completely occupies my mind. 

I stop in my tracks, my throat tightening. This the first time that any event from my nightmare has manifested itself in the real world. After hearing the voice's urgent plea, I find it impossible to remove my jacket. Instead, I walk out of my bedroom and to the main door of my house- which is also mysteriously open- as if in a trance. 

The time is coming!

The time is coming!

The time is coming!

The voice continues to plague me with its incessant howling and screaming of the same phrase repeated a thousand times, robbing me of the capacity to even think about defying its strange actions. 

It has absolute control over my body. 

The time is coming!

I stroll down my street quietly, headed for the small patch of trees behind one of my neighbors' houses. It has always been a happy place, alive with the playful shouts of neighborhood children, but now, it has taken on a morose mood. A light mist hangs over the treetops, which are suddenly denser than ever before, and a frigid breeze penetrates my bones as I enter the area. 

Surveying the region, recognition dawns upon me. 

The forest from my dream. 

It is now that I realize that something awful is happening to me- something far more sinister than I originally imagined. 

I must get out of here. 

Fighting against the voice's hypnotizing influence, I run back the way I came. Knowing that this little grove of trees is fairly small, I should easily be able to find my way back to the road. There, I can call for help. 

I run for what feels like ages in all directions, yet never see anything but more lines of trees. 

Strange. There's no way this place is this big. 

I finally stop, tired, and lean my back against a tree for support. 

"Hey! Anyone here?" I hear a voice coming from my left. Only, this one sounds normal, and is clearly very human. Relief floods me as I rush in the general direction of the sound to find two teenage girls in sweatshirts and jeans, looking completely mortified. 

"Oh, thank goodness," the first girl sighs. She looks like she's about to cry. "Excuse me, Miss, sorry to bother you, but we're lost in here. I know it sounds stupid since this tiny strip of trees isn't even a mile long, but I guess we just forgot the way back out to the street." 

"I'm Abby, and this is Tori," the other girl adds, a small smile crossing her quivering lips. 

"Actually, I'm lost too," I exhale sharply. "I was going to ask you guys if you had any idea what's going on." 

"Do you get the dreams?" Tori immediately asks, her eyes widening with fear. "The ones where you're eaten alive by this awful monster, and have to watch as it rips out your heart? Abby and I've been having them every night for year now. Yeah, both of us have the exact same dream. It's really creepy. We're sisters and all, but we're not that close." 

"Yes, I do have the dreams," I nod, somewhat reassured by the fact that I'm not in this alone. "Except, in mine, I'm not the one being eaten. I just watch. And I've never actually seen the monster either, only its fangs." 

"Oh, its repulsive," another voice shudders. I lift my eyes to see two guys coming out from behind a tree. They look a little older than the girls. "It's at least seven feet tall, and is unbelievably fat. It has hairy horns and three eyes. The worst part about it's that freaking third eye. Don't ever make the mistake of looking into it or you might just go insane."

"And its claws, that it uses to tear out your heart," the other boy squeezes his eyes shut. "Anyway, I'm Cole, and this is my friend, Joe. I see you've already met Abby and Tori. We found each other about a month ago at school and realized we were having the same problem, so we kinda decided to stick together. We didn't know there was anyone else, though." 

"Yeah, and we were all drawn to this forest at the same time. There's something really weird going on here," Abby remarks. 

And that's when the constant blaring of the voice in my head stops. 

The silence is almost more ominous than the voice's presence. 

Then, it comes back for just a second, with one final pronouncement. 

The time is here. 

I gasp, falling to all fours as a blinding headache strikes me. The voices of Abby, Tori, Cole, and Joe, blend into an indistinguishable blur as my body begins to expand, stretching past its natural limits. 

Tori shrieks as I rise, the terrible pain subsiding. I lift my left hand, but it takes an enormous amount of effort, as if the limb has doubled in weight. Bringing it up to my face, my heart nearly stops when I see the five-inch claws fused to the ends of my fingertips. 

It is then that I realize why I could never see the monster's face in the dream. 

I grin as my molars fall out of my mouth, quickly being replaced by fangs, and I stare down at the four cowering teenagers. 

I know what I must do.