It Came
			by Daphne Xu
			Copyright 2003

The first night he heard it, Tony climbed into his bed and
lay on his back.  It was a relatively warm evening for the
season.  He slept nude, covered by only one sheet and one
blanket.  His mind wandered freely, as it descended into
unconsciousness.

Moaning.  Long, slow, low moans.  "Hhunnnnhhhhhh...
Hhunnnnhhhhhh... Hhunnnnhhhhhh... Hhunnnnhhhhhh..."  Tony
only gradually realized he was hearing a distant moaning.
He couldn't move, could barely breath, his mind fogged out.
He tried to scream, but the scream was caught in his throat.
He tried to gasp.

In panic, his mind spasmed painfully, and he found himself
away, drenched in sweat, and chilled to the bone.  He
breathed deeply, and discovered that he _could_ breath and
move.

At thirteen years of age, Tony was far too old to go running
to his parents' room screaming from a nightmare.  So he
breathed deeply and slowly, willing his hyperfast heartbeat
return to normal.

He got up, put on some pajamas, and went to the bathroom.
That was a relief right there.  He returned to bed,
searching for a dry place to lay down on.

The next morning, he vaguely recalled the nightmare over
breakfast.  The dismal prospect of going to school today
preoccupied him.  He spent the afternoon after school
reading a nice children's novel and telling himself that he
should get to work on that short story assigned in English
class.

By bedtime, he had completely forgotten the nightmare, and
complete forgotten his drenched bed.  He went to bed nude
again.

He found himself paralyzed, again, hearing moans.
"Hhunnnnhhhhhh...  Hhunnnnhhhhhh...  Hhunnnnhhhhhh...
Hhunnnnhhhhhh..."  Those long moans were punctuated with
shorter, higher-pitched clipped moans.  Tony could only lie
there in utter terror.

After he finally yanked himself awake, he couldn't go back
to sleep.

He was tired all day at school, the next day.  Nevertheless,
he stayed as late as possible that evening.  Fortunately, it
was Friday evening, so it wasn't a school night.  But
finally, after Dad told him in no uncertain terms that he
wasn't too old (or too big) to be spanked, he went to bed.

That night, the moaning got ever louder and higher in pitch.
It was broken up by frequent gasping sounds and even some
screams.  In his fogged mind, Tony could barely wonder if
anyone else heard the noises, or whether they were all in
his head.

The next night, Tony woke up drowning in a roomful of white,
translucent, slimy gunk.