0:00

That time is supposed

0:02

to be a happy event for a tired child.

0:05

For me, it was terrifying. While

0:07

some children might complain about being put

0:09

to bed before they watching a movie

0:12

and were playing their favorite video game, when

0:14

I was a child, Nighttime was something

0:16

to truly fear. Somewhere

0:18

in the back of my mind, it still

0:21

is. As someone who was

0:23

trained in the sciences, I cannot prove

0:25

that what happened to me was objectively real,

0:28

but I can swear that what I experienced

0:30

was genuine horror. A fear

0:33

which in my life, I'm glad to say,

0:35

has never been equaled. I

0:37

will relate all to you now as best

0:39

I can. Make of it what you

0:41

will, but I'll be glad to just

0:43

get it off my chest. I

0:45

can't remember exactly when it started

0:47

but my apprehension toward falling asleep

0:50

seemed to correspond with my being

0:52

moved into a room of my own. I

0:54

was eight years old at the time and until

0:57

then, I had shared a room quite

0:59

happily with my older brother. As

1:01

is perfectly understandable for a boy

1:03

five years my senior, My brother eventually

1:06

wished for a room of his own, and as

1:08

a result, I was given the room at

1:10

the back of the house. It was a small,

1:13

narrow, yet oddly elongated

1:15

room, large enough for a bed

1:17

and a couple of chest of drawers, but

1:19

not much else. I couldn't really

1:21

complain because even at that age,

1:23

I understood that we did not have a large

1:25

house and I had no real cause

1:27

to be disappointed. As my family

1:30

was both loving and caring. It

1:32

was a happy childhood during the

1:34

day. A solitary window

1:37

looked out into our back garden. Nothing

1:39

out of the ordinary, but even during

1:41

the day, the light which crept into that

1:43

room seemed almost hesitant. As

1:46

my brother was given a new bed, I

1:48

was given the bunk beds which we used to share.

1:51

While I was upset about sleeping on my own,

1:53

I was excited at the thought of being able to

1:55

sleep on the top bunk, which seemed

1:57

far more adventurous to me. From

2:00

the very first night, I remember a

2:02

strange feeling of unease creeping

2:04

slowly from the back of my mind. I

2:07

lay on the top bunk staring down at my

2:09

action figures and cars drew across

2:11

the green blue carpet. As

2:13

imaginary battles and adventures took

2:16

place between the toys on the floor, I

2:18

couldn't help but feel that my eyes were being

2:20

slowly drawn towards the bottom bunk

2:22

as if something was moving in the corner

2:24

of my eye. which

2:26

did not wish to be seen. The

2:29

bunk was empty, impeccably made

2:31

with a dark blue blanket tucked in

2:33

neatly covering two

2:35

rather bland white pillows. I

2:37

didn't think anything of it at the time. I

2:40

was a child and the noise slipping

2:42

under my door from my parents television

2:44

bathed me in a warm sense of safety

2:46

and well-being. I fell asleep.

2:53

When you awake from a deep sleep to

2:55

something moving or stirring, It can

2:58

take a few moments for you to truly understand

3:00

what is happening. The fog of

3:02

sleep hangs over your eyes and ears

3:04

even when lucid. Something

3:06

was moving. There was no doubt about

3:08

that. At first, I

3:10

wasn't sure what it was. Everything

3:12

was dark, almost pitch black,

3:15

but there was enough light creeping in

3:17

from the outside to outline that

3:19

narrowly suffocating room. Two

3:21

thoughts appeared in my mind almost simultaneously.

3:24

The first was that my parents were in bed

3:27

because the rest of the house lay both in

3:29

darkness and silence. The

3:31

second thought turned to the noise, a

3:33

noise which had obviously woken me.

3:36

As the last of the cobwebs withered from

3:38

my mind, the noise took on a more

3:40

familiar form. Sometimes

3:43

the simplest of sounds can be the most unnerving,

3:46

a cold wind whistling through a tree outside,

3:49

a neighbor's footsteps and comfortably close.

3:51

Or in this case a sound

3:53

of bed sheets rustling in the dark.

3:56

That was it. Bad sheets

3:58

wrestling in the dark as if some disturbed

4:00

sleeper room was attempting to get all too

4:02

comfortable in the bottom bunk. I

4:05

lay there in disbelief thinking that

4:07

the noise was either my imagination or

4:09

perhaps just my pet cat finding

4:11

somewhere comfortable to spend the night.

4:14

It was then that I noticed my door,

4:16

shut as it had been as I'd fallen

4:18

asleep. Perhaps my mom

4:20

had checked on me and my cat had sneaked into

4:22

my room then. Yes.

4:24

That must have been it. I turned

4:26

to face the wall, closing my

4:28

eyes in the vain hope that I could fall back

4:30

to sleep. As I moved, the

4:33

rustling from beneath me ceased. I

4:35

thought that I must have disturbed my cat,

4:37

but quickly I realized

4:39

that the visitor in the bottom bunk was

4:41

much less mundane than my pet trying

4:43

to sleep and much more sinister.

4:46

As if alerted to and disgruntled

4:49

by my presence, the disturbed

4:51

sleeper began to toss and turn violently

4:53

like a child having a tantrum in their

4:55

bed. I could hear the sheets

4:57

twist and turn with increasing ferocity.

5:00

Fear than gripped me. Not like the

5:02

subtle sense of unease I had experienced

5:04

earlier, but now potent and

5:06

terrifying. My heart

5:08

raced as my eyes panicked scanning

5:10

the almost impenetrable darkness, I

5:13

let out a cry. As

5:15

most young boys do, I instinctively

5:17

shouted for my mother I could hear

5:19

something stirring on the other side of the house,

5:21

but as I began to breathe a sigh of

5:23

relief that my parents were coming to save me,

5:26

the bunk bed suddenly started to shake

5:28

violently as if dripped by an earthquake

5:30

scraping against the wall, I could hear

5:32

the sheep below me thrashing around as

5:34

if tormented by malice. I

5:36

did not want to jump down to safety

5:39

I feared the thing in the bottom bunk would

5:41

reach out and grab me pulling me into

5:43

the darkness. So I

5:45

stayed there. White knuckles crunching

5:47

my own blanket like a shroud of protection.

5:49

The weight seemed like an eternity.

5:52

The door finally and thankfully first

5:54

open and I lay bathed in

5:56

light while the bottom bunk, the resting

5:59

place of my unwanted visitor, lay

6:01

empty and peaceful. I

6:03

cried and my mother console me.

6:05

Tears of fear followed by relief

6:07

streamed down my face, yet

6:09

Through all the horror and relief, I did

6:11

not tell her why I was so upset. I

6:14

cannot explain it, but it was as though

6:16

whatever had been in that bunk would return

6:18

if I even so much as spoke of it

6:21

or uttered a single syllable of its existence.

6:24

Whether that was the truth, I do

6:26

not know, but as a child,

6:29

I felt as if that unseen malice

6:31

remained close listening.

6:33

My mother lay in the empty bunk promising

6:36

to stay there until morning Eventually,

6:38

my anxiety diminished, tiredness

6:40

pushed me back towards sleep, but

6:42

I remained restless. Waking

6:45

several times momentarily to the sound

6:47

of bustling bed sheets. I

6:49

remembered the next day wanting to go

6:51

anywhere, be anywhere but

6:53

in that narrow suffocating room.

6:56

It was a Saturday and I played outside

6:58

quite happily with my friends. Although

7:01

our house was not large, we were lucky

7:03

to have a long sloping garden in

7:05

the back. We played there often

7:07

as much of it was overgrown and we could

7:09

hide in the bushes climb in the

7:11

huge Sycamore tree which towered above

7:13

all else and easily imagine ourselves

7:16

in the throes of a grand adventure. In

7:18

some untamed exotic land.

7:21

As fun as it all was, occasionally

7:23

my eye would turn to that small window.

7:26

Ordinary, slight, and

7:28

innocuous. But for

7:30

me, that thin boundary was a

7:32

looking glass into a strange, cold

7:34

pocket of dread. Outside,

7:37

the lush green surroundings of our garden

7:39

filled with the smiling faces of my

7:41

friends could not extinguish the creeping

7:43

feeling clawing its way up my spine.

7:46

Each hair standing on end, the

7:48

feeling of something in that room

7:50

watching me play, waiting for the

7:52

night when I would be alone, eagerly

7:55

filled with hate. It may

7:57

sound strange to you, but by the time

7:59

my parents ushered me back into that room

8:01

for the night, I said nothing. I

8:03

didn't protest. I didn't even make

8:05

an excuse as to why I couldn't sleep

8:07

there. I simply and

8:09

sullenly walked into that room.

8:11

Climbed the few steps into the top bunk

8:13

and then waited. As an adult,

8:15

I would be telling everyone about my experience,

8:18

but even at that age, I

8:20

felt almost silly to be talking about

8:22

something which I really had no evidence

8:24

for. I would be lying however

8:27

if I said this was my primary reason

8:30

I still felt that this thing would be enraged

8:32

if I so much as spoke of it.

8:34

It's funny how certain words can

8:36

remain hidden from your mind, matter how

8:38

blatant or obvious they are,

8:40

one word came to me that

8:42

second night, lying there in the darkness

8:45

alone. Frightened, aware

8:47

of a rotten change in the atmosphere,

8:49

a thickening of the air as

8:51

if something had displaced it.

8:53

As I heard the first casual twist of

8:55

the bedsheet below, the first

8:58

anxious increase of my heartbeat at the

9:00

realization that something was once

9:02

again in the bottom bunk that

9:04

word, a word which had been sent

9:06

into exile, filtered up

9:08

through my consciousness, breaking

9:10

free of all repression gasping

9:12

for air, screaming, etching,

9:14

and carving itself into my mind.

9:17

Ghost. As this

9:19

thought came to me, I noticed that my

9:21

unwelcome visitor had ceased moving.

9:23

The bed sheets lay calm in

9:25

dormant, but they had been

9:27

replaced by something far more

9:29

hideous a slow rhythmic

9:31

rasping breath heaved and

9:33

escaped from the thing below. I

9:35

can imagine it's chest rising

9:37

and falling with each sorted,

9:39

wheezing, and garbled breath.

9:42

I shuddered and hoped beyond all

9:44

hope that it would leave without occurrence.

9:46

The house lay as it had the

9:48

previous night in a thick blanket

9:50

of darkness. Silence

9:52

prevailed all but for the perverted

9:54

breath of mine as yet. Unseen

9:57

bunk mate. I lay there

9:59

terrified. I just wanted this

10:01

thing to go to leave me alone.

10:03

What did it want? Then

10:05

something unmistakably chilling

10:07

transpired. It moved.

10:09

It moved in a way different

10:11

from before. When it threw itself

10:13

around in the bottom bunk, it seemed

10:15

an unrestrained and without

10:17

purpose, almost animalistic This

10:20

movement, however, was driven by

10:22

awareness, by purpose

10:24

with a goal in mind.

10:26

For that thing laying there in

10:28

the darkness, That thing which seemed

10:30

intent on terrorizing a young boy

10:32

calmly and nonchalantly sat

10:35

up. Its labored

10:37

breathing had become louder as now

10:39

only a mattress and a few flimsy

10:41

wooden slats separated my

10:43

body from the unearthly breath below.

10:45

I lay there, my eyes filled with

10:48

tears, a fear which mere

10:50

words cannot relate to you or

10:52

anyone else quest through my veins.

10:54

I would not have believed that this fear could

10:56

have been heightened, but I was so

10:59

wrong. I imagined what this would

11:01

be like sitting there,

11:03

listening from below my mattress hoping

11:05

to catch the slightest hint that I was awake.

