Written by Jonathan Wojcik
NIGHTMARE MENAGERIE 2018, PART VI
Guest Art by Sylizar!
THE SHARPENER
Posted by Duplexide:
"I had a nasty dream recently.
In the dream I awoke in a thrift store/grocery store. I realized that I died and my soul was taken to a "half way point" where it was being processed. I was laying in an old metal bed covered in cartons of eggs. I fell asleep in the bed and woke up several feet away from it as if I had crawled out in my sleep. I had knocked over egg cartons and was covered in raw egg. I was scolded by a voice that I should go back to my bed with "the sharpener" and not to break anymore eggs. I looked at the bed and suddenly realized that on the wall next to the bed was "the sharpener" a completely flattened, stretched out man nailed to the wall. He was in an old timey barber outfit and his gray skin was wrinkled and distorted to a point where a face was indiscernible. He had a square wooden bucket of crayons also nailed to the wall about where a belt would be on him and on the edge of it was an old hand crank pencil sharpener. He dipped one of his hands of limp, flattened fingers deep into the crayon bucket at his waist and began sharpening it, handed it to me and began to sharpen another. I was told by the voice that the sharpener knows what color you need before you even know that you need it. Eventually the sharpener started squirming around and the bucket of crayons started to come loose. I hear the sharpener speak for the first time in the voice of a gravely old man, he says that if crayons aren't removed from the bucket then it'll fall off the wall and that I need to take the crayons to the other side of the room. I suddenly realized that the store was full of other sleeping people all over the floor and said it was probably a better idea to wait until morning so we don't wake anybody up. This enraged the sharpener and he lifted up one of his arms and wrapped is leathery boneless fingers around my neck lifting me off the ground. He said something about how he had done this job for all eternity and I shouldn't of dared to try and tell him how to do it better. I then passed out from choking and woke up for reals."
"I had a nasty dream recently.
In the dream I awoke in a thrift store/grocery store. I realized that I died and my soul was taken to a "half way point" where it was being processed. I was laying in an old metal bed covered in cartons of eggs. I fell asleep in the bed and woke up several feet away from it as if I had crawled out in my sleep. I had knocked over egg cartons and was covered in raw egg. I was scolded by a voice that I should go back to my bed with "the sharpener" and not to break anymore eggs. I looked at the bed and suddenly realized that on the wall next to the bed was "the sharpener" a completely flattened, stretched out man nailed to the wall. He was in an old timey barber outfit and his gray skin was wrinkled and distorted to a point where a face was indiscernible. He had a square wooden bucket of crayons also nailed to the wall about where a belt would be on him and on the edge of it was an old hand crank pencil sharpener. He dipped one of his hands of limp, flattened fingers deep into the crayon bucket at his waist and began sharpening it, handed it to me and began to sharpen another. I was told by the voice that the sharpener knows what color you need before you even know that you need it. Eventually the sharpener started squirming around and the bucket of crayons started to come loose. I hear the sharpener speak for the first time in the voice of a gravely old man, he says that if crayons aren't removed from the bucket then it'll fall off the wall and that I need to take the crayons to the other side of the room. I suddenly realized that the store was full of other sleeping people all over the floor and said it was probably a better idea to wait until morning so we don't wake anybody up. This enraged the sharpener and he lifted up one of his arms and wrapped is leathery boneless fingers around my neck lifting me off the ground. He said something about how he had done this job for all eternity and I shouldn't of dared to try and tell him how to do it better. I then passed out from choking and woke up for reals."
I feel like I've long ago run out of ways to say that this is one of the most frightening things I've ever heard described in my life, let alone illustrated. The fact that he's just grouchy about a job sharpening crayons for people not only does nothing to dampen the horror, but only gives him a more profound sense of wrongness.
SICK
Posted by Lance Alan Welch:
"First off, a little bit of backstory. I've been sick for about a week with a cold/respatory infection. Coughing,sneezing,runny nose,chest pain,sore throat the whole nine.
Well, this nightmare started off in my old house, at the backdoor is a double doored sliding glass. My dog, Rowan a 6 year old West Highland White Terrier went to the door and starting back/growling. My dad, went to go let him out and then realized something was out there. So, we turned the lights on. We saw just the bottom of a leg move out of view from the light. It was covered in blood, pus and swollen. As whatever it was began to move back into the light we saw a head, leaned over swollen and covered in sores, pus, blood and mucous. This creature or human, as it looked like a human. Was coughing and began moving toward the door slowly. As it did, we both realized, there where two of them. So, me and me my father went and grabbed some rifles from his room and readied to fight. When, I woke up."
