The Nightmare

 
   
  I awoke in the middle of the night breathing hard. Sweat covered my forehead. My body trembled as I recalled the horrible dream in which I had barely escaped alive.
It all started yesterday at school. I had finished my work and decided to change my library book. I was flicking through a book named "The Mysteries of the Unexplained" when I found a handwritten warning "Read it if you dare!" I began reading. When I came to a chapter about vampires, it became a little scary. Page by page it got more frightening, but I could not put the book down.
That night in bed I couldn't wait to read more, but my Mam said that it was too late and switched off the light. I closed my eyes, with visions of vampires swirling around in my head....  
  My black cat, Fang, who was sleeping on my stomach, began to wake up. His teeth grew longer and sharper, like a vampire's. And he had grown wings. Then his eyes, turning crimson red, fell upon my bare neck. Fang crept slowly toward me. Then he sunk his razor sharp teeth into my throat. I felt the stinging pain and sat up startled, slapping my hand to my neck, but, I was not in my room...  fang 
  It was dark and gloomy, but I could see stone walls, like those in a castle. Fang, purring happily by my side, was back to his old self. He then ran out the door and I, foolishly, followed him. I stumbled through heavy fog, tripped and fell. As I picked myself up, I saw before me the headstone of a grave and carved into the stone was my name! That was bad enough, but what I read next sent shivers down my spine.

The tombstone had my date of death December 8, 2000. Whatever it was that was going to kill me, hadn't happened yet. I still had time to save my own life, but how? The words on the grave said that I died a very painful death, but gave no more details.

I reached out and picked Fang up from off of the gravestone where he'd been sitting, and he purred at me. I had to find a way back home so that I could solve the mystery of my death before it was too late.

With Fang in my arms, I hurried back to the castle, but inside it had totally changed. I was now standing in a ballroom, lit by many chandeliers. Then things happened very quickly. The noise of a creaky floorboard seemed to frighten Fang, who jumped out of my arms onto one of the crystal chandeliers. This caused the floor beneath me to open and I fell through onto a long slide. When I came to a stop and looked around, I found I was no longer inside the castle but outside again.

In front of me was a small cottage with two doors. Both doors looked alike, except for their knockers - one was a lion's head and the other looked like a human hand. On the wall between the doors was a sign with some writing on it. The words puzzled me, at first. I read them again: "What goes through a door, but never goes in or comes out?" I knew the answer to this riddle, but did it mean something else? Was it a warning? Or was some one or some thing trying to help me?

 
   
  doors by conor 
   
  One door could be a trap and the other one, the right door. The lion's head breathed fire when touched. Maybe Fang had sliced the hand off someone and hung it on the other door to tempt me to open that one. So I had to decide which door was the one to save my life. I closed my eyes and picked the one with the human hand hanging from it. Slowly, I opened the door and saw a huge maze of fire. On the other side of the maze I saw a large handsome dog. The dog was laying helplessly on the stone floor as if someone had put a spell on him.

Just as I was about to walk forward and help the dog, Fang came flying out of nowhere and attacked me again. He had his claws in my head and he was chewing on my ear. I swatted at him, but he hung on. I had to find a way to get across the flames and help the dog because something told me that the dog was my only way out. I was stumbling around trying to get Fang off my head when a huge burst of flame shot out of the fire. Fang hissed loudly and flew away.

I looked at the dog and, to my amazement, it got up, looked at me and barked in English "Answer the riddle!" I looked again at the words on the wall "What goes through a door, but never goes in or comes out?" "The answer has to be a keyhole," I said and no sooner had I spoken than one appeared in the other door.

Suddenly Fang came flying at me, but I ducked and Fang flew headlong into the wall. A brick fell from the wall, but Fang flew away uninjured. "Fang's head can't be as hard as that!" I said to myself as I picked up the brick. It seemed very light, in fact it was hollow and it opened like a box. Inside I saw three keys - one blue, one red and one green.

I chose the red key and the flames rose higher. Then I chose the green key and suddenly thick, thorny vines wrapped around me so that I couldn't breathe. Panicking, I fished inside the box and gripped the last key. Shuffling awkwardly toward the door, I was almost unconscious when I stuffed the key into the keyhole. The next thing I knew was that the vines were gone and the dog was licking my face. I stood up and looked around. The flames were gone.

Trying to find our way out of the room, the dog and I began to walk through the castle. We ended up in the throne room. Sitting on the throne was none other than Fang! The dog barked and launched himself at Fang. The cat hissed angrily and flew straight at the dog's neck. I knew I was in trouble, so I backed away to let them fight, because I knew only one could win.

The cat hissed and the dog growled. The louder it growled, the bigger it grew. Fang began to back away, but the dog pounced, landed on Fang and flattened it.
I didn't know whether I was happy or sad - my cat was dead, but it had tried to kill me. By now the dog had returned to its normal size, but even that wasn't very small.
"Maybe you could be my pet, if I get out of this alive," I said to the dog, "so I'll have to think of a name for you."
"Call me Rex," said the dog.
"Very well, Rex it is," I agreed, stepping over what was left of Fang.

I began to examine the throne that Fang had been protecting.
I sat down on the tall, golden throne amazed at its beauty, but I noticed water everywhere. Soon I realized the seat of my pants was wet too. Starting to get up from the throne, I slipped on the water and fell backwards. My arm hit something hard. The next thing I knew, I was spinning down a pipe.
I fell down and down until I rolled over bumping my head on something solid. I tried to move but was stuck in the water pipe.
"Rex, help."
The dog grabbed me by the seat of my pants and pulled me into the light.

I stood up and looked around, with Rex at my side. I was in a tunnel, which seemed to stretch for miles. But the main problem was that I was standing in water and it was rising. I had to get out of there, and fast, but how? I noticed some writing on the wall. It looked like Egyptian writing. Last week, I had done a project in school all about Egypt and had learned a little of their language. So, all I had to do was to read this and it might help to get me out of here. I tried to make sense of it and suddenly I knew what it meant.

The message on the wall said, "Look in the water, and catch your way out." I stood there looking stupidly at the writing while the water rose to my waist. I didn't understand. Rex said, "You dummy, don't you see these fishbone keys swimming in the water? Catch one, and let's scram."

I held my breath and ducked underwater for a key. I then waded over to the door and stuck in the key. It didn't work. Now the water was to my chest. I grabbed for another key, and swam back to the door. By now the water was to my chin, and Rex was dog-paddling beside me. "Hurry up," said Rex, "I don't have nine lives." Thankfully, this key worked. The door opened and Rex and I went washing out.

The next thing I knew, I felt cold water on my face. I jumped up to save myself from drowning in the deep water, and found that I was in my own bed, which was soaking wet from the rain coming through the open window above my bed.
I looked down on the floor to find my dog, and saw only muddy paw prints. I followed the prints to the window where they mysteriously became human footprints. Startled, I looked out my window, and saw a young king with a golden crown on his head. In the middle of the crown was a picture of a cat and a dog. The king winked at me, said "Thanks," and disappeared into the rain.  
   
  The End 
   
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