11:08

Imagination then turned to an

11:10

unnerving reality. It began

11:12

to touch the wind slats which my mattress

11:14

sat on. It seemed to caress

11:16

them carefully running what I

11:18

imagined to be fingers and hands

11:20

crossed the surface of the wood. Then

11:23

with great force, it prodded

11:25

angrily between two slats into the

11:27

mattress. Even through

11:29

the padding, It felt as though

11:31

someone had viciously stuck their fingers

11:33

into my side. I let out an

11:35

almighty cry and the wheezing

11:37

shaking and moving thing in the

11:39

bunk below hide in kind by

11:41

violently vibrating the bunk as it

11:43

had the night before. Small

11:45

flakes of paint powdered onto my blanket

11:47

from the wall as the frame of the bed scaped

11:49

along it backwards and forwards.

11:52

Once again, I was bathed in light

11:54

and ministered my mother, loving,

11:56

caring as she always was. With a

11:58

comforting hug and calming words which

12:00

eventually subdued my hysteria.

12:02

Of course, she asked what was

12:04

wrong, but I could not say, I

12:06

did not say. I simply said

12:09

one word over and over and

12:11

over again. Nightmar,

12:14

This pattern of events continued for

12:16

weeks, if not months. Night

12:18

after night, I would awaken to the sound

12:20

of wrestling sheets Each time I

12:22

would scream, so as to not provide

12:24

this abomination with time to pry

12:26

it and feel for me. With

12:28

each cry, the bed would shake

12:30

violently stopping with the

12:32

arrival of my mother who would spend the rest of

12:34

the night in the bottom bunk, seemingly

12:36

unaware of the sinister force torturing

12:38

her son nightly. Along

12:40

the way, I managed to faint illness

12:42

a few times and come up with

12:44

other less than truthful reasons for

12:46

sleeping in my parents' bed. But

12:48

more often than not, I would be alone

12:51

for the first few hours of each night in

12:53

that place. The room where

12:55

the light from the outside did not

12:57

sit right alone with that

12:59

thing. With time, you

13:01

can become desensitized almost

13:03

anything no matter how horrific

13:05

I had come to realize that for

13:07

whatever reason, this thing could not

13:09

harm me when my mother was present. I

13:11

am sure the same would have been said for

13:13

my father, but as loving a he was,

13:16

waking him from sleep was almost

13:18

impossible. After a

13:20

few months, I had grown accustomed to my

13:22

nightly visitor. Do not

13:24

mistake this for some unearthly friendship.

13:26

I detested the thing.

13:28

I still feared it greatly as I could

13:30

almost sense its desire and

13:32

its personality if you could call it

13:34

that. One filled with

13:36

a perverted and twisted hatred

13:38

yet longing for me, or

13:40

perhaps all things My

13:42

greatest fears were realized in the winter.

13:44

The days grew short, and

13:46

the longer nights merely provided this

13:48

wretch with more opportunities. It

13:51

was a difficult time for my family.

13:53

My grandmother, a wonderfully

13:55

kind and gentle woman, had

13:57

deteriorated greatly since the death of

13:59

my grandfather. My mother was

14:01

trying her best to keep her in the community

14:03

as long as possible. However,

14:05

dementia is a cruel and

14:07

degenerative illness. Robbing

14:09

a person of their memories one day at a

14:11

time. Soon, she

14:13

recognized none of us, and it

14:15

became clear that she would need to be moved

14:17

from her house to a nursing home.

14:19

My grandmother had a particularly

14:21

difficult few nights and my mother

14:23

decided that she would stay with her as

14:25

much as I loved my grandmother and felt

14:27

nothing but anguish at her illness. To

14:30

this day, I feel guilty that my

14:32

first thoughts were not of her, but

14:34

of what my nightly visitor may do, should

14:36

it become aware of my mother's absence? Her

14:39

presence being the one thing which I

14:41

was sure was protecting me from the

14:43

full horror of things reach.

14:45

I rushed home from school that

14:47

day and immediatelyrenched the bed sheets and

14:49

mattresses from the lower bunk removing

14:52

all the slats and placing an old

14:54

desk and a chest of drawers and some

14:56

chairs which we kept in the cupboard where the

14:58

bottom bunk used to be. told

15:00

my father I was making an office

15:02

which he found adorable, but

15:04

I would be damned if I'd give that thing a

15:06

place to sleep for one more night. As

15:09

darkness approached, I lay there

15:11

knowing my mother was not in the house.

15:13

I did not know what to do,

15:15

My only impulse was to sneak into her jewelry

15:18

box and take a small family

15:20

crucifix, which I had seen there before.

15:22

While my family was not very religious, at

15:25

that age, I still believed in God

15:27

and hoped that somehow this would protect

15:29

me. Although fearful

15:31

and anxious, while gripping the crucifix

15:33

under my pillow tightly in one

15:35

hand, sleep eventually came.

15:37

And as I drifted off to dream,

15:39

I hoped that I would awaken in the morning

15:41

without incident. Unfortunately,

15:44

that night was the most terrifying of

15:46

all. I woke gradually

15:49

The room was once again dark.

15:51

As my eyes adjusted, I could

15:53

gradually make out the window, the

15:55

doors, the walls, and some toys

15:57

on the shelf. And even to

15:59

this day, I shudder to think

16:01

of it. For there was no

16:03

noise, no wrestling of

16:05

sheets, no movement at all. The

16:07

room felt lifeless, lifeless

16:10

yet not empty. The

16:12

nightly visitor that unwelcome,

16:14

wheezing, hate filled thing which

16:16

had terrorized me night after night

16:18

was not in the bottom bunk, It

16:21

was in my bed. I opened

16:23

my mouth to scream, but nothing came out.

16:26

Utter terror had shaken the very sound

16:28

from my voice. I lay motionless.

16:30

If I could not scream, I did

16:32

not want to let it know I was awake.

16:34

I had not yet seen it. I could

16:36

only feel it. It was obscured

16:38

under my blanket. I could

16:40

see its outline and I could feel its

16:42

presence, but I dared not look.

16:44

The weight of it pressed down on top of me,

16:47

a sensation I will never forget.

16:49

When I say the hours

16:51

passed, I do not exaggerate, Laying

16:54

bare motionless in the darkness,

16:56

I was every bit a scared and

16:58

frightened young boy. If

17:00

it had been during the summer months, it would have

17:02

been light by now, but the grasp of

17:04

winter is long and unrelenting. And I

17:06

knew it would be hours before

17:09

sunrise, a sunrise which I

17:11

yearned for. was a timid child

17:13

by nature, but I reached a breaking

17:15

point, a moment where I could wait

17:17

no more, where I could survive

17:19

under this intimately deviate

17:21

abomination no longer. Fear

17:23

can sometimes wear you out,

17:25

make you threadbare, a shell

17:27

of nerves leaving only the slightest trace of you

17:30

behind. I had to get out of that

17:32

bed, then I remembered the

17:34

crucifix My hands still lay underneath

17:36

the pillow, but it was empty.

17:38

I slowly moved my wrist

17:40

around to find it, minimizing as best

17:43

I could the sound and vibrations

17:45

caused, but it cannot be

17:47

found. I had either knocked

17:49

it off the top bunk or

17:51

it had I cannot even better

17:53

think of it been taken from my

17:56

hand. Without the crucifix, I

17:58

lost any sense of hope Even at such a young

18:00

age, you can be acutely aware of what

18:02

death is and intensely frightened

18:04

of it. I knew I was going

18:06

to die in that bed if I

18:08

lay there dormant, passive,

18:10

doing nothing. I had to leave

18:12

that room behind, but how

18:14

should I leap from the bed and hope that

18:16

I make it to the door but if it's

18:18

faster than me or should I slowly

18:20

side out of the top bunk hoping not

18:22

to disturb my uncanny bedfellow.

18:25

Realizing that it had not stirred when I moved, trying

18:27

to find the crucifix, I began

18:29

to have the strangest of thoughts.

18:32

What if it was asleep? It

18:35

hadn't so much as breath since I'd

18:37

woken up, perhaps it was

18:39

resting, believing that it had finally

18:41

got me, that I was finally in its

18:43

grasp or perhaps it was

18:45

toying with me. After all, it had

18:47

been doing just that for

18:49

countless nights and now with me under it pinned

18:51

against my mattress with no mother to

18:53

protect me, maybe it was holding

18:55

off, savoring its victory until the

18:57

last possible moment wild

18:59

animal savoring its prey.

19:01

I tried to breathe as shallowly

19:03

as possible and mustering every

19:05

ounce of courage I could I

19:07

reached over slowly with my right hand and began to

19:09

pull the blanket off of me. What

19:12

I found under those covers almost

19:14

stop my heart, I

19:16

did not see it, but as my

19:18

hand moved the blanket, it brushed

19:20

against something, something

19:22

smooth and cold, something which felt

19:25

unmistakably like a gaunt

19:27

hand. I held my breath

19:29

and tear as I was sure it must have known

19:31

that I was awake Nothing. It

19:33

did not stir. It

19:35

felt dead. After a

19:37

moment, I placed my hand carefully

19:39

further down the blanket and felt

19:41

a thin, poorly formed

19:43

forearm. My confidence and

19:45

almost twisted sense of

19:47

curiosity grew as I move down further

19:49

to a disciplined portionately

19:51

larger bicep muscle. The

19:53

arm was outstretched lying across

19:56

my chest, with the hand

19:58

resting on my left shoulder as if it

20:00

had grabbed me in my sleep. I realized that I

20:02

would have to move this cadaver's appendage

20:04

if I even so much is hope to

20:06

escape its grasp. For some

20:09

reason, the feeling of torn,

20:11

ragged clothing on the shoulder of this

20:13

nighttime invader stop me in

20:15

my tracks Fear once again

20:17

swelled in my stomach and chest

20:19

as I recoiled my hand and discussed

20:21

at the touch of straggled oily

20:24

hair. I could not bring myself to touch its

20:26

face, although I wondered to this very

20:28

day what it would have felt like.

20:30

To your god, it moved, it

20:32

was subtle, but it's grip

20:34

on my shoulder and across my body strengthened.

20:36

No tears came, but god

20:38

how I wanted to cry. As

20:40

its hands and arms slowly coiled

20:43

around me, my right leg brushed

20:45

along the cool wall which lay

20:47

against the bed. Of all that happened

20:49

to me in that room, this was

20:51

the strangest. I realized that

20:53

this clutching rancet thing, which

20:55

drew great delight from violating a

20:57

young boy's bed, was not

20:59

entirely on top of me. It

21:01

was sticking out from the wall like a

21:03

spider striking from its lair.

21:06

Suddenly, its grip moved from a

21:08

slow tightening to a sudden squeeze

21:10

It pulled and clawed at my clothes as it frightened

21:12

that the opportunity would soon pass.

21:14

I fought against it, but its

21:16

emaciated arm was too strong for

21:18

me, its head rose up, riving, and contorted

21:21

under the blanket. I now

21:23

realized where it was taking me into

21:25

the wall. I fought for my

21:27

dear life. I cried and

21:29

suddenly my voice returned to me yelling

21:31

and screaming that no one

21:33

came. Then I realized why it was

21:35

so eager to suddenly strike, why

21:37

this thing had to have me now,

21:39

through my window, that window which seemed

21:41

to represent so much malice from

21:44

outside street hope.

