I was sitting bolt upright. One pale hand clutching the mattress, the other gripping the light switch. I could only put off sleep for so long. I had to close my eyes at some point, my body was already rebelling, screaming for sleep. I scanned the room one last time. The closet was locked, the door ajar, a quick exit if needed.

Finally I felt for the familiarity of the cold blade against my palm. Ah, there it was, under my pillow. I breathed in as if calling up my courage. In one swift movement the light was off, the knife at my chest, and my eyes scanning the room. All clear. I dove for the covers. Bundling them around me creating the illusion of safety. I laughed a mad mans laugh. All was well.

Drifting closer to sleep, I heard it. No, No, NO! It wasn’t real! It was a low humming sound growing louder and sickening as it always did. I shut my eyes tighter not daring to move the slightest bit. My breath held, the sound receded, it was all in my head. I finally controlled my breathing though my heart was pounding in my chest. With extreme effort I finally drifted to sleep.











?

I was jolted awake by the shock of a cold hand on my neck. The quilt was around me though, so it must’ve been my imagination. But then the events of only hours ago came rushing back into my mind. All the muscles in my body where suddenly tense.

Sensing I was awake, the voices started up again. Only this time it was not a hum, but a whisper. A whisper in my name.

“Bronwyn” repeated over and over by the thousands of tortured voices behind the veil of life. I could hear their gnarled bodies rising up and coming closer, oozing death. In a mad frenzy I was sitting up again my knife slashing pure air. There was nothing, it was as if the creatures had evaporated into the thick crushing darkness that now surrounded me. I could not see an inch in front of my own eyes.

Heaving like a mad man and sweating like a pig I knew my appearance was somehow inhuman. I screamed at the top of my lungs once more, willing morning to come.

“Come cowardly creatures! Why have you receded to your obscuring shadows?! Why play with me so?! COME! DAWN ON ME YOUR TRUE IMAGE! FACE ME LIKE THE HELLISH CREATURES YOU ARE BY NATURE!!”

As if on command the blackness in front of me grew denser, a figure had appeared. A gruesome creature, more terrible then those who cowered in the dark. A long solemn creature, cloaked in darkness itself. A face so twisted and grisly most men would drop dead instantly. As suddenly as it appeared it was reaching for me, clutching my face violently between its gray lifeless hands, forcing me to look into its eyes. Ohhh those eyes. To look into them was to look into the darkest, evilest pits of your soul; to glimpse the atrocities or hell beyond Earth.

I would not let it overcome me. I had to think of good, of light. I filled my head with thoughts of the sun, of a calm meadow on a clear day. Of love and of happiness. The screeched, it was like no other sound I had witnessed before. My ears felt damp. Looking around ferociously, everywhere but at its eyes, I could see the room had changed. It was no longer of the human world. Everything was shadowed and blurred, as if it where aflame with gray evil flames.
I could see the creatures, no longer cowering, crawling for me, drawing energy from their master. I knew at once what they where. They where what I was to become. I was witnessing the bodies of children, perversely altered by the corruption of their souls. Their master moved its hand to the top pf my head. With another, louder, triumphant screech its hand plummeted through my flesh, through my ribs until it reached my soul. Grabbing it, he pulled it out slowly.

With every inch I could feel my life slip away. It was like winter was taking me slowly from within. I watched, as if from a distance, as the monstrous creature held my very soul in his clutches. It was dazzling, more astounding then anything I had every set my eyes on. It was a tiny turquoise sphere, yet not made of matter or any other worldly material. It floated there, calm and tranquil yet so obviously alive and thriving. Like a sun, slowly rotating. Little silver sparks constantly flickered and popped all around like a ceremonious dance.

It seemed to sing and somehow I knew only I could hear it. But in an instant the song turned into a scream, and the sphere was no longer blue, but wilting and gray like a dying rose. The scream did not stop and with every breath I took it became weaker and withered until all that was left was a single paralyzed spider. The creature opened its mouth and the creature broke from its paralysis, obediently walking into its mouth. And it was gone.

My ears where now dripping blood from the creatures screams, and I could not feel anymore. My flesh seemed to grow heavy on my bones. Once again the creature opened its mouth, hovering over my face, extracting my last ties to this dimension. All my memories seemed to evaporate.

Somehow, I could see my body changing its physical state. No longer that of an innocent. But that of an evil, twisted creature of hell.