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"A Victim of Cliche"

        I jump to my feet and pace frantically around the darkened room. What was supposed to be a fun weekend in a cabin in the woods with my friends had turned to disaster faster than I could register. It felt like mere moments ago, I saw one of my friends butchered with an axe right before me. Thankfully I was hiding under the bed. The killer might not know I even existed, for when my friend died, the killer immediately left.

As I paced, I kept thinking to myself that this had to be a dream. There's no way all of these extreme and horrendous acts had actually happened, right? Yes, I thought, It has to be a dream. I'll just wake up shortly and all of this will be over. I'll be greeted by my friends and everything will be fine again. I mean, what are the chances an actual killer shows up at a cabin in the middle of nowhere? It's like something straight out of a horror movie.

Just as my mind registered the horror movie idea, lightning flashed through the window, lighting up the room with a quick flash of blue. Had it been raining before? How had I not noticed it?

I made my way to the window, or as close as I could as to not be spotted, if the killer were out there right now looking for me, just close enough to see how heavy the rain was coming down. The trees were swaying pretty heavily as more lightning flickered. This definitely felt like something out of a horror movie. This thought convinced me even more that I had to be dreaming.

In what felt like seconds of calm, I heard footsteps creaking against the floorboards, just outside the room I was in. This made me squeal before going to hide back under the bed. I must have been making too much noise, for the footsteps became heavier and faster as they approached my room. I could see their muddy boots right in front of my face. They were unmoving but I could hear them breathing heavily. He then traded one foot for his knee as he knelt down to take a peek under the bed.

I knew I needed to move, to be anywhere but where I was right now, but there was nothing I could do, nowhere I could go. My heart raced as I saw his face peeking from the top of the bed and staring right at me. His face then twisted into an eerie smile as he reached under the bed and grabbed me. I tried backing away as he did so, but the underside of the bed was such a tight squeeze that it made movement nearly impossible.

He pulled my arm and effortlessly lifted me out from under the bed and up to my feet. He then raised the axe in his opposite hand up high and swung down at me, killing me almost immediately.

***

I was awakened by the booming of the thunder from outside. I was alive. Looking around in the darkness, however, I still felt uneasy. This was the same room I was killed in in my dream. It was a dream, right? It had to be. After all, I was still alive.

To ease my mind, I left the room I was staying in and went down the hall. Immediately, I was startled by the sight of a mangled body on the floor just before me. It was the same friend I'd seen being killed right in front of me in my dream.

I knelt down beside them, tears welling in my eyes. I had known him for as long as I could remember. He'd helped me out with so much through the years. It seemed like nothing could tear him down, but I was wrong. I was going to miss him dearly.

There was a sound of creaking footsteps in another room. The killer was still here. This felt all too similar to my dream. And I knew exactly how it was going to end. I would hide and the killer would find me and end me.

But what if it wasn't the killer? What if it was another friend who was with us at the cabin? Nobody said this had to be exactly like the dream I'd had.

However, as I looked down the hallway toward the footsteps, I saw a hand wielding an axe that was peeking from beyond a door. My heart was racing. I had to get out of here!

I slowly made my way over to the window in the room I'd just been in, careful not to make any noise that might alert the killer to my presence. I then opened the window carefully and crept over the ledge. I had escaped.

All around me, the wind was howling. The lightning was like flickering lights and thankfully was there to guide my way back to the van. I was glad to be able to escape this place. I climbed into the car and shut the door as softly as I could, thankful that the storm was just noisy enough to make me sound invisible. I tried starting the van. That's when I realized my fatal mistake. I didn't have the keys.

I then heard a knock on the van window and my heart stopped. He'd found me.

***

It was strange, being murdered by the same man multiple times and I never felt any pain upon waking up. At this point, I had been caught several times. Caught and slaughtered by the same man with an eerie face. It's like he belonged in a horror movie or something.

At this point, I knew I was done for. No matter what I tried, whether it be escaping, fighting back, hiding, waiting until daylight, long after the killer had left to make a run for it. I'd even made it home once. But the moment my head hit the pillow I was right back here. It was unfair. I was caught in the most terrifying moment of my life, running forever from a killer. And I knew deep down that this torment would never end. Maybe it was a cruel joke from God or a dream that I would never wake up from. Heck, it could even be a glitch in the matrix. Whatever the case, this is my fate. And I must suffer.

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