21:46

The first rays of sunshine I

21:48

struggled further knowing that if I could just

21:50

hold on, it would soon be gone. As

21:52

I fought for my life, the unearthly

21:55

parasite shifted slowly pulling itself up

21:57

my chest, its head now

21:59

poking out from under the blanket, wheezing,

22:02

coughing, rasping, I

22:04

do not remember its features. I simply remember its

22:06

breath against my face, foul

22:08

and as cold as ice. As

22:10

the sun broke over the horizon,

22:13

that dark place, that suffocating room

22:15

of contempt was washed, bathed

22:17

in sunlight. I passed out

22:19

as its scrawny fingers encircled

22:22

my neck, squeezing the very life

22:24

from me. I

22:29

awoke to my father offering to make me

22:31

some breakfast, A wonderful sight indeed. I

22:33

had survived the most horrible experience

22:35

of my life in Telban, and

22:38

now I moved the bed away from

22:40

the wall leaving behind the

22:42

furniture I had believed would stop that thing

22:44

from taking a bed. Little did

22:46

I think that it would try to take

22:48

mine and me? Weeks passed

22:50

without incident, yet on one

22:52

cold, frostbitten night, I woke

22:54

to the sound of the furniture where

22:56

the bunk beds used to be vibrating

22:59

violently. In a moment

23:01

it passed, I lay there,

23:03

sure I could hear a distant

23:05

wheeze coming from deep within the wall,

23:07

finally fading into the

23:09

distance. I had never told anyone in this

23:11

story before. To this day,

23:13

I still break out in a

23:15

cold sweat at the sound of bed sheets wrestling in the

23:17

night or a whee is brought on by a

23:19

common cold, and I certainly

23:21

never sleep with my bed against

23:23

a wall. Call it superstition,

23:25

if you will. But as I

23:27

said, I cannot discount conventional

23:29

explanations such as

23:31

sleep paralysis and hallucination or that of

23:33

an overactive imagination. But what I

23:35

can say is this. The

23:38

following year, I was given a

23:40

larger room on the other side of the house and my parents

23:42

took that strangely, suffocating,

23:44

elongated place as their bedroom.

23:46

They said they didn't need a large

23:49

room just one big enough for a

23:51

bed and a few things. They

23:53

lasted ten days. We

23:55

moved on the eleventh. Hey,

24:00

everybody. Since I recorded

24:02

my last account, I've been hesitant

24:04

to do so as I

24:06

felt unsettled since I broke my

24:08

silence. Sleep has not come easy

24:10

to me these last few nights. My

24:12

skepticism, however, remains

24:14

resilient and as such, I will

24:16

tell of what I experienced in the other

24:18

room. This won't be as

24:20

long as what occurred only took place

24:22

over a few days, but that was more

24:24

than enough for me. If you recall,

24:26

after that unwelcome nightly visitor left

24:28

me, I was moved into another

24:30

bedroom a year later. This room

24:32

was much larger than previous

24:34

one and had a warm and welcoming

24:36

atmosphere to it. Some

24:38

places feel bad. The room

24:40

before felt foul, but this one

24:42

did not. Thankfully, I was

24:44

given a normal bed. The previous

24:46

one was taken apart and thrown

24:48

out. A welcome sight I might add

24:50

I loved my new room. I

24:52

enjoyed the space for all my toys. I

24:54

was happy that the place was large enough to

24:56

have my friends drop by, but

24:58

most of I was relieved to just be

25:00

out of that uneasy foreboding part

25:02

of the house. I slept

25:04

more soundly than I had in a

25:06

long time, Of course, I still

25:08

moved my bed several feet from the

25:10

wall. I told my mother that I and my

25:12

friends like to use the gap between the wall

25:14

and the bed as a hiding place when we

25:16

were playing. I woke the

25:18

next day feeling refreshed and

25:20

relaxed. As I lay there watching some

25:22

of my favorite cartoons on a small

25:24

portable television, I

25:26

noticed something odd. An old

25:28

dark brown armchair, which had always

25:30

been there, sat at the foot of my

25:32

bed, large, and looming. It

25:34

was freight and worn. Having been given to us

25:36

by my cousin, but it had been used

25:38

many times even by then.

25:40

The chair itself was not unusual

25:43

but what unsettled me was that I could have

25:45

sworn before I went to sleep the chair

25:47

had been facing away from the bed.

25:50

Now in the cold light

25:52

of day, the chair was facing

25:54

me. I assumed one of my parents

25:56

had moved it while I slept, probably

25:58

looking for something which had been left there before

26:00

we switched rooms. The second night

26:03

was not as restful. It was

26:05

around eleven PM and I could hear my

26:07

parents television from the other end of

26:09

the house. The room was

26:11

largely in darkness, the only

26:13

illumination and orange huge drifting through

26:15

my window from the street lights

26:17

outside. I lay there content,

26:20

content until I heard something

26:22

quiet, yet unmistakable. At

26:24

first, I thought it was the

26:26

sound of my own breath exhaling and inhaling as I

26:28

rested. But when I stopped for

26:30

a moment, a quiet almost

26:32

inaudible sound of someone else

26:34

in the room breathing in and out did not

26:37

cease. It continued rhythmically

26:39

and without pause, I lay there in

26:41

the darkness, but while I was still

26:44

recovering from the terror instilled in

26:46

me from my experiences in the

26:48

previous room, I was not entirely

26:50

afraid. The breathing was so

26:52

distant and unlike the leasing I had

26:54

heard during my encounter with that thing in the

26:56

wall, but I remained calm.

26:59

And even at that early age, I

27:01

believed that it was so subtle that it was

27:03

probably my imagination playing tricks

27:05

on me. Still, I took

27:07

no chances. I stepped out of

27:09

bed, walked across the room, and turned the

27:11

light on. The sound was

27:13

gone. I stared at that

27:15

old worn armchair facing the foot of

27:17

my bed, which was within reaching

27:19

distance of where I slept and turned it

27:21

around to face the other way.

27:23

I had no real reason to

27:25

do so but something about it sitting there filled me with

27:27

dread. The third night, I

27:29

was not so fearless. Again,

27:31

I awoke in darkness. I

27:33

stared up at the ceiling, which seemed to happily absorb

27:35

the dim orange light from the

27:38

street. The tree outside my window

27:40

swayed in a calm breeze casting

27:42

a strange collection of improbable moving

27:44

shadows across the room. I

27:46

could hear nothing but the long and

27:49

distant of the city's night traffic

27:52

Just as I began to drift back into

27:54

sleep, I heard it. A

27:56

creek from the bottom of my bed as if

27:58

something had moved or shifted

28:00

its way on the floor. I

28:02

raised my head peering through the

28:04

darkness but saw nothing

28:06

strange. Everything sat as I had

28:08

done throughout the day nothing was out of

28:10

place. I cast my gaze across

28:12

the room, some comics on the

28:14

floor, a few boxes which had to still

28:16

be unpacked, the

28:18

armchair, unmoved, still facing

28:20

away from the bottom of my bed. There

28:22

was nothing sinister here. I

28:24

was now fully awake, glancing

28:26

over at my television considering whether or

28:28

not to enjoy some late night TV.

28:31

I'd have to keep the volume low, of course, as my

28:33

older brother would hear it in the next room

28:35

and no doubt told me to switch it

28:37

off. Just as I sat up

28:39

fully in bed, I heard it

28:41

again. A low creek accompanied

28:43

by a sound. The sound of

28:45

the slightest of movements, I looked again

28:47

at the room, the dim

28:49

orange shadows cast by the leaves hanging

28:51

by my window now took on a

28:53

more menacing form. I still

28:56

saw no reason to be afraid.

28:58

I stared at the chair at the end of my bed

29:00

and saw nothing unusual about it. It's

29:02

quite common for the mind to take a moment to

29:04

fully come to terms with what it's seeing.

29:06

It takes time to put the full horror

29:08

of what is in front of you together into

29:10

a moment of cold, bitter

29:13

realization. Yes,

29:15

I was staring at that old worn

29:17

armchair in the dark but what I

29:19

was also staring at was the Percy sitting

29:21

in it. In the dim light, I

29:23

could only see the outline of the back of

29:26

its head, the rest obscured by

29:28

the spine of the chair. I

29:30

sat motionless, staring,

29:32

praying, hoping that my eyes were

29:34

being misled by their surroundings The

29:36

slow creek of movement as it shifted in its

29:38

battered throne chilled me to my very

29:41

core. This was no mere trick of

29:43

the dark. Then it

29:45

shifted onto its right side.

29:47

I knew what it was doing. It was turning

29:49

around to look at me.

29:51

It was difficult to make out. For even in that

29:53

room, it seemed darker than everything

29:55

around it. I saw what

29:57

looked like a collection of long

30:00

fingers slip over the crest of the chair

30:02

and then another. The room

30:04

was silent, but for the sound of

30:06

this thing shuffling in its seat and

30:08

the crash of my racing heart,

30:10

At first, I could only make out the

30:13

outline of its forehead, but then it

30:15

began to rise up, revealing

30:17

two pinpoints of light in the

30:19

dark recesses of its deeply

30:21

set eye sockets. It was

30:23

staring at me. I

30:25

screamed and within a moment my brother

30:27

and mother came into the room switching

30:29

the light on asking if I had

30:31

another bad dream. I sat

30:33

speechless, barely acknowledging

30:35

them, staring intently at the

30:37

now empty on chair, I

30:39

was only in that room for another few

30:41

days before we suddenly moved.

30:43

I saw nothing for the remaining nights

30:45

except for my last sleep in that

30:47

room where I awoke to the warm air

30:49

of something breathing into my ear.

30:52

I jumped out of bed, turned the light

30:54

on, the slow rhythmic breath

30:56

of something uns seeing remained louder

30:59

than before. I spent the rest of that

31:01

night on the couch in the living room. Two

31:05

years later, I slept soundly in my bed in our new

31:07

house. There had been no other

31:09

incidents, and I was sure I'd left

31:11

behind whatever strangeness had plagued

31:13

me in that little average a

31:15

bourbon home. I was, however, left

31:18

one parting gift, my

31:20

tormentors, and in

31:22

my opinion, the watcher in that armchair

31:24

was a different entity than the thing in

31:26

the elongated room, had one

31:28

last surprise in store for

31:30

me. Like an animal claiming its territory, I

31:32

was not entirely out of their grasp.

31:34

For one last terrifying

31:37

moment, I felt the presence of

31:39

those things. I

31:41

lay there sound asleep. Two

31:43

years since those horrifying experiences,

31:45

I was in the throes of

31:47

a nightmare and suddenly happily found

31:49

myself awake, safe and sound in

31:51

my bed. The room was

31:54

darker than usual. I

31:56

breathed the scyive relief as one

31:58

does when waking from a nightmare,

32:00

but the room was so

32:02

dark. I could not see anything

32:04

at all as if something had

32:06

snuffed out the light. I chuckle

32:08

to myself realizing that I must have

32:10

pulled my blanket up over my face

32:12

while sleeping. A cotton blanket

32:14

felt cool against me, but the air

32:16

was a little too warm, almost

32:18

stifling. Just as I was

32:20

about to remove the blanket for some air,

32:22

I heard it For the last

32:24

time I heard it, the

32:26

rhythmic breathing of the watcher at the end of

32:28

my bed, fear

32:30

gripped me followed by anger

32:32

and despair Why could I not be left

32:34

alone? I then did

32:36

something most peculiar. I

32:38

decided to speak to

32:40

it. Perhaps this thing did not mean to harm

32:42

me. Perhaps it was unaware of the

32:44

terror it caused. Surely, your

32:46

young boy deserved some mercy.

32:49

As the breathing grew louder and

32:52

closer, I began to cry. I could

32:54

feel its presence on the other side of the

32:56

blanket. Its breathing hanging over

32:58

me like a stagnant wind. Through

33:00

the tears, I uttered two words,

33:02

words which surely would put an end to all

33:04

of this. Please stop.

33:07

The breathing began to change. It

33:10

became more animated quicker

33:12

somehow. I could hear

33:14

something shuffling next to me standing

33:16

close by. The breathing then

33:18

moved first, back to the foot of my

33:20

bed, then slowly across the

33:22

room, through the door, into the

33:24

hallway, and then gone.

