Nudie Nightmares Ch. 04

But that's when he heard her let out a roar and with her in that purple demonic skintone once more swam toward him as fast as a torpedo and gripped his tail once more. She spun him around and flung him into the side of a sunken pirate ship.

She then hit him with just enough force to send him through the hull of the ship. He landed onto of a pile of treasure. He looked around trying to find anything that could either kill her or himself and saw a skeleton. It was dressed as a pirate, clearly someone who tried to go down with the ship to protect all that treasure without realizing you couldn't take it with you.

But in its hand...a cutlass. Diego ripped it from its hands and got it to stab himself. That's when he saw her approach once more. He tried swinging it wildly towards her to keep her away. He had no clue how to sword fight and she knew that, floating there amused at his frantic sword flailing.

Pissed off and fearful of what she could do next he charged at her and swung the sword at her head. She caught it with the palm of her hand and then slapped it out of his hands. It then flew backwards into a support beam to the ship.

Diego looked at his hands stunned that she did that. She then showed him the hand she used to do that with. It had a bloody gash on it. But then she simply closed her hand into a fist for a brief second and opened it to reveal that the wound fully healed, like it never happened.

Diego tried to pull out the sword but wasn't strong enough to do so. He kept trying as The Mistress got closer and closer. But try as he might, it wouldn't budge. She the grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed him into the treasure covered floor.

As she prepared to have her way with him, she noticed that he still had one hand on the sword's handle. She tried to yank his hand away from the sword but instead took the sword with her. Since it was embedded so deep into the support beam, however, a chunk of it went along with it.

That's when they heard a creaking noise. The beam was struggling to keep up the ceiling up and as Diego looked up, he realized why. This ship was so full of treasure that it was threatening to crush the ship under its own weight.

As he saw the ceiling start to crack and a few coins start to leak out, he started to smile smugly at the Mistress. She looked at him, still holding the sword with the piece of support beam in it.

As she wondered what he was so happy about, she felt a coin drop on top of her head. She looked up just in time to see a massive crack in the ceiling. Not even a few seconds later the ceiling gave way, causing a mountains of gold, gems and treasure chests to fall on top of them both.

Neither had time to get out of the way and both were crushed under the pile of treasure. While the Mistress was tough enough to survive being squashed under all that gold, Diego...was not.

Diego woke up, soaking wet and coughing up water. He was on the floor of his kitchen, which was also soaking wet. He quickly got to his feet and shut off the facet in the sink. "Ugh. My water bill is gonna be sky high after this..."

That's when he realized, he was awake! "YES! HAHA! I DID IT! I EVEN TOOK HER OUT WITH ME!"

He was positively ecstatic. At least until he felt someone grab him by the shoulders, turn him around and slam him onto the floor with enough force to crack the tile underneath him. It was the Mistress and she was in full demon mode.

"NO MORE GAMES, DIEGO. I'M THROUGH WITH LUST AND EMBARRASSMENT. FROM THIS POINT FORWARD, I'M GONNA SAVOR EVERY SECOND OF YOUR FEAR! I'M GOING TO PLUNGE YOU INTO A SLEEP SO DEEP YOU'LL NEVER EVER WAKE UP. YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE IS ABOUT TO COME TRUE AND NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO SAVE YOU NOW!"

As she got the dust out of her dress once more, he tried to struggle free, but there was no use. That's when Diego decided that there was only one thing he could do now that could hopefully make her go easy on him.

"...I give up!"

"...What?"

"I give up. I don't know how long I can keep this up. Whatever you plan to do with me, I'll go along with it. I ask just one thing. One request before my soul is dragged down to hell or whatever."

She was stunned, none of her previous victims ever lasted this long. Yet after everything, he just gives up? Her skin slowly turned back to her human skin tone as she asked, "What is it?"

"I have been thirsty since the statue thing. If I am truly about to be sent into what is essentially a demonic coma, I'd like to partake in my favorite beverage, one last time."