"First off, a little bit of backstory. I've been sick for about a week with a cold/respatory infection. Coughing,sneezing,runny nose,chest pain,sore throat the whole nine.
Well, this nightmare started off in my old house, at the backdoor is a double doored sliding glass. My dog, Rowan a 6 year old West Highland White Terrier went to the door and starting back/growling. My dad, went to go let him out and then realized something was out there. So, we turned the lights on. We saw just the bottom of a leg move out of view from the light. It was covered in blood, pus and swollen. As whatever it was began to move back into the light we saw a head, leaned over swollen and covered in sores, pus, blood and mucous. This creature or human, as it looked like a human. Was coughing and began moving toward the door slowly. As it did, we both realized, there where two of them. So, me and me my father went and grabbed some rifles from his room and readied to fight. When, I woke up."
A simple, straightforward yucky guy, but WHAT a yucky guy, and what a dreadful context for him to appear!
GUFFREY?
Posted by Querm Lover:
"Bro I had this dream when I was like 12 that we're all going down to Texas for vacation and we had to stop to get drinks and snacks and stuff. I'm playing what looked like if a chrome GBA had two flip-out GBASP halves on the sides and I'm playing some mental knockoff of Donkey Kong King of Swing called Siamang Song Jungle Bruiser or something on it. We stop at what looks like a regional version of Walmart called Guffrey's. Guffrey's has all the usual stuff as well as "Guffrey's Signiture (Blank)" as their own little brand. I walk off to the toy section and look around. Everything looks straight out of the early 2000s with this really weird chrome and ocean aesthetic. I'm perusing some of the wares when I hear one of the little consoles kick to life in it's case. It looks like if a PS2 was not only a mobile console but could fold in half like a DS. It's playing Spongebob Battle for Bikini Bottom 2 and I'm losing my mind because that was always my favorite game growing up and the fact that they had made a sequel was blowing my mind to pieces. I pick it up and start playing it in utter euphoria when I hear something else behind me. It's a motherfucking mannequin the height of the entire aisle covered in flaking chrome paint and a giant gaping chunk out of it's head. It screeches "DEATH IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES- YOU NEVER KNOW WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" as it's whole head split apart like it was being wrenched into pieces and it started jittering towards me. I start losing my mind and I take the thing (got me fucked up if you think I'm leaving my precious SBBB2 behind) and sprint like a madman back to my mom. I try to tell her what's happening but I can't talk all of a sudden. My parents and brother don't notice as the thing comes around the corner and grabs me. I woke up as I literally felt it's fucking hand around my waist and wake up wrapped so tight in my blanket I could have easily passed for a cartoon bug-printed mummy."
"Bro I had this dream when I was like 12 that we're all going down to Texas for vacation and we had to stop to get drinks and snacks and stuff. I'm playing what looked like if a chrome GBA had two flip-out GBASP halves on the sides and I'm playing some mental knockoff of Donkey Kong King of Swing called Siamang Song Jungle Bruiser or something on it. We stop at what looks like a regional version of Walmart called Guffrey's. Guffrey's has all the usual stuff as well as "Guffrey's Signiture (Blank)" as their own little brand. I walk off to the toy section and look around. Everything looks straight out of the early 2000s with this really weird chrome and ocean aesthetic. I'm perusing some of the wares when I hear one of the little consoles kick to life in it's case. It looks like if a PS2 was not only a mobile console but could fold in half like a DS. It's playing Spongebob Battle for Bikini Bottom 2 and I'm losing my mind because that was always my favorite game growing up and the fact that they had made a sequel was blowing my mind to pieces. I pick it up and start playing it in utter euphoria when I hear something else behind me. It's a motherfucking mannequin the height of the entire aisle covered in flaking chrome paint and a giant gaping chunk out of it's head. It screeches "DEATH IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES- YOU NEVER KNOW WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" as it's whole head split apart like it was being wrenched into pieces and it started jittering towards me. I start losing my mind and I take the thing (got me fucked up if you think I'm leaving my precious SBBB2 behind) and sprint like a madman back to my mom. I try to tell her what's happening but I can't talk all of a sudden. My parents and brother don't notice as the thing comes around the corner and grabs me. I woke up as I literally felt it's fucking hand around my waist and wake up wrapped so tight in my blanket I could have easily passed for a cartoon bug-printed mummy."
My favorite thing about this is how a wannabe Wal Mart full of off-brand junk is basically haunted by a cheap knockoff of what a person should be. Is that, in fact, Guffrey himself, or one of several such entities lurking the place? Could the entire store in fact be some sort of projection or trap that they set for their prey? Guffrey's insidious web of inescapable bargains?!