33:27

Half crying, half elated,

33:29

I lay in the still darkness,

33:31

my face still covered by the

33:34

blanket. You may consider this a

33:36

victory of some sort, but I

33:38

do not. If those things

33:40

were real, I know now that their

33:42

intentions were not misconstrued They

33:44

were twisted, filled with malice.

33:46

I would normally never use such a

33:48

word to describe anything, but it's

33:50

as close to evil as I hope

33:52

I ever come. How do I

33:54

know that? I'll tell you how.

33:57

Moments after that thing seemed to have

33:59

left the house, something pressed

34:01

forcefully down on top of me, pushing the blanket with

34:03

great strength against my face. I

34:05

could feel the large hand with

34:08

long fingers wrapping the

34:10

covers around my skull. Its

34:12

nails imprinted upon me like razor

34:14

sharp ridges. I

34:16

managed to slipped down into the gap between the bed and the wall

34:18

quickly making my escape, clamoring and

34:20

screaming out of my room, waking

34:22

my family, Make

34:24

no mistake. That thing in the

34:26

darkness tried to smother me, smother me

34:28

to death.

34:31

It's been a few days since my last update

34:33

on this. I had been compelled

34:35

to silence, gripped by the irrational

34:38

fear that somehow, even after all

34:40

these years, Should I speak of

34:42

it? All those things would seek me

34:44

out once again and wreak havoc on

34:46

my life. In the name of

34:48

science and reason, I confronted

34:50

those fears and set out to

34:52

vanquish those tormented memories once and for all by sharing them with

34:54

others, exposing them for what I believe

34:56

they were.

34:58

The delusions of a troubled child. I have held on

35:00

to my skepticism and rationality for

35:03

dear life. I have allowed

35:05

them to define me But

35:07

this morning, I was presented with

35:10

verifiable physical evidence

35:12

evidence of what I do not

35:14

know, but it cannot be ignored.

35:16

And it seems strange to me, but the last few days have been

35:19

so tainted by apprehension and

35:21

misfortune after finally breaking

35:24

my silence that I can no

35:26

longer rely upon entirely

35:28

conventional explanations.

35:30

In the wake of sharing those traumatic

35:32

experiences I had as a child, I

35:34

have been plagued by an overwhelming sense of unease. Initially,

35:37

I had attributed this to

35:39

the fear I had experienced in

35:41

simply recounting and reliving those terrible

35:44

events in my mind, but as

35:46

the days passed, it felt like so

35:48

much more. A feeling

35:50

of impending doom consumed my

35:52

every thought. While sleep

35:54

came to me, rest

35:56

did not. Each morning, I awoke my nerves on

35:58

edge as if deprived of sleep for an

36:00

age. Nothing overtly frightening

36:02

happened during the first few nights

36:06

No visitation, no one welcomed bedfellows,

36:08

no wheezing breaths reaching out

36:10

from deep within my bedroom walls,

36:13

but I had that distantly

36:15

familiar feeling of not being

36:17

alone. Do not misunderstand, I did

36:19

not sense someone in my

36:21

room with me, I did not hear, smell, or

36:23

feel anything remotely supernatural, but

36:26

throughout my days and nights, I

36:28

have sent

36:30

something subtle. Almost on the

36:32

periphery of my awareness,

36:34

the feeling that something is on its

36:36

way, something

36:38

is coming, like the first few stagnant

36:40

blasts of air from a subway tunnel, heralding the arrival of

36:42

a lurching unstoppable monstrosity surprising

36:47

and expected. My sense of unease

36:49

grew with each passing day pushing its

36:51

way under my skin. mind

36:54

like some form of cancerous

36:56

infection. I tried to focus

36:58

my attention on various writing projects

37:01

in a vain attempt to fill my mind up to the

37:03

brim with other thoughts, hopefully

37:06

leaving no room for those contaminated

37:08

memories, but Those thoughts

37:10

came to me nonetheless. My

37:12

anxiety gained momentum until I

37:14

could think of nothing else. I

37:16

had to

37:18

do something I had studied psychology for years at

37:20

university. With this, I knew

37:22

that anxiety is often the result of

37:24

a loss

37:26

of control. And that one of the most effective ways to combat it

37:28

is to empower oneself.

37:30

This is what I intended to do.

37:33

Call it foolhardy, but I was going back

37:35

to that place. That house where those

37:38

terrible events took place.

37:40

I was going to confront

37:42

those memories and expose them for what they were,

37:44

nonsense. It was an hour's drive to

37:46

my old home, but it was one filled

37:48

with Elation.

37:50

I was confident that ease, happy.

37:52

I was in control now and nothing was

37:54

going to get in my way from showing

37:57

that place I'd year my entire life was nothing

37:59

but an average drum, harmless little suburban

38:02

house, gleefully negotiating

38:04

the country roads and then motorway

38:07

Finally, I made it to the city. Gradually,

38:10

the streets began to take on a

38:12

familiar appearance. Memories of

38:14

playing in that neighborhood came flooding back

38:16

to me. A play park with

38:18

my favorite slide, an ash

38:20

pit where we used to play football,

38:22

my school yard filled with hide

38:24

and seek and friendships long since abandoned, but never

38:26

forgotten. My mind wandered

38:28

through those memories, wandered so

38:30

much so that before I realized it,

38:34

I was pulling into the street where I'd once lived. The

38:36

road was long and disappeared far

38:38

into the distance, finally entering

38:40

into a sharp blind turn.

38:43

It was an old neighborhood and had been

38:45

planned and built long before the advent

38:47

of a car. This was evident by

38:50

the narrowness of its roads creating a

38:52

strangely claustrophobic feeling as

38:54

if the houses on each side rose

38:56

up leering at passersby. I

38:59

slowed my speed and cast my eye

39:01

over each house that I passed. It

39:04

was a uniform place with every

39:06

house looking not

39:08

too dissimilar. My heart suddenly began to beat faster as a

39:10

cold chill crawled up my

39:12

spine. There it was. There

39:14

was the

39:16

house. It was late afternoon, and the street was quiet, almost

39:18

lonely. I stared at

39:20

that little place wondering how such

39:23

an ordinary home could have instilled so much

39:25

fear in me. I initially

39:28

intended to only look at the house

39:30

from afar, confirming it to me

39:32

as a material construction, entirely explicable and

39:34

removed from anything uncanny, but

39:38

As I parked, I took a deep breath. And before I

39:40

knew it, I was out of my car

39:42

walking towards that old metallic

39:46

gate. It's once bright, floral shapes, now

39:48

darkened by age, flaking

39:50

deep green paint, revealing

39:52

nothing but

39:54

rust beneath. I ran my fingers over its uneven top,

39:56

and with the subtle grasp, I

39:58

pushed it open. Walking

40:00

along the

40:02

path, I was shocked at how disused the garden was.

40:04

I thought to myself how much of a waste

40:06

of a good lawn it was, which

40:09

was all but strucked by a thick mosaic of weeds

40:11

and other invasive species. But

40:14

as I neared the house, I

40:16

realized why. It

40:18

was unoccupied. Once again, a shutter crept

40:20

through me, but as my anxiety rose

40:22

up, I crushed it with

40:25

my rational mantra, This simplest of explanations is usually

40:27

the correct one. I assumed

40:30

that due to the current economic

40:32

climate that the house had

40:34

probably just on the market for

40:36

some time and that the owner

40:38

wasn't too aware of the old sentiment that

40:40

the first buy is with

40:42

the eye. But as I looked around, I could see no forced

40:44

sale sign nor one to

40:46

rent. It genuinely seemed

40:48

as though this house had

40:50

been forgotten, abandoned

40:52

and left to rot. The windows

40:54

at the front of the house were filthy and

40:56

as such almost impossible to

40:59

see through. But as I wandered around to the back of

41:01

the building, I could see more

41:03

clearly inside. I would have imagined that

41:05

a house such as this would

41:07

be empty, but On the contrary, it

41:09

was entirely occupied occupied by the trappings of

41:12

a modern life. I could see a

41:14

television sitting in the living

41:16

room corner A coffee

41:18

table with magazines strewn across

41:20

it, various pieces of furniture

41:22

sitting as if ready to be used, and

41:24

a couple of coffee cups sitting on the

41:26

windowsill, still full, covered in

41:28

mold. I would have thought the

41:30

house was lived in if not for the thick

41:32

layer of dust lying

41:34

over everything accompanied by

41:36

the occasional spider webs. It

41:38

was as though the most recent occupants had

41:40

left in a hurry and never returned.

41:42

Clammaring through a sea of waist high grass and bushes, I eventually

41:45

arrived at that innocuous little window

41:47

at the back of

41:50

the house. The very side of it

41:52

frightened me, but this was a mere memory and not the strange feeling of being

41:54

watched from within as I had experienced

41:57

as a child. Peering

42:00

in, the room looked eerily

42:02

familiar. I suppose there is little

42:04

that can be done with the room so

42:06

small, so

42:08

oddly narrow, but through the dirt covered glass, the room

42:10

looked almost unchanged from when I

42:12

had slept in it. A bed,

42:14

a set

42:16

of drawers, and what looked like an assortment of toys on the

42:18

floor. A profound sense of

42:20

anger washed over me

42:22

momentarily, but I shook it quickly from

42:24

my mind.

42:26

The room was clearly that of a child's and the thought

42:28

of that thing harming another innocent

42:30

filled me with contempt for such

42:33

a thought. And within me, swelled the

42:35

desire to protect any child from

42:37

such an abomination. As I gaze

42:39

at that wall of which a bed

42:41

lay alongside it, the hairs on

42:43

the back of my neck stood up.

42:46

For a moment, and it was for only

42:48

the slightest, I thought I saw the

42:50

blanket on the top of the

42:52

bed move. More than that, through the window

42:54

pane, I could have swore and I heard of

42:56

wheezing gasps, closing

42:59

my eyes tightly I repeated another scientific

43:02

mantra. Science does not owe its debts

43:04

to imagination. Opening

43:06

my eyes, I saw nothing but an empty

43:10

bedroom. No foul spirits, no unearthly

43:12

things, just a room, no

43:14

more, no less. I

43:16

breathe the sigh

43:18

of relief as if all was well with the world for the first time many

43:20

days, you may think that it

43:22

was wishful thinking, but I genuinely

43:24

felt that I had shown

43:27

myself that there was nothing to be scared of other

43:29

than my overactive imagination. It was starting to

43:31

get dark and I wanted to be home

43:33

before the night. Filled

43:36

with confidence, now that my anxieties were behind me,

43:38

there was one last thing to do. When

43:40

we had left the house, we

43:42

did so in a hurry, As

43:45

a child, it was disorienting, even frightening to

43:47

leave everything I knew behind, but there was one

43:49

thing left which I always wondered

43:52

about. At the bottom

43:54

of the gardens stood a Sycamore tree, which

43:56

looked to be even older than the house. I

43:58

was amazed at how unchanged

44:01

it was. I had grown up, gone on

44:03

to passengers new, but the

44:05

old Sycamore still stood. Wise,

44:08

warm, almost friendly in

44:10

its appearance. I think it's a rite

44:12

of passage for any child to have a place to

44:14

hide things. It's often their

44:16

first experience with independence,

44:18

something removed from any authority figure.

44:21

For me, my stash was halfway

44:23

up the old Sycamore tree.

