Footsteps in the Night

(Done in collaboration with another poet)

No one is around...I am alone in my home,
fear grips my heart as footsteps roam.

I hear the footsteps quickly progressing,
my heartbeat quickens, with fears coalescing.

The sounds drew closer...becoming more intense...
and in the pure darkness...I had no defense.

I cowered under my blanket...as if it would help...
quivering in fear, I let loose a yelp.

I am now trembling...trickling with tears,
living out one of the worst of my fears.

"They are coming.." I murmured aloud...
clenching on to my linen shroud.

I stared into a darkness so pure...
unknowing how much more I can endure.

The footsteps ceased...but attentively I waited,
for there was a eerie silence created.

Listening close...I heard a labored breath...
the room then filled with the chill of death.

Its origin unknown, in its direction I stared,
in a pool of sweat, I am beyond scared.

The breathing gets heavier...so I began to shout...
"What do you want!? Leave me alone!" I cried out.

Begging, shivering, sweating and crying,
but it had no interest in replying...

I think it is gone...the breathing had stopped...
so I took a deep breath, my defenses dropped.

It was then that it pounced at a wicked speed,
pinning down my wrists...making them bleed.

It stared into me with empty eyes...
taking great pleasures in my whimpers and cries.

Its skin was scaly, cold, and grey...
with an overwhelming stench of decay.

He coiled his back, and his razor-teeth gleamed...
then bit into my flesh while I shook and screamed.

Finally I awoke from this hellish nightmare...
trembling in fear...gasping for air.

Panting and praising in relief...
freed at last from the nightly grief.

But the nightmare never ends, I know this well...
for I relive all of the terror, in a reoccurring hell.