Awaken to a Nightmare is a horror short story written by Brian Barnett. It is about a man who wakes up to see his town completely submerged in a lake of churning fire and overhead he finds a rotating black oil-like cloud.
The man remembers back to the day that a mysterious book was found by a historian. From that day, strange things began to happen. Finally, it seems, that the book has become the beginning of the end of the world.
The story was originally published by Static Movement, July 1, 2009. Later it appeared in the best-of anthology, Static Movement: Print Issue 2.
The story was reprinted again in Barnett's collection, State of the Dark.