A quiet transition from the physical to the insubstantial, drifting on a cloud of exhaustion into the fog of unconsciousness to find…

Nothing.

Suffocating, claustrophobic darkness, impenetrable, an unending night void of stars, of the sparkling Milky Way and winking Venus, of the soft face of the moon

No sound, no white noise, no whispering wind in the stalks of dew-damp grass, no rustling leaves or sighing breeze, until…

There.

A voice. A sinister, angelic voice full of false hope and insincere kindness, joined by a deep baritone of empty promises and devilish trickery,

Incomprehensible words form a song, a terrible, beautiful, horrifying, sonnet, conjuring images of interminable loneliness and an eternity of this black limbo, she feels…

Surrounded

By an uncaring presence, a child lost forever, a toddler in pink sobbing at the sheer hopelessness of ever escaping, longing for the warmth of her mother

Begging, crying for help, aware of nothing but her own pain, unprepared for the darkness of forever stretching out in front of her like the shadowy claws of fate, reaching for her, then…

I wake up.

Heaving chest and damp pillow, tangled sheets and parched mouth, the taste of salt water on my tongue and wet tracks streaking my face

Swollen red eyes afraid to close, terrified of the night lurking within my head, knowing that the monsters aren’t beneath my bed, but inside instead.