44:25

I'm sure I must have looked like

44:27

a fool, but happily and gleefully climbed the tree

44:29

with abandon. The configuration of

44:32

the branches had changed in

44:34

places, but Overall, the

44:36

happy memories of playing amongst the

44:38

limbs of the old Sycamore tree

44:40

of having a little place of the world to

44:42

myself away from

44:44

everyone else seemed vivid as it was remarkable how much

44:46

remained unchanged. Halfway

44:48

up, I caught my breath and smiled

44:52

to myself, in the central trunk of the tree,

44:54

Laahalo, whether it was created by an

44:56

animal or perhaps the tug of a

44:58

gail on a weakened branch long ago, I

45:00

do not

45:02

know, but it was where I kept things. If I found

45:04

something which I was sure would be taken

45:06

from me for being inappropriate,

45:09

into the hollow it would go. The

45:11

truth is though the majority of

45:13

the items inside were not very

45:15

interesting, mostly just toys and

45:17

rarely exotic pieces of contraband like

45:19

a sling shot or some smoke bombs, I had no reason to hide

45:22

toys, but when I was young, it

45:24

felt very adventurous to have

45:26

a secret. Mihalo

45:28

was dark and filled halfway with rotting leaves.

45:31

No doubt deposited there

45:33

from countless items. Nevertheless,

45:36

I reached deep inside to see what

45:38

remained. I couldn't believe it. I

45:40

had found a toy that I had hidden there

45:42

before we moved off those years ago

45:44

I could feel the plastic in my hand. It's sharp edges

45:47

unmistakable, but the leaves and

45:49

darkness of the hollow obscured

45:51

its view from me as I struggled to remove it from

45:54

the thick wet mixture of rotting

45:56

leaves and rainwater. It

45:58

seemed to be caught amongst a collection of

46:00

small twigs. The reason I

46:02

was so excited was that I knew

46:04

when we moved, I had left one of my

46:06

favorite toys behind. A small

46:08

plastic World War

46:10

I soldier It may not sound like much, but I had grown up on

46:12

my family stories and my grandfather's

46:14

adventures during both wars.

46:16

And while he had passed away before I

46:18

was born, I

46:20

would often act out exaggerated versions of the stories with small

46:23

soldiers in the role of the

46:25

hero, my intrepid grandfather, At

46:28

the time, I fought a hollow, the perfect hiding place for

46:31

a soldier. My delight, however,

46:33

quickly turned to horror I

46:36

felt sick to my stomach. For as I pulled the soldier out, I

46:38

realized it was not my toy, but

46:41

something else entirely. Stuffed

46:43

into the back of the hollow amongst the

46:46

sludge and now in my hand

46:48

was the skeletal remains of a

46:50

small animal. The bones

46:52

crunched together in my grip as the

46:54

few small flakes of hair and

46:56

flesh left on it putrefied between

46:58

my fingers. I almost

47:00

lost my balance as the rotten and

47:02

potent smell of death escape through

47:04

my moist grass invading my senses.

47:07

I climbed back down carefully,

47:10

dejected. There was nothing else in the

47:12

hollow. My toy was gone,

47:14

probably taken by another child during

47:16

the sub point years. What remained of the poor

47:18

animal I buried under some loose earth in the

47:20

garden? I left that

47:22

place immediately.

47:24

Despite my unfortunate encounter in the hollow, I still

47:27

felt empowered that I had actually plucked

47:29

up the courage to revisit

47:32

that place to see how

47:34

ordinary it really was made me feel

47:36

in control once more of my

47:38

faculties. I did not at the

47:40

time require anything more than a

47:42

conventional explanation I said goodbye to the old neighborhood, to that

47:44

bad memory once and for all,

47:46

and began to make my

47:48

way home. By

47:50

the time I had driven onto the highway, something had begun to

47:52

filter through the back of my subconscious.

47:54

At first, I disregarded it,

47:56

dismissing it as my imagination, the

48:00

sun shown its last and dipped

48:02

below the horizon, I sensed

48:04

the growing of a compulsion

48:06

in me, an idea which

48:08

seemed to have been born and nurtured for

48:10

no good reason, no

48:12

rationale, no sound casual

48:14

footing, but one which had to be followed

48:16

at all cost. I must

48:18

get home. I increased

48:20

my speed zipping sporadically between

48:22

the slower cars and the motorway looking in

48:24

the rear view mirror, keeping an eye on what might be following, I

48:27

had to get home. Again, I

48:29

drove faster, constantly looking

48:31

behind as if

48:33

race seeing some unseen pursueer. Seventy,

48:36

eighty, a hundred miles per hour,

48:38

I tore along the road.

48:41

I honked I yelled and sweat lashed off

48:43

of me. What was happening to me?

48:45

All I knew was that I just

48:47

had to get home. White knuckled,

48:49

I finally made it off the freeway and onto the country roads which had

48:51

led directly to my town. The roads

48:54

were narrow and wound around the

48:56

now bleak

48:58

an ominous countryside. Darkness seemed to blank

49:00

the road in front of me. I turned

49:02

my high beams on and breathed the sigh

49:04

of relief to see a bright light again

49:07

The manic anxiety which it seemed to grip me on the

49:10

road appeared to have

49:12

diminished. However, I still glared

49:14

into the rearview mirror more often than I

49:16

should have just to make sure that

49:18

there was nothing following me.

49:20

And what a ridiculous thought to think

49:22

of something chasing my car,

49:24

to put myself and others in

49:26

danger by speeding down the road, some

49:28

madness. Still,

49:30

madness or not, I had felt compelled

49:32

to get away as quickly as possible And

49:34

even though I had my loneliness of the road

49:37

I was on fueled my yearning from my

49:39

own town, my own streets, my

49:42

own bed. Nervously,

49:44

I traversed the web like winding

49:46

roads which seared through the countryside,

49:48

feeling relieved at the first

49:50

sign of a streetlight of civilization

49:53

and of the boundaries of my town. I

49:55

pulled up outside my house, switching

49:57

the engine off and sat for a

49:59

moment in silence, I had to

50:02

stop all this nonsense. Things

50:04

coming out of the walls, watchers

50:06

smothering me at night. Looking into

50:08

someone's window like a prowler, all of this

50:10

was lunacy. Tomorrow,

50:12

I would start fresh. No more

50:14

recordings about my childhood experiences.

50:16

No more reliving of dreaded

50:18

filled nights. Just getting back to normal, carrying

50:21

out my work, spending time with

50:23

my girlfriend, and most of

50:25

all, reaffirming my belief faith and

50:27

confidence in science and rationality. Then

50:30

the thing in the back seat

50:32

leaned over grab me by the

50:34

shoulder and breathe the foul

50:36

rancid breath from deep inside its

50:38

lungs down the back of

50:40

my neck. I screamed for the door, my arms flailing

50:42

around looking for the lock, fear

50:44

possessed me,

50:46

shook me. A fear from all

50:48

those years ago lying awake at

50:50

night in that sickening room.

50:52

The inside of the car had grown

50:54

much colder but that was nothing compared to the icy burrowing

50:56

into my shoulder. I honestly thought

50:58

I was going to die that this thing

51:00

would finally get its way after all this

51:04

time. The door handle popped in my panic grip and I fell out

51:06

of the driver's seat onto the pavement.

51:08

For the briefest moments, I thought I

51:10

caught a glimpse of something in the back

51:14

seat. The form of an old man, yet twisted and

51:16

distorted grinning from ear to

51:18

ear. Luckily, there was no

51:20

one around as had

51:22

there been I would have appeared

51:24

a mad fool for the car was

51:26

empty. I grabbed the keys from the

51:28

ignition and booted the door shut with my

51:30

foot, locking it for

51:32

the night, I staggered

51:34

down the path and into my

51:36

house. I'm not going to lie to you, but

51:38

I drank myself to sleep

51:40

that night You may recall that I said I had

51:42

evidence. Actual physical evidence of

51:44

something unnatural. You might be

51:46

wondering what that evidence

51:48

is. Well, I could say it

51:50

was the marks on my shoulder that made me

51:52

shutter with fear, or I could tell

51:54

you that my bedroom window lying

51:56

pried open this morning by what

51:58

looked like claw marks had left me dreading tonight

52:00

or any other, but

52:02

no. None of that scared me

52:04

as much as what I saw today

52:06

upon waking.

52:08

Sometimes the most frightening of messages are the most simple. For

52:11

lying on my chest as I

52:13

awoke this morning was a

52:16

toy soldier. The soldier I

52:18

had hidden in that hollow all those

52:20

years ago returned to me as an

52:22

adult, bitten

52:24

in half. Last

52:26

night was the most heart

52:28

wrenching and frightening of my life. So

52:30

much so that I can barely bring

52:32

myself to contemplate it, By now, I

52:35

will have submitted what occurred during my visit to

52:37

that cursed place I once called

52:39

home, a visit which heralded the return

52:41

of my childhood fears

52:44

No matter what foul thing fell me then, nothing

52:46

could have prepared me for last night. After

52:48

waking up to the chilling side

52:50

of that toy soldier bitten in

52:54

half I found that my window to my bedroom was slightly ajar.

52:56

On closer inspection, it looked

52:58

entirely as if the window had been

53:00

pried open from the outside. The

53:04

latches were bent back out of

53:06

position as if subjected to an

53:08

unrestricted, unbound

53:10

brute force. From the outside looking in, I could see

53:12

three indications where the unwelcomed

53:14

house breaker had used some kind of

53:16

tool to leverage the window

53:18

unnaturally away

53:20

from its latch. What was peculiar about

53:22

those markings was that they seemed to cut

53:24

across the outside of the window frame,

53:26

like an old

53:28

uneven razor, unlike a

53:30

crowbar or other implement, which may have

53:32

merely left a dent where it would have been

53:34

used as a wedge to force the

53:36

window open. Nothing had been

53:38

stolen, and I attempted to

53:40

rationalize the markings on the window as human

53:42

made and not claw like

53:44

they appeared to be. The toy

53:46

soldier returned to me so violently,

53:48

I cannot explain. My heart

53:50

sank at the very thought of it. I

53:53

knew it was a message but it seemed

53:55

to me to be more of a twisted joke, announcing the arrival

53:57

of my childhood predator rather

53:59

than something to be puzzled

54:01

over or interpreted. I

54:03

spent the morning checking out each room of my

54:06

house and his contents. Nothing

54:08

was missing. I could only hope that

54:10

whatever that theened had been in the back seat of my car the previous night

54:12

that it only wished to frighten me one

54:14

last time and then be on

54:16

its way. Perhaps

54:18

its reach would be weakened so far from my childhood bedroom.

54:20

It is all too easy for

54:22

any sane person to persuade themselves

54:25

that something more benign. But in

54:28

this instance, I could not.

54:30

That broken toy was not a mere

54:32

joke, but

54:34

a promise. A promise that it would return for

54:36

what I did not wish to

54:38

know. My thoughts naturally

54:40

tumbled inwards and back to terrifying

54:42

nights I had as a child.

54:44

I was now reintroduced to the

54:46

apprehension of bedtime, the longing for

54:50

the day and the anxiety of night. Like an

54:52

old and restless enemy, my

54:54

fear grew throughout the day,

54:56

festering inside

54:58

of me, leading to strange and ominous thoughts about

55:00

the consequences of unwittingly

55:02

bringing that thing home. Do

55:04

not misunderstand

55:06

me, My fear was not simply for my own safety.

55:08

As a child, I believed my nightly visitor

55:10

was transfixed and consumed

55:13

by wanting me but I did

55:15

not feel that my loved ones were in any danger. This however

55:18

had changed. I did worry.

55:22

This time, I did feel nothing but fear for my loved

55:24

ones because you see,

55:26

I do not live alone.

