Fear

He drained the last bit of soda down his throat, and tossed the plastic bottle into the nearby garbage can. He got up and walked toward his bedroom, and snatched his iPad on the way. He flopped down on his bed, but instead of bouncing, he sank deep into the mattress. Grabbing for the bedside table, he tried to pull himself up. Before he knew it; however, everything went dark.

His eyes snapped open, and he jumped up. He had been on his bed. But something wasn't right. The bed, which had been in excellent condition was now nothing more than a disintegrating mattress on a rotten frame. Confused, He walked over to the nearby window. Outside, there was a sight which made him freeze with terror. Instead of the modern metropolis he expected, there was only an abandoned, run down ghost town. Feeling like he was being watched, he walked out of his bedroom. On a table next to the doorway, were his car keys, but covered with dust. He snatched them, and left the house. Unfortunately for him, his car was nothing more but a pile of rusted junk now. Heading toward the road on foot, he heard a scuffle on the roof of his home. He spun around, seeing a gargoyle-like creature staring at him. He sprinted down the road, an unearthly scream resounded behind him. He redoubled his pace, adrenaline coursing through his veins. Hearing the creature pursuing him, he tried to run faster, but his legs seemed to be at top speed. He noticed a broken pipe laying by the road, so he detoured and grabbed the pipe. As he took the pipe, and spun around and thrusted the pipe forward with all his might. The creature slammed into him, skewering itself on the pipe. Black blood poured out of both sides of the pipe, splattering his clothes. The creature died, falling to the ground. He stood over his fallen enemy, completely out of breath.

Reality began to shatter before him like glass, like cracks in the air. He stepped back, but the cracks were everywhere. Finally, reality seemed to shatter. But behind it, was a terrifying creature, far worse than the one that had chased him. Billions of red lines connected to the creature, while it was floating in nothingness. Some red lines suddenly disappeared, yet new ones would pop into existence. Putting his ear to one of the lines, there were screams coming off of it. He then realized there was a red line connected to him as well. His eyes followed it, fully expecting to be connected to the demon. Instead, it was severed at the halfway point. Suddenly, he noticed he was holding odd-looking scissors. He grabbed a bunch of the lines, and cut them. The demon instantly showed signs of withering. He set to work on the rest, slicing through many of the lines. Before long, all the lines had been cut. The demon has been withering the whole time, and now was nothing more than a black husk.

Its eyes snapped open.

He jumped, knocking his head on something. And he was back in his room. Everything was back to normal.
The sun was shone through the window, seemingly announcing the new day.

He then knew what the demon was. He knew everyone had one.

But he also knew, it could be defeated.