Your Gothic Nightmare

The Nightmare
scenario by Emma Raynsford, age 17

Set in 16th century England, a man and his young wife are on horseback travelling through countryside to a nearby town from their village. They arrive at an inn outside the town around dusk, and decide to stop for the night. From outside the sounds of laughter and singing can be heard from within and it seems rife with customers, but upon entering, there is only the bar tender; a pale, skeletal man with a gaunt face, two haggard looking men and strangely a beautiful woman inside. The couple comment on what they heard but the bar tender merely smiles and replies “You won’t find any life around these parts.” There is a silent exchange between the women and the bar tender. They acquire a room and exhausted from their travels, fall into deep slumber. The woman dreams that she awakens to find her husband gone, and perching at the end of the bed is an odd looking creature beckoning her to follow it. She is strangely unafraid and curiously follows the creature to the bar below. The sight that greets her is terrifying. The bar tender and beautiful woman are feasting savagely on the two men who have countless punctures wounds from previous feeds, and appear to be under a thrall. The creature wanders over to sit upon the bar as the woman stops feeding to offer the creature a share of her meal, petting it lovingly. There are other vampires now, drinking from flagons filled with blood. The most horrific scene of all however is the body of her husband slumped on the dirt floor, deathly pale, with twin puncture wound still oozing blood from his neck. She screams and awakens from her dream to find her husband is gone. In panic she rushes to find him. All appears normal. The woman has gone but the two men remain unmoved. Her husband sits at the bar, and appears tired from lack of sleep. He turns to his wife, smiles and says "Do you mind if we stay but one more day? I’m feeling rather drained."

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