Nightmare

I had a dream last night.

I was walking through a terrible wasteland. Buildings were demolished. Dead bodies were strewn all over the place.

It was like the end of the world.

There was fire everywhere, and the sun was obscured by some sort of smog.

I went over to one body and turned it onto its back. I began to drag it toward some others. Once there was a sizable group of corpses, I began to put them in order.

I'm not sure how to describe it, but doing this seemed to greatly satisfy some hyper-sensitive OCD compulsion that was bothering me.

As I admired my handiwork, I heard a noise behind me. Turning, I saw that it was a teenager. She stared wide-eyed at the bodies at my feet.

"M-mom? Dad!?" She ran toward them, but stopped when she saw me.

"You are afraid, young one," I said. "Let me help you. Together we can bring order back to this world."

She backed away. "No!"

"But the Darkness would like to have you aboard. It took awhile for me, but I eventually saw the...uh...dark. That's all They wanted from me: cooperation. We can bring complete order to the world. If you're willing, more willing than I was, there will be no problem."

I advanced toward her, hand outstretched.

"Get away from me!" she screamed.

She turned to run, but I caught her. Placing my hands on either side of her head, I worked to rearrange her mind. But she was quite stubborn.

The change didn't go as planned. She convulsed and dropped to the pavement, dead.

As I walked back toward my macabre masterpiece, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in a broken window.

My eye sockets were empty and black, save for a small point of light in each. And my skin--it was as though shadows were constantly contorting across it.

A black wave arose behind me and I greeted it cordially.