Whispers swirled around and around in the grey abyss surrounding me.

Stop complaining

You just use big words to sound smart

What are you smiling about, it looks stupid

Stop singing, it's annoying

Their voices began to grow louder and louder the longer it went on, each word plunged in my skin as a dagger would and drew blood.

Cry louder. The others can't hear you yet

Your opinion isn't important

God, just shut up already

They were screeching now. The voices no longer sounded like voices, they became sharp metal dragging across porcelain plates, piercing my ears. The wounds they made poured crimson and pooled beneath me.

I tried shoving my fingers into my ears as far as they would go, to ease the pain.

The pressure of a presence could be felt behind me, that I'm certain wasn't there before. Yet, when I turned there was nothing, not even a shadow.

Before I could question it, something slowly wrapped around my throat and firmly grasped it.

I removed my hands from my ears in hope of pulling them off, but its grip only tightened like a snake.

What used to be voices took advantage of the opening, plundged their blades into my flesh all at once, and I screamed.

I shot up from what I thought to be a restless slumber and looked about the room.

Everything seemed fine, until I rubbed my itchy nose.

I noticed a wetness on my hand and looked to see red.

My nose had bled during slumber. That'd never happened to me before.

I wiped it off the best I could.

There was nothing else to do about it, at least not that I knew of.