WORM CACTUS
Posted by TheMostRealWalrus:
"I had a dream fairly recently for me and a good freind of mine had to stop this massive plant monster from consuming everyone in the neighborhood, The thing was long and prickly almost like a centipede made out of cactuses seem to glide slightly above the ground while using it spikes to gain traction and launch itself off of angles, never made any noise and I had to see urchin like mouth at its front, anything they got caught in there be a metal flash concrete would get gobbled up with this sound like paper being torn, or metal screeching whenever it happened to be flesh.
Our plan was to lure it in to an area where police officers could get some good shots at the thing because othetwise how were we supposed to stop it from destroying the neighborhood? I somehow "knew" that if we tried driving the truck into it that it would "eat the truck." I don't remember whether we were successful in stopping this thing only that in the dream we had managed to stop one of these before and I was really quite gobble me up. What bothered me was how seemingly unstoppable this thing was, and although I might have mentioned we stopped one for 100% accurate it was more like you gave up chasing us and then went away, the stream also included several of my friends and family members having been devoured by this thing."
"I had a dream fairly recently for me and a good freind of mine had to stop this massive plant monster from consuming everyone in the neighborhood, The thing was long and prickly almost like a centipede made out of cactuses seem to glide slightly above the ground while using it spikes to gain traction and launch itself off of angles, never made any noise and I had to see urchin like mouth at its front, anything they got caught in there be a metal flash concrete would get gobbled up with this sound like paper being torn, or metal screeching whenever it happened to be flesh.
Our plan was to lure it in to an area where police officers could get some good shots at the thing because othetwise how were we supposed to stop it from destroying the neighborhood? I somehow "knew" that if we tried driving the truck into it that it would "eat the truck." I don't remember whether we were successful in stopping this thing only that in the dream we had managed to stop one of these before and I was really quite gobble me up. What bothered me was how seemingly unstoppable this thing was, and although I might have mentioned we stopped one for 100% accurate it was more like you gave up chasing us and then went away, the stream also included several of my friends and family members having been devoured by this thing."
A nice, solid monster concept that I'm surprised I haven't seen more often. The segmentation of certain cacti lends itself perfectly to a worm monster, but the closest thing I can think of are the Pokeys from Mario games.
DOMINO
Posted by Elchar:
"I usually don't get nightmares with monsters but I got one few months ago which I can call "Domino". So I was inexplicably in a giant mansion. There were hundreds of rooms and inside all of them, there were people building giant towers and walls with dominoes. But the pieces in them did not seem to "fit", many were standing in there just on one edge and every single piece was spinning. And somehow I knew that what they are doing is wrong and twisted and I was scared. I came across a room and instead of some unknown people, there was a group of my best friends inside, building another spinny trippy domino wall. I tried to talk to them, but they did not react, so I got angry and shove their domino wall down. In that second all of them started screaming in a horrible screech. I become even more terrified than before so I ran away from that horrible noise and stumbled into another room and there was another of these walls staring at me. Somewhere from the depths of the spinning dominoes looked a single red eye and it absolutely floored me to the ground because I knew that it is extremely powerful and that it absolutely hates me and wants me to die. I woke up at that point, sweaty and terrified."
"I usually don't get nightmares with monsters but I got one few months ago which I can call "Domino". So I was inexplicably in a giant mansion. There were hundreds of rooms and inside all of them, there were people building giant towers and walls with dominoes. But the pieces in them did not seem to "fit", many were standing in there just on one edge and every single piece was spinning. And somehow I knew that what they are doing is wrong and twisted and I was scared. I came across a room and instead of some unknown people, there was a group of my best friends inside, building another spinny trippy domino wall. I tried to talk to them, but they did not react, so I got angry and shove their domino wall down. In that second all of them started screaming in a horrible screech. I become even more terrified than before so I ran away from that horrible noise and stumbled into another room and there was another of these walls staring at me. Somewhere from the depths of the spinning dominoes looked a single red eye and it absolutely floored me to the ground because I knew that it is extremely powerful and that it absolutely hates me and wants me to die. I woke up at that point, sweaty and terrified."
The events and elements of this dream are frankly FLAWLESS. We've got hundreds of people compelled to do something mundane to a frightening, obsessive degree, we've got them emitting unearthly screeches when their mad task is interfered with, and we've got a god-like entity at the center of it all whose presence is marked by a giant red eye. That it's all tied together by something as inoccuous yet cryptic as the game of dominoes feels worthy of the wildest SCP Foundation entities, and I could see DOMINO as the antagonist of an entire horror series, easily.
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