55:29

My girlfriend and I moved in together over two

55:31

years ago. I have caused enough damage

55:33

now that I do not wish to speak her

55:35

name and will simply refer to her

55:38

as Mary. Mary and

55:40

I had a happy existence

55:42

and in fact we were very very

55:44

much in love. This coming

55:46

Christmas morning I was going to propose

55:48

to her but that beautiful moment has now been bitterly

55:50

taken away from me by that rancid

55:52

abomination. I knew that

55:54

Mary would be home

55:56

that evening She works in events and promotions, and as a

55:58

result, is often away from home for

56:00

days at a time. Traveling around

56:02

the country coordinating

56:04

various conferences and exhibitions. I

56:06

do not complain about this, and she and

56:08

I both know that I am a solitary

56:12

character and that the odd days of solitude normally do me

56:14

good, allowing me to dive head along

56:16

into my writing, absorbing

56:18

each and every word undisturbed.

56:22

Despite this, I always miss her. And with the events

56:24

of the past week, reliving those

56:26

torturous nights and then allowing them

56:28

to return, I have missed her far more

56:31

She arrived around six PM. I

56:34

greeted her with a smile, a warm

56:36

embrace, and a passionate kiss. I

56:38

tried to hide my perturbed state of

56:40

mind from her, Mary knows me

56:42

better than anyone I've ever met and

56:44

immediately inquired. What's wrong?

56:46

I tripped and fumbled through my

56:48

words and zacks explained to him that I had written

56:50

a story about my childhood and that

56:52

exploring those dark and twisted memories

56:55

had left me distraught. Mary has an

56:57

incredibly caring nature, and she immediately lay her

56:59

suitcase and bags on the floor, sat me

57:01

down on our couch and with her

57:03

soft and gentle way, asked

57:05

me to talk about the whole ordeal,

57:08

but I couldn't. I

57:10

couldn't mention this thing, this

57:12

wretch, which had now found its way to

57:14

our home, an invisible

57:16

and twisted invader, which had been

57:18

led there by my idiotic

57:20

curiosity. At the time, I felt that

57:22

she would think me mad but now I

57:24

wish I had told her the truth.

57:26

If there's one thing more damaging to a

57:28

relationship than a lie, it's a half truth.

57:30

Not because it is deceitful, but

57:33

because it a corruption of the truth,

57:36

perverted and abused to suit the

57:38

teller's needs. I told her

57:40

my half

57:42

truth. I told her about my story, that of the thing

57:44

in my narrow room and the watcher at

57:46

the end of my bed, but that is

57:48

where the truth ended and the lie

57:52

began. I deliberately and deceitfully mentioned that it was,

57:54

of course, just my imagination as a

57:56

child and neglected to talk

57:58

of my experiences of returning to

58:00

that house. Knowing

58:02

that she would see the damaged window latch

58:04

and claw marks, I spun my web

58:06

as I told a grand tale about waking

58:08

up to a burglar, attempting to break into

58:10

our house and having to chase them away. I

58:13

was quite the hero. I lied

58:15

to her and she showed me great

58:17

sympathy and kindness for my

58:19

deception. I was embarrassed by the truth then and

58:21

I am ashamed of my

58:23

lie now. If I had been truthful,

58:25

then perhaps we could have faced

58:27

this menace together, But instead, that thing took advantage of

58:29

my dishonesty and put a wedge between

58:32

us. The events of last night

58:34

desecrated the most important thing in

58:36

the world

58:38

to me. Nighttime arrived in all of its

58:40

bleakness and was unwelcome.

58:42

I lay in the darkness

58:46

waiting Mary was sound next to Each

58:48

breath, a soothing reminder of

58:50

companionship. But despite my growing

58:52

aversion to

58:54

loneliness, I would have no sleep

58:56

that night. I knew from experience

58:58

that when my uninvited guest would show

59:00

itself, it would do so with

59:03

subtlety Increasing its grip on me with

59:05

each visitation as if requiring time to build

59:07

up its strength, a leech feeding

59:09

on my fear. My

59:12

nerves kept me on edge, which fought

59:14

back the oncoming onslaught of sleep

59:16

admirably. In the

59:18

end though, biology one. And as my bedside clock

59:20

lumbered towards four AM, sleep

59:22

took me. The relaxing blanket

59:24

of nightly

59:26

oblivion anxiety washed away by worries a distant

59:28

memory, sinking deeper into the

59:30

soft mattress below and finally into

59:33

a long sought for rest.

59:36

Sleep no matter how deep is rarely

59:38

all encompassing. For as I

59:40

hovered over the cusp of a dream,

59:43

something began to bother me,

59:45

something invasive, yet

59:48

distant. I slowly opened my eyes and

59:50

allowed them to adjust to

59:52

the darkness. Mary lay soundly asleep and I calmed

59:54

myself by listening to her breathing in the

59:56

night. Inhale was followed

59:58

by exhale again

1:00:00

and again. Rhythmically.

1:00:02

Hypnodically, I began to drift

1:00:04

towards sleep once more. But

1:00:07

no, there it was

1:00:10

something else distinct yet undefinable. It was

1:00:12

distant out of the way

1:00:14

almost obscured or smothered

1:00:16

as if coming from behind

1:00:20

something I strained my ears in an attempt to define it,

1:00:22

but it was all too quiet.

1:00:24

I remained in the bed for several more

1:00:26

minutes, but

1:00:28

with each passing second that almost an audible sound

1:00:30

graded on me like broken

1:00:32

glass on a rod nerve.

1:00:35

Sleep was now abandoned and with

1:00:37

much frustration, I decided to

1:00:39

reluctantly investigate the source of the

1:00:41

noise. I sat up in the bed

1:00:43

and listened intently. It was unlike

1:00:46

any other sound I had ever

1:00:48

heard. Quiet, low, but

1:00:50

as my mind adjusted to the noise,

1:00:52

I slowly began to piece its nature together. It

1:00:54

was most certainly obscured by something, but

1:00:56

the closest thing I could relate it

1:00:59

to was a repetitive murmur. I

1:01:02

heard something similar previously when I was a child visiting

1:01:04

my grandmother in a nursing home, a

1:01:06

place which had left an impression

1:01:10

on me, Seeing the wandering residents confused into the

1:01:12

fractured mind, meandering around

1:01:14

the grounds like lost inmates.

1:01:17

Murmuring repetitively to themselves of

1:01:19

days gone past, repeating

1:01:22

nonsensical phrases

1:01:24

and words, This is what it reminded me of, a

1:01:26

continuous stream of indecisive

1:01:28

words uttered by someone in the throes of

1:01:30

confusion. I turned to

1:01:32

check on

1:01:34

Mary, watching her chest rise and fall with each breath.

1:01:36

Assured that she was undisturbed,

1:01:38

I left the bed. As

1:01:41

I stood up, I recognized immediately that

1:01:43

the murmuring was louder. While

1:01:46

dark, I had left a light on in the

1:01:48

hall as I always do, which crept under the

1:01:50

door and allowed me to view the room in a

1:01:52

dim but visible way.

1:01:54

I looked around to see if anything was out of

1:01:56

place, but the room appeared as expected.

1:01:59

My mind ambled back to that night as a child in

1:02:01

the second room when noises could be heard

1:02:04

from some unseen, yet

1:02:06

ever present menace. I took a

1:02:08

step forward and as I did so,

1:02:10

the noise once again grew in

1:02:12

volume. While I was still at a

1:02:14

loss in deciphering

1:02:16

the words, I can now hear the character of the voice. It

1:02:18

was old, scratched by

1:02:20

age with a harsh guttural

1:02:22

tone to it. The

1:02:24

words were being repeated at a frantic

1:02:26

pace and seemed anxious yet

1:02:28

muffled by some

1:02:30

unknown barrier. I was frightened, but I drew strength from Mary being in

1:02:32

the room. And with a deep breath

1:02:34

filled with trepidation, I took

1:02:36

another slow and silent

1:02:38

step forward. My

1:02:40

bare feet cushioned by the cold floor below. Again,

1:02:42

the voice became louder. I wasn't

1:02:44

sure if I was imagining it but

1:02:47

I could have sworn that you become more

1:02:50

agitated as I drew closer. The

1:02:52

next step I took shook me to

1:02:54

my very core For as that

1:02:56

murmuring garbled voice grew

1:02:58

louder still amongst the

1:03:00

rambling, groveled sound of it, I heard

1:03:02

a word. A word which

1:03:04

shot an icy shutter through my

1:03:06

bones, a word to be

1:03:08

feared. It spoke

1:03:10

my name. To hear god, it knew my name. To me, it

1:03:12

was as if knowing who I was

1:03:14

somehow endowed that thing with an

1:03:16

unlimited reach.

1:03:18

That I may never any moment.

1:03:21

Something suddenly caught my eye,

1:03:23

a movement accompanied by a

1:03:25

ruffle of cloth I knew

1:03:27

now where that rhythmic agitated voice

1:03:30

originated. I knew now why

1:03:32

it was so muffled and difficult

1:03:34

to decipher I can now

1:03:36

see it only a few feet in front of me standing behind the closed curtains.

1:03:38

The moon was ascending outside

1:03:43

and while its glimmer could not entirely

1:03:45

penetrate the thick cloth, it could

1:03:47

barely and faintly outline the thing

1:03:49

watching me between the window

1:03:51

and the I cannot now convey the strangeness

1:03:53

which then overcame me. My

1:03:56

anxiety and terror had heightened, but an

1:03:58

unusual compulsion

1:04:00

An untimely sense of purpose took me over, I

1:04:02

had to see what it was. I

1:04:04

took another tentative step towards the

1:04:08

curtains, They swayed slightly as if caught by a breeze, but

1:04:10

I could not tell whether the movement had

1:04:12

been caused by myself or the hand

1:04:14

of that thing hiding behind a shroud

1:04:18

of cloth I was now close enough to hear its labored

1:04:20

breathing, the displacement of

1:04:22

fluid at the back of its throat palpable

1:04:24

with each inhalation. This

1:04:28

was it, I was going to confront this monstrosity from

1:04:30

my past, this tormentor of

1:04:32

children, this

1:04:34

scoured, Raising my right

1:04:36

hand slowly, I accidentally touched the

1:04:38

fabric of the curtain, causing a subtle

1:04:40

ripple which parted them momentarily. I

1:04:44

for through that temporary slit, only for a moment.

1:04:46

I saw it. I got

1:04:48

it. How can I describe what

1:04:51

was standing there? Even now, I closed my eyes and wished that

1:04:53

I could erase it from my memory. It

1:04:56

shivered and shook as it continued

1:04:58

to murmur

1:05:00

repeating some indecipherable phrase, sounding like

1:05:02

a bizarre mixture of numerous languages.

1:05:05

Its emaciated skin stretched over

1:05:07

an unnatural frame

1:05:10

of brittle and prominent bones, vertebrae,

1:05:12

ribs, and other inner workings almost

1:05:14

protruding through its paper skin.

1:05:17

Pale and almost protruding through its

1:05:20

paper thin, pale and

1:05:22

almost bruised looking husk.

1:05:24

As malnourished as it appeared,

1:05:26

The stomach was distended in places, and its bony appearance did

1:05:28

nothing to diminish the feeling that it

1:05:30

was capable of exerting itself with

1:05:34

brute. Preverted force on any of its victims.

1:05:36

Sickness swelled in my stomach,

1:05:38

a tainted offensive smell filled

1:05:42

the air, and as it murmured and whispered in the darkness through

1:05:44

what sounded like broken fractured

1:05:46

teeth, I cannot help but feel

1:05:48

pity for

1:05:50

this wretch. Quivering in the night as if a victim of long

1:05:52

starvation. I quickly

1:05:54

came to my senses and realized that this

1:05:56

thing was not to be pityed, but

1:06:00

feared. Not to be understood, but

1:06:02

exposed. It was not shivering because it was

1:06:04

cold. It was shaking with

1:06:06

excitement like a drug addict anticipating

1:06:08

their next

1:06:10

dose. Standing there, contemplating what I had just seen

1:06:12

between the curtains, I once again

1:06:14

prepared myself to remove its

1:06:18

shrouded cloth protection and to reveal it for what it

1:06:20

was. As I once again raised my hand

1:06:22

to draw the curtain, something caught

1:06:24

my attention. It's

1:06:26

incessantly confused, who grovely, and

1:06:29

inarticulate whispers squeezed through

1:06:31

that broken mouth and uttered the

1:06:34

three most terrifying words I've

1:06:36

ever heard.

