I pull down my ponytail and fling the rubber band on the couch. Pulling on a worn out, oversized t-shirt and wiggling out of my work-pants, I get ready for the night. I take a bottle of water out from the refrigerator and walk to my bedroom with a bounce in my step.

It's been a good day. I got a promotion and he took me out for a celebratory dinner date. I blushed thinking about how he held my face, reverently and with so much adoration after he kissed me goodnight.

I lie down pulling the covers up to my chest, while smiling to myself. I bury my face into my pillow and turning over I laugh. It's so weird to be so goofily happy.

I throw off the covers after staring at the ceiling for some time and turn up the air conditioning. It's very warm tonight. I let my left leg dangle from the edge of the bed and fall asleep hugging my toy penguin.

I wake up sweating. The air conditioning has been switched off. I wonder if I had even switched it on in the first place. Rubbing the sleep off my eyes, I take a sip from the water bottle. How is it still cold? How long was I out? I check my phone. 2:00 a.m. Huh. That's like 3 hours from when I went to bed. I shrug it off and slip back under the covers.

It's oddly cold, all of a sudden. I try to close my eyes and sleep but something bothers me. I throw away the covers and turn on the air conditioning again. Again it's too cold! I cover up again, this time keeping my left leg dangling from the edge of the bed. I hug my toy penguin tighter and close my eyes.

My ankle feels cold. The cold is moving up my leg. It stops at the edge of the blanket covering part of my upper left thigh.

I wake up groggily and look around. Nothing. The temperature seems to have dropped a lot but I have my "blankie" and "hugsy". I hold "hugsy", the penguin closer and will myself to fall asleep again.

The cold is back again. This time something scrapes against my skin as the cold traces my leg. Upwards. Upwards. Upwards. Blankie. Down. Down. Down. Toes. I think I feel some sort of a liquid drip down my leg. Drip. Drip. Drip. I try to retreat my leg into my blanket but I don't seem to be able to move it.

Tug! I'm halfway out of the bed, the lower half of my body dangling off the side. My eyes shoot open as I try to retreat back.

Tug!

Scream!

I crash onto the floor,my fingernails desperately digging into the mattress hoping to pull my weight back up the bed. Hugsy falls to the floor beside me. A rotting hand with long black fingernails seizes it from under the bed.

A scream escapes my throat as I try to scramble off the floor, climb up to my bed, clawing at the bedsheets that fail to support my weight and fall in a puddle to the ground.

Tug!

Scream!

My body twists in a painfully uncomfortable angle as the lower half of my body is dragged under the bed. I try to move my body up, desperately clawing at the mattress. My nails hurt but I pull myself up, ever so slightly. I claw at the mattress with renewed energy, searching for somewhere to hold.

Tug!

Scream!

Blackness!

©Arpita Mukherjee 2017
All rights reserved

***

This is the first horror story I'm publishing on Wattpad. I'm trying all these new genres but horror is the one I'm most familiar with. Let me know your thoughts on this in the comments.

Vote. Comment. Share. Xx

Also check out my other books, "Herstory" and "1000 Things To Do Before You Die"

Thank you for all your love and support. You're the best readers in the world.

Love,
Thefreakyflamingo