She thought about it for a bit and snapped her fingers disappearing and reappearing in front of him, allowing him to get up. "Make it quick. Whatever it is."

"It's actually in my fridge right now."

"Drink it. In front of me. If you try anything funny, things will get even worse for you."

"No tricks. Just one last drink. I promise."

He opened his fridge and got a can of his favorite drink. He popped the top, hearing that hissing sound that he was gonna miss wherever he was going. As he looked at the silver container of brown carbonated liquid that always got him through the toughest of times, he hoped somehow it could do it again.

He looked at The Mistress, somehow expecting her to grant him mercy and just leave him alone, but there was no mercy. Not in those pirecing yellow eyes. He started to drink, slowly feeling the carbonation burn his tongue. He usually drank it a bit faster than this, but he savored the feeling.

Halfway through the can, he felt like he was gonna cry. This was the last time he'd ever be awake. He burped as he took a breath, tasting that hint of cherry as he did so. He shivered as he took everything in. "You finished, yet?"

"No. I'm not done yet..." he said trying not to burst into tears.

He was 75% done with the drink. He doubted that whatever The Mistress had planned for him was going to involve this. It's funny...usually he drank this stuff to stay awake....but now he's drinking it before bed. It's probably going to be a long endless night now.

As he got to the bottom of the can, he tried to get every last drop. Like an hourglass that just ran out of sand, this last drop meant that his time was up. With one final burp, he then said, "Excuse me. Heh...."

She looked at him, unamused. "You finished, now?"

"Now I'm finished..." he said, handing her the can.

"Good." with that her eyes started to glow yellow once more.

"NOW DIEGO, PREPARE TO-" Suddenly her hands started to glow. Then her arms, then the rest of her body.

WHAT!? WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME!? I-" That's when she took a look at the can he gave her.

"OH YOU, SON OF A-" and she disappeared in a bright light. The can clattered to the floor rolling to Diego's feet.

"What? What just happened?"

That's when he remembered what the Elder said. "If you're incapable of sleep, she can't get you."

He picked up the can and realized what just happened. "OF COURSE! I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T THINK OF IT SOONER! CAFFEINE!"

He started to kiss the empty can of diet cherry cola. "AND THEY SAID MY CAFFINE ADDICTION WOULD KILL ME! HAHAHAHA!"

He did a little happy dance as he thought he finally won. She was finally gone! That's when he heard something that brought his dance as well as all those good feelings to a halt.

"DON'T YOU THINK FOR A SECOND THAT I'M DONE WITH YOU! ALL YOU DID WAS BUY YOURSELF SOME TIME AND MADE ME ANGRIER! THAT CAFFFINE WILL WEAR OFF AND WHEN IT DOES, YOU ARE GOING TO SUFFER!"

"What!? Where are you!?"

"IN YOUR HEAD. WHEN YOU HAD YOUR "CLIMATIC FINALE" BACK ON THE STAGE, YOU BECAME MINE TO TOY WITH FOREVER! YOU'LL NEVER BE RID OF ME. I WILL CLAIM YOUR SOUL AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME!"

She laughed evilly as Diego reached into the fridge and popped open another soda. He downed that thing in an instant, hearing her laughter get quieter and quieter with each gulp.

He sighed with relief. Now he has a way to keep her at bay. At least until he finds a way to stop her for good. Unfortunately, since the Elder seems to only appear in his dreams, he's on his own here. But for now all he had to do to stop her was to stay awake...for the rest of his life.

Simple...right?

"I'd better stock up on these..." he said, heading to his computer to place a grocery delivery of every caffeinated soda they had. As he did, he heard a faint voice in the back of his head.

"Hehe...he really thinks this is gonna work? Well, this won't affect him until he falls asleep, but I might as well get it prepared for him."

You might think you've gotten away

But now you're truly gonna pay

What you're doing will cause nothing but pain

I'd go as far as to say, it'll drive you insane!