Long after the sun dips behind the horizon, after the murky curtain of night descends upon the world, after the last whispers of the day fade - when it is all but silent throughout the town. When the last chirp from the crickets are sounded, and nothing but the gentle rise and fall of your breaths can be heard. Your mind may start to wander. Among thoughts of pie, of work, and of tomorrow’s dinner, you may notice a certain sinister intimation. Try as you might to ignore it, to focus on happier, less fearsome machinations - it finds its way in like a virulent sickness. As you look up at the ceiling, unable to sleep, it grows like a creeping vine, ensnaring you slowly. What could be lurking out there, in the dark?
Your gaze doesn’t waver. you stare into the darkness above you, your mind playing shapes over your eyes in absence of any visual. Circles form wide, glaring eyes, a sneering mouth looms, rows of teeth dripping with mal intent. You dart your eyes away, only to find the same image; no matter where you peer into the pitch black void, it stares back, greedy, waiting.
A peculiar sensation - a small localisation of pressure is suddenly felt down near your legs. It grows heavier, and feels horrifically like a forceful hand pressing down… Bolting up like a loaded spring, you stumble blindly, clumsily clambering out of bed, grasping desperately at your surroundings. Drunk with fear and utterly sightless, you feel your way to the doorway. Something flickers in the corner of your vision, something just out of view. You reach, with splayed fingers, trying to find the switch; but your hands find nothing but more of the grained wood of the wall. Something creeps behind the corner.
You make your way further outside the sanctuary of the bedroom. The walls are your only guide, but they seem to go on endlessly. Your hallway wasn’t this long, was it? The hair on the back of your neck stands up straight. Was that a creak of the floorboards further ahead? Something is lurking…
A dead end. How is that even possible? Your hallway doesn’t have any dead ends, this isn’t a maze. Another creak makes you whip around. Followed by another, and another. Creaks down the hall grow faster and faster, heading steadily towards you. Fear freezes you, while something unknown bounds, unseen in the blackness. You tense your body, when your fingers grasp something to your side - flick.
Light floods the room, and the familiar sight of your hallway comes into view. Your notably empty hallway, inhabited by nothing - or no one - but yourself. Turning around, the dead end reveals its true nature; the door to your bathroom.
Bathing in the golden light you head back to your bedroom, and using the extra light spilling out from the hallway into the room, you find the light switch and illuminate your chambers. With the door closed, you return to bed in your lit interior. Looking around, you see a lot of things; your wardrobe, your mirror, the dresser on the right and the plants atop it, your bedside table, and your coats hanging on the door. Lying down and closing your eyes, you’re met once again with a darkness. But this one is different. Empty of malevolent figures and corner-of-the-eye visions; it has a warm glow to it. You smile.
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