‘Its 2 AM. Why can’t I sleep?’ You think to yourself, laying in a bed that seems to get colder and more uncomfortable by the minute. Your legs are restless, your brain is on overdrive and no matter how you position yourself it all feels the same. You feel a slow ache in your head, but only briefly. Frustrated, you sit up, and start to get out of bed.
‘Maybe a run will help. Get all this energy out, and give my brain a rest, something else to focus on.’ You put on your running gear, head to the workout room, and start warming up.
A small tingle goes up your spine as you head to the treadmill. You slowly look around for someone else in the room. Surely you locked the doors, you checked twice, but there’s the undeniable feeling of eyes on your back. Seeing nothing, you return to the treadmill and start it up. After 45 minutes of walking, jogging, running and then back down, you feel exhausted.
‘Finally’ you think, heading for the fridge for a bottle of water. As you reach in, there’s a small tingle on your back… almost like a hand just barely touching you. Heart pounding, you look around, the light from the fridge illuminating only a small part of the kitchen.
You fumble along the wall reaching for the light switch. As you flip it, light floods the room showing..
Nothing.
‘What the… what is going on?’ You think, slowly rubbing your temple. You didn’t realize you still had the headache. It’s a little worse, but you’re sure once you re-hydrate and get some sleep it’ll be gone.
Turning out all the lights, you head back to your bedroom, sleep beckoning. You fall asleep almost instantly. The next five nights are the same routine, the same feeling of being watched when no one is there gets worse. You hear whispers, see shadows running along the wall as you turn on lights.
‘My mind is playing tricks on me’ you tell yourself. Its because you’re so tired, right? And this headache can’t be helping either. Maybe you should see a doctor or something. You make the call the next morning and after a weeks’ wait to get in, the doctor finds nothing “wrong” per se, just stress from work maybe? Too much electronic use, cell phone and tv. Cut down on that, and excess sugar and caffeine, and that should help both the sleep and the headache, which is probably just from eye strain. Being tired.
She gives a prescription for some sleeping pills “just in case” and sends you home. That night, you aren’t taking any chances. You go to the kitchen for some water, pill in hand. You set the pill on the counter and get some water from the tap. You turn around to grab the pill and the glass slips from your fingers, crashing to the ground, shards of glass flying across the floor. You stand frozen to the spot.
Across the room stands a… thing. Its not a man. Not exactly.. it’s like an ever-changing black mist trying to shape itself like a human. It glides towards you slowly, grayish protrusions where a mouth would be appear, almost as if it were its way of a grotesque smile.
It raises a hand and caresses your cheek. The throbbing in your head grows to an unbearable sharp pain. The tingling you’ve been feeling the last two weeks follows and you start to scream, only to be silenced by unseen forces.
The figure slowly starts to disappear, and you swear you hear someone whisper “sweet dreams, soon you will be mine” as you faint into the broken shards. Your head hits the counter on the way down.
In the morning, when you don’t show up for work, people come looking for you. They find your lifeless body and your cause of death will be deemed a mix of aneurysm and head trauma from the counter top. They will never know that the real reason remains in the shadows, with you screaming for them to look at you, to help you, please, help you!
You’re just another restless soul in its keep.
Sweet dreams, my dear.
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Credits to: http://smokiandthebandit.tumblr.com/
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