The first night, I never saw him, but I felt him there. He was an entity of the dark that wasn't truly formed, an emotion that hid in the confines of my room. He was air, he was empty space, he just was. My body found itself frozen with the feeling that someone was watching me, someone's eyes were holding me in bed with some invisible force. The feeling slowly built throughout the night, and I couldn't sleep. I couldn't even close my eyes. Only when the sun rose did the feeling leave.

The second night, I woke up around 1:00 A.M. That feeling was there again, just below the surface of sanity, gnawing at me. I looked up into the vast void of my room, heart beating fast, but nothing was there. I let out a sigh of relief, and then I noticed it.

There was something in the corner.

He was tall and dark, almost invisible to the naked eye. The shadows covered him. The only thing that really showed was his white circle of a face, with the deepest, emptiest eye sockets. My body was seized by a sudden chill, as if those sockets held some sinister aura that was caressing me, trying to make me uncomfortable, trying to hurt me. I couldn't stop staring at him, and he never moved once. When the sun began to rise hours later, he was gone, as if he had dissolved into the walls of the house.

The third night, before I went to sleep, I took one of my brother's nightlights and plugged it into one of the outlets farthest from my bed. When I shut off the overhead light, the night light covered the room in a worm glow. I fell asleep to it's sweet lullaby.

When I woke up, the darkness was overwhelming. I turned to examine my bedside clock only to see blackness.

(He unplugged it he unplugged it heunpluggedit-)

I jerked my head forward and instantly froze when I saw him standing there, a tall silhouette with that expressionless face, at the end of my bed.

Every hair on my body stood up on end. My muscles tensed and held me still. I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing worked. And so I stared, and again those emotions wriggled around me, groping me, wanting me

(he'll take me I know it I know he's coming there he is)

attempting to be me almost. Once the sun rose, he turned into the shadow of my dresser and fell against the wall in a hazy, grey lump. I got up shakily and walked to the corner, my body shaking. I let out a whimper when I saw the nightlight, broken to pieces and rubbed into the white carpet.

The next night, I left the overhead light on and put a flashlight under my pillow. As scared as I was, I fell asleep quickly.

I saw him as soon as I woke up, standing over me.

As quick as I could, I grasped the flashlight and turned it on. It shone brightly into his eyes for a brief second, and then dimmed. It was as if his empty sockets absorbed the light. It began to get hot until there was a loud pop and it broke.

All I could do was stare into his eyes, those eyes that drilled holes into my very being, those eyes that drank from my soul in long, full gulps, laughing greedily

(please stop why are you doing this-)

and eating all of my happiness. And shadowy arms raised up and began to come down to grab me

(please please I can't take it please don't take me away please)

and then the mouthless face, it grinned without grinning, and grabbed my face with it's pointed, black hand, until my mind went into a fury

(please no no nononoNONONONO-)

...