1:06:38

A cold breath

1:06:41

slid down the back of my

1:06:44

neck. Momentarily, I froze,

1:06:46

but love is a powerful

1:06:48

motivator. Had I been on

1:06:50

my own fear would have taken me, shaking any possibility

1:06:52

of resistance from my mind.

1:06:54

But with Mary's sleeping soundly

1:06:56

in the same room as that

1:06:58

thing, shielding someone I loved

1:07:00

from that wretch was my only

1:07:02

thought. I turned around slowly and as

1:07:04

I did so I could hear it

1:07:06

wheezing, gasping, groaning for

1:07:08

air. At a quarter turn, I

1:07:11

could smell its breath, the stench of

1:07:13

death hung in the air, play

1:07:15

like and foul. Then I heard another

1:07:17

voice. It was not that horror

1:07:19

in the darkness, but

1:07:22

Mary. She let out a scream

1:07:24

which startled and distressed me in my

1:07:26

very core, a scream which will haunt

1:07:28

me for the rest of my days.

1:07:30

I turned quickly and laid eyes on it, but it wasn't behind me.

1:07:32

It was on the bed. It writhed

1:07:35

and rasped, pleasing, and

1:07:37

delighted. Its bones buying curved

1:07:40

with the anguish of countless years

1:07:42

protruding through a ragged torn piece

1:07:44

of cloth, which hung loosely over

1:07:46

its tore so in a vain attempt to appear almost

1:07:48

human. But was it

1:07:50

human? Had it once been

1:07:52

human? I

1:07:54

thumb forwards towards it, rather than hitting and pulling

1:07:56

a pet thing with every ounce of my strength.

1:07:58

Its loose skin slipped through

1:08:01

my hands It squeezed and forced Mary's face

1:08:03

into her pillow with flee. As its

1:08:05

other limbs arched and contorted, tearing at

1:08:07

her night dress, Mary's screams were

1:08:09

muffled by the pillow I began

1:08:11

to fear that she was being

1:08:14

suffocated. I shouted, I yelled, I pleaded with that game to leave

1:08:16

her alone

1:08:18

to take me to do anything that wanted, but that only

1:08:20

served to animate the theme to even

1:08:22

greater depths of depravity. It was

1:08:24

hurting her, cutting

1:08:27

her in beautiful Mary. Suddenly

1:08:29

it stopped attacking her, but it still kept one

1:08:31

of its brittle, gangly, and gaunt, yet weighted

1:08:33

hands on the back

1:08:35

of Mary's head. Pushing her

1:08:37

face further into the pillow. I had my hands around its putered neck trying

1:08:39

as best I could to strangle the

1:08:42

beast, but my efforts were in

1:08:44

vain. Its

1:08:46

scrawny frame blade its overpowering strength.

1:08:48

I watched and sickly disbelief

1:08:51

as it began to run its

1:08:53

cadaver's fingers through Mary's hair. Slowly

1:08:55

and almost with affection. I can now

1:08:57

hear the twisting and cracking

1:08:59

of bone, the popping

1:09:01

of cartilage, a snapping

1:09:04

of tendons. Thank god it was not

1:09:06

coming from Mary. I was now on its back with my arm wrapped around its throat and my chin

1:09:08

rubbing against the abrasive

1:09:11

skin of its shoulder. As

1:09:14

its spine dug sharply into my stomach,

1:09:16

it twisted its head in an

1:09:18

entirely inhuman way. Its neck clicked

1:09:21

and thrown under the strain

1:09:23

with every arthritic movement as if hindered by a

1:09:25

thousand years of rigor mortise, it was now looking at

1:09:27

me. I have heard it often

1:09:29

said of some people that that

1:09:32

they cannot see the forest

1:09:34

through the trees, but now I truly appreciate that sentiment. So close

1:09:37

was I

1:09:40

to its black, I see stair that I

1:09:42

could not take in its surrounding features. I increased my grip,

1:09:44

I swore, I screamed, I would have

1:09:46

torn its throat out if I could.

1:09:49

But it was all in vain as

1:09:52

it continued to run its scrawny fingers

1:09:54

through Mary's hair nonchalantly while looking at

1:09:56

me. I don't think I'll

1:09:58

ever truly recover from the sound that seeped through its grin, a wheezing sigh,

1:10:04

a something which sounded very close

1:10:06

to a sinister otherworldly laughter. As its

1:10:09

face touched mine, Its eyes stared deep into

1:10:12

me, not even my reflection

1:10:14

was returned. Two looking glasses

1:10:16

into a sanctuary for

1:10:18

the dark, devoid of light,

1:10:20

happiness and love. It was staring as if it wished to

1:10:22

say something, as if it was trying to communicate a

1:10:26

simple idea to me.

1:10:28

Malice. With a retching, stuttered, and violent movement,

1:10:30

it tore an entire fist of hair

1:10:33

from Mary's head leaving

1:10:35

behind an open wound and

1:10:38

it was gone. Mary did

1:10:40

not scream, she merely whimpered. I turned

1:10:43

the bedside lamp on, but no

1:10:45

words of care or simply could

1:10:47

console her. She wept uncontrollably. The bed

1:10:49

was soaked in blood, which

1:10:52

had seeped from the numerous scratches

1:10:54

on her back and the large cut where an entire section

1:10:56

of her hair had once been. I

1:10:58

hugged her, told her that everything

1:11:00

would be alright, then

1:11:03

she looked at Looking at her tear

1:11:05

filled eyes, I knew what she thought immediately. She thought that

1:11:07

I had attacked her, that I

1:11:09

had done those terrible

1:11:11

things to her. Of all the

1:11:13

experiences I have had, the look of betrayal, disgust, and contempt on Mary's

1:11:16

face will remain the

1:11:18

most painful. She is gone.

1:11:22

After composing herself, she

1:11:24

gathered up some things and left. I tried

1:11:26

to explain. I tried to tell her

1:11:28

everything that had been happening, but she

1:11:30

would not listen. Who would believe such a preposterous story. She simply said

1:11:33

that she would not call the police,

1:11:35

but the if I ever

1:11:37

attempted to contact her, she

1:11:39

would do just that. To

1:11:41

her, I was the aggressor, not that thing, as she left, she turned to look

1:11:43

at me one last time

1:11:46

and then burst into tears.

1:11:50

I know now that I have lost

1:11:52

her forever. The woman I love more

1:11:54

than anything on this earth thinks

1:11:56

that I'm a violently hideous human

1:11:59

being. If only she could understand that whatever did this, it

1:12:01

was not human. And if it ever

1:12:03

was, it had long

1:12:06

since abandoned that nature. It was five AM when Mary left. It's

1:12:08

nine AM now. I am sitting here

1:12:10

in the cold night of day

1:12:14

at my kitchen table. Recording this so that there is some record

1:12:16

of what is transpired, so that the

1:12:18

people know, so that Mary knows

1:12:22

them whatever happens, that whatever occurs from here on in,

1:12:24

but it was that despicable creature

1:12:26

from my childhood, from that cursed

1:12:29

narrow room all those years ago,

1:12:31

which reigned this misery down upon me upon us. I

1:12:33

must now dispense with the

1:12:36

sentiment. I could easily sit

1:12:38

here mourning the loss of my

1:12:40

relationship with Mary or

1:12:42

I could allow myself to be overcome with fear, to do nothing, but simply will

1:12:48

not do. I can hear the laughter

1:12:50

of my neighbor's children outside. At different stages in my life, I remember

1:12:52

that same feeling

1:12:55

of joy and happiness from

1:12:57

something as simple as playing with friends or

1:12:59

climbing a tree or kissing the woman you love or even drifting

1:13:02

off to sleep at

1:13:04

bedtime. To dream

1:13:06

of what could be the only

1:13:12

memories, I fear I will

1:13:14

never experience that happiness again. This thing has broken me, but I am resolute.

1:13:16

Whatever that hideous

1:13:19

wretch has in store whatever

1:13:22

it desires to do with me, I

1:13:24

will not allow that thing to harm another

1:13:26

person or to invade another child's life

1:13:28

as it did mine all those years

1:13:30

ago, There isn't much time now before it

1:13:32

gets dark, before it returns.

1:13:34

My plans are made and

1:13:37

with any luck they

1:13:39

will succeed, but I wish I

1:13:41

could say we will speak again, but I think that is

1:13:43

unlikely. I hope you understand what must be

1:13:47

done because tonight, I'm

1:13:49

going to kill it. I was released by

1:13:51

the police less than

1:13:55

two hours ago, and I'm compelled to

1:13:58

record the events of the past day and night as quickly and accurately as

1:14:00

possible. In some ways, I want

1:14:02

to forget, but I know that I

1:14:04

cannot I

1:14:06

know that I should not. For my own

1:14:08

sanity, I must divulge what has happened.

1:14:11

It is far too important. Should

1:14:14

I ever allow myself to be swayed by

1:14:16

the mechanical, rational nature of the world once again? These words

1:14:18

should serve to remind me what is unseen as both mysterious

1:14:23

and frightening. After Mary left, I knew that I'd

1:14:25

lost her forever, but rather than be

1:14:28

consumed by

1:14:30

depression and inaction I was invigorated by one purpose, by one

1:14:32

thought, by one idea that I knew

1:14:34

I had to carry out, I

1:14:38

had to destroy that thing, for I cannot the chance that may one day

1:14:40

hurt my loved ones or desecrate

1:14:42

the innocence of another child. I

1:14:45

also knew that

1:14:47

I faced death but feeling that I

1:14:49

had already lost everything that was a small price to pay. It is said that

1:14:52

revenge is a

1:14:54

dish best served cold,

1:14:56

but Having waited my entire

1:14:58

adult life to be rid of this thing, its memory and the shadow that is cast upon

1:15:00

me, I met the

1:15:02

proposition of killing this fiend

1:15:06

this corrupt and perverted force

1:15:08

with a smile on my face. That night

1:15:10

it would be dead, even if I

1:15:12

had to drag it to hell

1:15:14

with me. Bizzying myself for the next few hours, I

1:15:16

packed a bag and wrote a letter

1:15:18

to Mary and my family explaining what

1:15:21

had happened and that

1:15:23

they weren't to blame. I phoned my mother

1:15:25

and father than my brother just to hear their voices one

1:15:27

last time. I did not let on know

1:15:29

that I may never speak

1:15:31

to them again. My mother's intuition

1:15:33

led her to ask if everything was alright. I smiled and told her that I

1:15:35

loved her before

1:15:39

reluctantly saying goodbye. At about

1:15:41

seven o'clock, I made my way out to the car. The sun had already set and the street seemed

1:15:44

eerily quiet.

1:15:48

As if the scene of an

1:15:50

unattended funeral. I sat in the driver's seat leaving the door on the other side open, awaiting

1:15:54

my most unwelcome passenger.

1:15:57

By nine o'clock, nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The place remained

1:15:59

deserted, and the cold night air flowing through

1:16:01

the open door was beginning

1:16:04

to bite. As

1:16:07

I sat there, contemplation echoed through my

1:16:09

mind. I ruminated on the nature

1:16:11

of this cadaverous

1:16:14

parasite One question rose out of the

1:16:16

sea of thoughts, towering above

1:16:18

all else, unmoving and continuous.

