Mephiles/Shadowpaw! Ooooh, a dark and angsty idea indeed…well, I can't say it will be long, but I will try. And it's the thought that counts, right?? Enough stalling! Enjoy!

Staring at the Dark

Shadowpaw still laid there in her bed, complete darkness all around her; there wasn't a speck of light to be seen anywhere, and illusions danced in her vision as she groaned and rolled over once more. She had been tossing and turning all night, unable to fall asleep because of the sinister dusk that had crept upon her unexpectedly. The power had gone out, and so she was left to wonder what could possibly be in front of her face as she begged her eyes to close and her mind to shut down. But would her wish be granted?

She could swear she felt something creeping up her leg, and she shivered and rubbed at the area with her toe before realizing it was just her imagination. She could swear she felt a cold wind blowing through the room, but she knew that her window was shut and the curtains were closed. She could also swear that there was weight beside her on the bed, but she knew that couldn't be right. She was alone in her house, trying to go to sleep; who the hell could be there?

She sighed softly and raised her arm to scratch her ear, but when it brushed up against something that was too firm to be a blanket her eyes widened in shock and she froze in fright. After a hair-raising moment of silence, she slowly moved her arm and trialed her fingers around something that seemed like an arm made up of flesh and bones and wondered aloud, "What the…" She moved it up to where a shoulder would be, and then to what could have been a smooth yet hard furry chest, wincing when she felt something slice her pointer finger. She hissed in pain, but then she thought she felt something touch her hand, and she recoiled back and stuttered, "Is someone there?" She reached out and felt around a bit, but whatever it had been was gone, the supposed 'flesh and blood' replaced by ruffled up blankets and a pillow. She sat up in her bed, looking around in vain as she tried not to freak out. "H-hello?"

When nothing answered her after a while, she sighed and turned her head down to stare blindly at her lap. "I must be losing my mind…"

"Is it losing…or finding?"

She gasped and looked around again. She knew that she had heard something that time, she knew it! She gulped again and swung her legs over the side of the bed as she said, "Show yourself!" How she expected to see them either way was unknown, but she needed to make sure she wasn't crazy. Confirmation was good when you were blind to the truth.

There was something like a chuckle in the night, and as she felt something like a cold breeze chill her spine, someone grabbed a hold of her hand that was injured and lifted her finger up, as if they were examining it. The touch was terrifying, but she couldn't move, feeling as if her legs were blocks of lead and losing whatever words she was going to say. She had such a terrible painful twisting feeling in her stomach, as if someone were taking a knife and shoving it clean through her before turning it clockwise and then counterclockwise. She was trying to speak, but all that came out was a sort of strangled whimper.

There was another laugh at that, and this time she identified it as being a masculine tone, unnerving her even more. What was a guy doing in her house in the middle of the night, in complete darkness, and touching her? She leaned backwards and tugged her arm, trying to get away from him, but his grip was firm and she did not escape. Her breathing was fast and ragged, revealing how afraid she was right now. God help her, she couldn't do anything! Oh, please, tell me that I'm dreaming, that I'll wake up and this will just be my imagination!

To her disgust, as the mystery person held her hand, the other was brought up and caressed her cheek, and she finally snapped out of it to raise her free hand up to smack it away. Unfortunately, he seemed to either have lightning reflexes or be able to see in the dark, for he snatched that hand up as well and pushed her backwards onto the bed, leaning forward so that she was trapped between his rather painfully sharp chest and the rumpled blanket atop of her bed. Whatever the hell was on his chest was trying to dig deeply into her skin, and his hands constricted her wrists so tightly that she felt the circulation being cut off slowly.

Her heart rate picking up dramatically, she stuttered, "What do you want?" She was afraid to know the answer, but the question slipped out before she could stop it. Her hands were now pinned to the bed on either side of her, making it impossible to escape, and it made her shiver and try to squirm away from him, although she had no luck.

"It's not what I want…" His voice was dark and deep, almost like the night itself as he chuckled at her feeble tries to get away. "It's what you want."

His words confused her, and with the panic rising up into her throat like bile she gasped, "What I want? I want the power back on. I want to go to sleep. I want light."

She then felt what she assumed was his forward press down against hers, and she noticed something quite chilling; although her breathing was quick and rapid, she could feel no such sensation from the male. There wasn't any rising or falling of the chest, or even his breath playing across her face. It was as if he wasn't breathing at all.

"Light?" She nearly started at his sudden repetition of her word. After a moment of silence, she quickly nodded, praying to God that it would all end soon.

"Light…" He scoffed at the idea, and she was still stuck on the fact that she couldn't feel any puff of air from the movement. "Light is a feeble little thing, a candle blown out by the wind or a light turned off with a flick of the switch. There is never an everlasting glow, but there is always the night." One of his hands let go of hers to come back and stroke her cheek again, and since she couldn't do anything she didn't even bother struggling. He then asked her, "Why would you want to stand alone in the light when you could be surrounded by the darkness?"

Then, before she could answer him, she heard the whirring of a generator before the power kicked back in and the lights flickered on like pale ghosts in her room. She shakily sat up as she found herself alone on her bed, shivering as if something cold was still touching her. There was no sign that whoever it was had been there…

…I-it must have been a dream… She turned back to her bed and went to fluff up her pillow again, but a sharp stab of pain made her hiss and flinch back. At first afraid to look, she tentatively raised her hand and stared at the cut glaring an angry red at her as a single drop of blood trickled down her finger. A breeze let in by the window chilled her to the bone, making her heard turn towards it to stare in wide-eyed silence. The curtains fluttered once, and then all was still again.

Yikes, creepy! I couldn't help but make it dark and scary, as I was writing this during the late night and early morning. I just had to post it, so you're lucky that I love you guys so much! Even though no one's reviewed yet…

(cough cough) See ya later!

DL ('Dragon Lover')