Slappy- Biting in Dream

It was a restless sleep. I kept opening my eyes, half-awake, and rolling over from one side to the other. Finally, a deep darkness washed over me and I dropped into a comfortable snooze.
I don’t know how long I slept. But I was jerked awake when I felt my covers tugged away. I gasped in the sudden cold air and sat straight up.
“Who—?” My voice was clogged from sleep.
My heart pounding, I squinted into the darkness—and saw two glowing eyes. A face. Up against mine.
Slappy.
“Huh?” I gasped again and felt a chill of fear run down my body.
The dummy stood on the floor beside the bed. He stood up straight, gripping my blankets in both wooden hands.
His grin shimmered darkly in the dim light from the window. His eyes stared, unblinking, into mine.
I tried to grab my covers back, but his grip was too tight. “Hey—” I choked out. I still couldn’t speak.
“Richard!” he rasped my name in a hoarse voice. “Time to wake up, Richard.”
...

Then he lowered his head, opened his mouth wide—and sank his wooden jaws into my arm.
“Owwwww.” I let out a howl of pain. “Let go! Let go of me!”
I tugged and squirmed and struggled to pull free. But he held on tight.
His head swung up and down with my frantic movements. And his hard mouth sank deeper into my skin, sending wave after wave of pain shooting through my arm and over my whole body.
“Let go! Let go of me! Please—stop! Let gooooo!”
I woke up screaming.
I was sitting straight up in bed. I struggled to catch my breath. I shivered under a cold sweat that drenched my forehead.
As I blinked myself awake, the room came into focus. Red morning sunlight washed in from the window.
My covers were still on the bed. And Slappy … Slappy still lay at the foot of the bed where I had left him.
“A dream,” I murmured to myself. “All a frightening dream.” But it had seemed so real.
I turned and lowered my feet to the floor. I started to stand up, then stopped.
My arm. My arm ached.
I rolled up my pajama sleeve and examined it. Why was my arm red and sore?
Was it just from sleeping on it?

- Slappy in Dreamland, chapter 5