At night when all is dark and quiet, I'm in my room, my window is open, but the sheers are drawn, my door is shut. I'm alone in my room, cozy in bed, i reach over and flick off the light. Darkness flood my vision. My mind races as shadows shift, my heart beats as my imagination runs wild. I'm old enough where people would tell me that I shouldn't be afraid of the dark. But that's the thing, the dark preys on everyone, in one way or the other. Through fear, doubt, abandon, and hopelessness. Hopelessness is the most dangerous, because when you have hopelessness it means you are only a hair's breadth away from giving up. It means that the dark has broken you, it means that the dark has won, and its ready to claim its next victim.
The shadows shifting turn into dark shadowy ghosts wanting to pull my exposed foot. The breeze that blows through lifting my curtains, turns into a horde of silent zombies wanting to eat my flesh. The flash of light in my mirror, turns into Bloody Mary slithering out intent on killing me. Things crawl out of my closet. Out from under my bed, waiting for me to step down so they can grab my ankle. Things crawl on the ceiling wanting to drop down on top of me and eat my face. I close my eyes and pretend to be somewhere else, anywhere else. Without my knowledge my door slowly opens and and something from the real world slithers in. The end of the bed thumps, and a million things run through my head most of them not pretty and all ending in my death. I wait, anxious, holding my breath. And then a soft purring and soft fur brush up against my face. I open my eyes, it was my cat. I pet him and go to sleep, only to dream of being eaten by zombies.