PART 1

I'd never done this in front of a mirror before.

Hell, I'd never done it in the bathroom before, but Mark and Collins were both home, and Mark was sleeping in our room and I didn't want to wake him, even if I'd be on the floor next to my bed and he'd be in his, and Collins was home, so his room was out. So the bathroom it was.

But for some reason, it excited me. I wanted to watch my face as I did it.

The candle was lit, the needle full now.

I watched my face as I plunged the needle into my skin.

There it was, that moment of absolute clarity before everything went dull. This was why I did it.

But in that moment, what I saw shocked me.

I looked… dead.

PART 2

The door was locked. I was in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet, lid down, and my legs were shaking. I couldn't go out there.

There were monsters out there. That's why I was in here, unable to stand.

I opened the door once, but the walls all had sharp-toothed grins and they kept moving closer, closer, closer… and I shut it again, and locked it, and sat on the toilet, my knees to my chest, huddled against the wall.

Some childish voice told me that sleep would make this go away.

But I couldn't sleep, not with all these monsters outside my door.

The world around me was spinning, upside down, and I fell off the toilet and onto the floor, hitting my head on the bathtub.

Maybe I could sleep after all.

It got really dark, and suddenly, the world was even foggier…

PART 3

"Roger?" A bang on the door. I blinked my eyes open. Oh, god, the light hurt. I shut them again. "ROGER!" The bang was louder. What the hell was that? Where was I?

"COLLINS!" A panicked holler in the other direction. "Help me get this door open!"

"Relax, Mark, it's okay." There was a click as the lock popped open.

"Oh, my God, no." A shocked whisper as the door opened. "Roger!" A shout. I was shaken. Suddenly, I remembered where I was. What happened last night.

I opened my eyes, even though the light still made me wince.

"Mark," I whispered, my throat dry. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, God, you're okay." He sat me up and gave me a tight hug, his thin shoulders shaking.

"Never again, Mark." I whispered, then coughed. I was handed a cup of water. I nodded gratefully at Collins, who was standing by the door. I drank it down.

"What?" The look in Mark's eyes was so heartbreakingly hopeful.

"I'm done with this. Done being scared," I said definitively.

Done being scared of monsters that didn't exist and all my sleepless dreams.

END