The decision to go back home hadn't been an easy one, but after discovering her boyfriend Emil naked with their roommate Jen, wrapped around each other in their bed, she'd made the impulsive decision to grab her things and leave. Since she didn't know anyone else in the city, and couldn't afford a hotel, heading back home seemed like her only option.
Ingrid had hurriedly packed whatever she could carry down to the car, her boyfriend running around her wearing only boxer shorts, trying to get her to stop and listen to his pathetic attempts at explaining himself. She'd told him to "fuck off," before slamming the car door in his face and embarking on the 6-hour drive to her mom's house.
By the time she got there, she struggled to keep her eyes open. She stumbled up the stairs to the front door and barely managed to get her bags inside. The house was quiet, so her mom must have gone to bed already. She'd called her from the road, briefly explaining what had happened, and her mom had told her she'd get her room ready for her.
Ingrid shed her jacket and shoes. She considered lugging her bags upstairs but decided that could be left until tomorrow. The only thing she needed now was sleep.
--
She woke up hours later. Her body felt heavy. She'd been having the strangest dream. Not exactly a nightmare, but frightening nonetheless. She'd been in bed. This bed, and in the dream she'd woken to find herself unable to move her arms and legs. She'd looked around only to discover there were tentacles, like something belonging to an enormous octopus, locking her arms and legs in place. As she tried to wriggle free even more tentacles had emerged from under the bed, wrapping around her waist, her thighs, and torso. The pressure of them constricting around her limbs had felt so real. Smaller tentacles had emerged, slithering over her body, inside her clothes, touching her stomach, her breasts, and her neck. She had felt terrified, but also strangely aroused...?
She sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. The room was dark, so she leaned over to turn on the bedside lamp. The second the light came on she could have sworn she saw a flash of something disappearing into the darkness underneath her bed. She leaned over to check, but couldn't see anything. She was just about to lean even further down to have a closer look when her mother's voice called from downstairs.
"Ingrid! Are you up? I've made spaghetti. Do you want some?" Ingrid did indeed want spaghetti. Just the thought of it made her stomach rumble. "Coming, Mom! Just a sec!", she called back.
She was about to swing her legs over the side of the bed before she remembered the movement from earlier and paused. Even though she was now 28, those childhood fears remained. She still worried something would grab her ankle when she got out of bed in the night, or that someone would grab her as she walked up the open riser basement stairs. As a kid, she'd always leaped from the bed or ran up those stairs as fast as she could.
She let out a small laugh before placing her feet on the floor and standing up. "Don't be an idiot, Ingrid. Monsters aren't real," she said to herself before leaving her room to go downstairs.
Her mom had already started eating. Ingrid sat down opposite her and started piling spaghetti on her plate. If there was one thing she'd always loved unconditionally about her mother it was her cooking. Their relationship hadn't always been easy, but sitting across from her now, eating the best spaghetti in the world, she felt grateful for being welcomed home with open arms.
"Are you sure you don't want me to hire a hitman to take out Emil?", her mother had asked. Ingrid looked up, laughed, and said: "No, Mom, don't waste your hard-earned money on that loser."
"I mean, I could probably find someone who'd do it for free, I get all sorts of lunatics stumbling into the E.R. you know." Ingrid didn't doubt her, she'd heard enough of her mom's crazy work stories over the years.
"Speaking of the E.R., I'm really sorry Honey, but I'm going to have to go in tonight. One of the nurses called in sick, and you know how hard it is to get someone to cover the night shift." Her Mom gave her a worried look. "Will you be alright here on your own?"
Ingrid nodded. "Mom, I'll be fine. I'm exhausted. As soon as I'm done eating I'm gonna go upstairs, take a long shower, and go to sleep. I won't even notice you're gone."
Her mom smiled at her and got up to clear the table. "I'll help you," Ingrid said, but her mom shook her head. "No need Honey, you've had a long day. Take your shower, and get to bed. You can thank me by cooking breakfast when I get back tomorrow morning." She hugged Ingrid and gave her a gentle nudge towards the stairs.