“When you’re scared, how do you fall asleep at night?” Her chestnut eyes glint in the moonlight as she lay in bed, her slight body close to mine. The grand windows are wide open, allowing a subtle breeze into the oppressively muggy and vast room. The heat smothers my thoughts and sleep threatens to capture my waking mind, yet I murmur my response.
“I don’t get scared; I’ve never been scared of the dark.” Even as a small child I never considered monsters living under my bed.
“Really?” Beth said this with such force it was as if she didn’t believe that was possible. “Do you want to hear what I do when I can’t sleep?” She lay naked next to me; clothes never seemed to interest Beth. The silhouette of her ample breasts and perky nipples peeked out the top of the sheets but I was too tired to care.
Sleep threatens to overcome me any moment but I grant my consent. Beth raises her slender fingers and shuts my eyes. Then she whispers:
“Imagine you’re lying flat on your back with your stomach wide open.”
She is standing over me with a knife.
“Now imagine sand is pouring into your body filling each part, each extremity, all the way down to your fingers and toes. Let the sand weigh you down until you can’t move, until you can hardly breathe.”
Filth and blood soils my last choking breath.
I open my eyes slowly but the tiredness has vanished. Beth is still lying next to me with her hand resting peacefully on my chest. The warmth has left the room and her touch feels cold and lifeless. Her eyes look excited but I’m not sure why. She leans in closer and whispers “Want to hear another one?” Herbreath smells like aromatic mint and licorice but her words feel dirty and unwholesome. I can’t resist her, I never can. I nod my head yes in response.
Suddenly, I am inexplicably anxious. The shadows on the walls are taunting me with their laughter. They glare at me from unknown places and worlds of unfathomable wickedness. Shrinking into the covers of my bed I know this thin shield is only an absurdity for I am completely exposed. They will crawl into my bed; they will creep into my carcass. When they are ready they will nest into the farthest reaches of the blackest corners of my very soul.I am powerless against them, they know this and now I do too. They laugh at my wretched and utter damnation. Beth pulls my face in to hers. “When I can’t get my mind to relax this is what I usually do,” she says. It is too dark to see her lips move, too dark to see her face anymore but I know she is there.Like a snake she wraps her body around mine and speaks, “I’m at the very top of the tallest tower.There is only one window, but I never see what’s outside. Instead, I look at the stairs spiraling down before me; they lead down into darkness until I cannot see what’s real and what isn’t. Without hesitating I steadily descend into the inky blackness.”
He is there in the room with us, asilent ominous figure cloaked in an eternal abyss. He waits by thebed but I cannot see him. It doesnot matter, He is there.
“With each step everything becomes darker. I’m certain I’ve reached ultimate blackness but then it grows stronger still with each step. “
I cannot move, I cannot scream. It wouldn’t matter anyway, he has come for his prey and I am paralyzed to his will. I must wait and quiver in his shadows until all hope is lost.
“I continue to march into the blackness until I slip away from consciousness.” Beth pauses andher dark words wash over me. I have no response. She continues,“Still, I can’t figure out how to go to sleep when I’m scared.”
“What is it your scared of?” I askeven though know the answer.
“I’m not quite sure.”
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