1:16:21

Can you kill something

1:16:23

which is already I did not know

1:16:25

if this was a thing of the grave or some unworldly

1:16:27

spectrum, which could be considered alive in

1:16:31

some way, but just as was reevaluating my plan. There it

1:16:33

was. It was subtle at first,

1:16:35

but there was a

1:16:38

small almost indistinguishable shift

1:16:40

in the suspension of the car.

1:16:42

It was in the car with me. Unseen yes, but there, nonetheless. As

1:16:47

I heard the slightest of whispered breaths from the back seat,

1:16:49

I leaned over and calmly closed the

1:16:52

passenger door. I turned

1:16:54

the key in the ignition,

1:16:56

and as I pulled out of the

1:16:58

street, I could have sworn I heard a quiet yet distinctly malicious snicker as

1:17:01

if someone was

1:17:04

mocking me. Did it know what

1:17:06

I had planned for it? Our destination was not far, but the roaming hills

1:17:08

rose up and

1:17:11

diminished with regularity. A stark

1:17:13

reminder of the ominous isolation of night. Occasionally on the way, I could

1:17:15

hear something from

1:17:20

behind but I refused to look for

1:17:22

that thing in the dark. Patience. It would not be long before I would confront

1:17:25

it. The irony

1:17:28

hit me. I was worried about scaring

1:17:30

off the same thing which had terrified and tortured me as a child. I had to be

1:17:32

resilient, and so I drove

1:17:34

carefully and calmly through the countryside

1:17:38

swamped by darkness, hoping that

1:17:40

my unearthly passenger would not

1:17:42

suspect me. I arrived. The

1:17:45

wheels of the car struggled

1:17:47

and slid on the undergrowth as I headed off the narrow country road.

1:17:49

The landscape had opened up and as

1:17:51

I looked at

1:17:53

the broken and rotting trees around me,

1:17:55

felt it come this bleak place in the cold

1:17:58

night to destroy that bleakest of

1:18:00

things. The land suddenly

1:18:02

came to an abrupt end,

1:18:05

a cliff edged out from an old

1:18:07

quarry looking deep into the black waters of the lake below. cliff edge

1:18:11

was relatively flat and had in

1:18:13

fact at one time housed a road which had subsided into the lake decades

1:18:16

earlier. The local kids would tell

1:18:18

stories about vengeful ghost of those

1:18:20

killed but

1:18:23

they were just stories and perhaps they

1:18:25

weren't. In the past, I would

1:18:27

have disregarded such

1:18:30

tales. But who would believe mine if I told it

1:18:32

to them now? I switched off the

1:18:34

engine and parked several meters away

1:18:36

from the cliff edge, switching off any

1:18:38

lights and composing myself for what would come. I sat in the car for what seemed like a

1:18:44

lifetime. The only company given to

1:18:46

me by the occasional splash of water against the cliff below. I waited. This

1:18:48

thing was smart. Of that,

1:18:51

there was no doubt. It

1:18:54

had toyed with me, relishing the pain and

1:18:57

torment it had caused as only something of

1:18:59

a cold leaf frozen intellect

1:19:01

could. For this reason, I knew it would suspect

1:19:03

me and perhaps even flee if I brought the car too close to the cliff's edge. I

1:19:05

had to wait for it

1:19:08

to attack let

1:19:11

it feed, let it revel and gorge itself on me.

1:19:13

Perhaps then it would not notice as

1:19:15

I slowly plunge the

1:19:17

car into that dark icy water below.

1:19:20

I was going to drown the

1:19:22

bastard. I had appraised the potential

1:19:24

consequences in my head and reasoned

1:19:26

that there would be a moment

1:19:28

A singular moment where I would have

1:19:30

a slim opportunity to escape from the car just before it reached the edge.

1:19:32

Mary and I used

1:19:35

to go there occasionally. A

1:19:37

place to be together, away from everything else,

1:19:39

and it did not look as stark during a summer's day. I therefore had

1:19:41

the place in mind and

1:19:43

knew it well. The

1:19:47

drop was at least thirty feet to the depths below, and I

1:19:49

did not want to be in that car as

1:19:51

it hit the water nor trapped

1:19:53

inside with that

1:19:55

abomination. I waited then I heard

1:19:58

it. Slowly at first, then increasing in rate and volume, a rasping,

1:20:01

wheezing breath

1:20:04

from behind. Strangely, it

1:20:06

sounded more labor than before. Each breath of struggle filled with fluid,

1:20:11

rotten, and decayed. A shiver

1:20:13

ran at my spine, a rank foul smell began to fill the air. The breath

1:20:16

drew closer

1:20:20

from behind. My heart began to

1:20:22

race, beating hard and fast as I looked up and saw the windscreen begin to ice up from

1:20:28

inside. I could see my breath.

1:20:30

I turned slowly. I was staring at it and it at me

1:20:33

hunched over covered

1:20:36

in darkness. Contorted, gone hands

1:20:38

ceased as a fighting rigor mortise. It slowly moved towards me.

1:20:40

One bony leg cracked

1:20:43

and grown as it slid

1:20:46

over me. It pulled itself in

1:20:48

close to me and through a shard of

1:20:50

light provided by the moon, I saw

1:20:53

its face Skin hung from its

1:20:55

ragged features. Glassy eyes stared deep into me as its grins spread

1:20:59

through its face, unnaturally wide

1:21:01

has the result of its half rotten flesh, exposing the muscle, broken

1:21:04

teeth, and sinus

1:21:06

of its rancid smile

1:21:08

beneath Pulling

1:21:10

closer, it opened its mouth revealing

1:21:12

a wet and putrid tongue, which

1:21:14

could be seen through parts of

1:21:17

its missing jaw, wheezing, breathing

1:21:19

heavily a foul stench which stung my eyes and filled my mouth.

1:21:21

It stopped for a moment and

1:21:24

then tackled to

1:21:26

itself, happy and content. Staring

1:21:29

into its icy cold eyes, it gave the impression of

1:21:31

an afflicted and increasingly weak old man.

1:21:36

It was still incredibly strong, but it seemed

1:21:38

as though it had lost some of its potency. Perhaps leaving

1:21:40

that elongated room

1:21:43

had somehow affected it, Its

1:21:45

long protruding fingers crest my face, and then as a

1:21:47

show of intent, it stuck one of

1:21:50

them deep in my

1:21:52

shoulder. I screamed as it

1:21:54

bent and twisted inside of me, the rotting fiend moving its finger to cause the maximum

1:21:56

amount of damage and

1:21:59

pain as it could. With

1:22:01

my free arm, I turned on the ignition and though my shoulder was still pinned to the seat, I

1:22:03

managed to fight through

1:22:06

the pain, put the car

1:22:09

into gear and took off as fast

1:22:11

as I could. The creature flailed and screamed, it attempted climb overly

1:22:14

into the back seat

1:22:16

that I held on with all my strength,

1:22:18

the thoughts of what it did to marry enough to fuel my rage. We raced towards the

1:22:21

edge of the cliff and I eyed

1:22:23

the driver's door frantically As

1:22:27

we neared our icy plunge, I screamed in anger at

1:22:29

its festering rants and face and pushed

1:22:31

it off of me. It scrambled

1:22:33

into the back seat for dear life as

1:22:35

I scrambled for mine by unlocking the car door. It

1:22:37

was too late, car careened over the

1:22:39

cliff face, and before I

1:22:41

knew it, We hit the dark water

1:22:44

splitting the black glass like surface with

1:22:46

tremendous force. I should have died then,

1:22:48

but the airbag took the brunt

1:22:50

of my impact although I still managed to scrape my head

1:22:52

across the door frame, dazed,

1:22:55

I looked around the sound

1:22:57

that I heard coming from that

1:22:59

thing was malformed yet familiar.

1:23:01

The squeal of some demonic child soon gave way to the anguish

1:23:03

and rage of an ancient intelligence, which

1:23:05

knew that it faced

1:23:07

almost certain death. The

1:23:10

water was frozen and poured through the

1:23:13

now twisted open car door with such

1:23:15

force that it winded me. I

1:23:17

gasped for air at my unwilling prey

1:23:19

now did, it arrived and twisted, as

1:23:21

it looked for an exit, spying the

1:23:23

open door, it pulled

1:23:25

itself through the water towards me.

1:23:28

smashed it into the thing's face. Pieces

1:23:30

of rotten flesh flaked off under the

1:23:34

impact as dark, black liquid oozed from the resulting wound.

1:23:36

Again, it attempted to get passed and

1:23:38

I knew that to keep it in

1:23:41

the car long enough to drown that

1:23:43

I would have to die with it. I felt numb as

1:23:45

the frozen water slipped over my

1:23:47

chin, my heart struggled against the

1:23:49

cold, and with a sudden surge,

1:23:51

I was submerged and

1:23:53

had breathed my last. I held my breath but only to compose and ready myself for

1:23:55

an icy suffocating death. I hoped

1:23:58

that it would not be painful.

1:24:03

My thoughts returned to Mary and my family,

1:24:05

and all consuming sense of

1:24:07

sadness and despair overcame

1:24:09

me. But as I struggled with

1:24:12

that thing trying to get past me and

1:24:14

through the door, grabbing and flailing with its

1:24:16

arms, I looked down and saw it.

1:24:18

Its leg was trapped between the seat and the floor by the impact

1:24:20

of the fall, and although it could

1:24:23

move, it cannot leave. I

1:24:26

turned immediately the door, I could barely see but a foot in front of

1:24:29

me in that black water, but there was

1:24:31

enough moonlight to light my way

1:24:33

just as I got to the door The wretch grabbed hold of

1:24:35

me and pulled me back to it. It had given

1:24:38

up all hope of escaping, but it wanted

1:24:40

to drown me with it. We fought

1:24:42

for what felt like an age in

1:24:44

that cold bitter grave

1:24:46

as the cars slowly sank deeper and deeper into the darkness, I can now feel

1:24:50

my body pleading with

1:24:53

to take a breath to exhale my last gasp of

1:24:55

air and then inhale the frozen water. I'm happy to say that I

1:24:57

used my wits to get out of

1:24:59

such a terrible fate. Orientating

1:25:03

my body, I pushed my feet

1:25:05

against the dashboard with enough force to at

1:25:07

last escape at slippery grasp.

1:25:09

I do not remember much else.

1:25:11

Bar the anguished and scream that my tormentor let out as I

1:25:13

left it to die at the bottom of that

1:25:16

icy lake.

1:25:20

I found myself walking through the

1:25:22

wilderness cold, wet, but alive. The wound

1:25:24

in my shoulder slowed me down, but I

1:25:26

kept the bleeding at bay by applying

1:25:30

pressure with my other hand, it took

1:25:32

me two hours to walk home, and I'm

1:25:34

amazed that I did not collapse

1:25:37

from exhaustion or hypothermia. When I saw the familiar sight of that

1:25:40

street I lived on, I was filled

1:25:42

with a sense of accomplishment, a sense

1:25:45

of pride and triumph, I had beaten that thing once

1:25:47

and for all. That is until I

1:25:50

went inside my house and found

1:25:52

a trail of large

1:25:54

wet footprints leading from the front

1:25:56

door to my bed. Disbelief took me,

1:25:58

despair so sharp and overwhelming that I'm unable

1:26:02

convey it with mere words. It

1:26:04

was lying in my bed, waiting

1:26:06

a white sheet covering its

1:26:09

emaciated body from sight. The human mind

1:26:11

is a wonderful thing just as you believe

1:26:13

your body has reached a level of

1:26:15

exhaustion that it cannot

1:26:18

recover from but your emotions are so afraid that

1:26:20

you feel you cannot continue. A

1:26:22

thought springs as if miraculous from

1:26:25

a weary mind. Let it rest

1:26:27

for now. I quietly crept through the

1:26:30

dark and picked up my wallet,

1:26:32

which I'd left on a small coffee

1:26:34

table in the center of my living room,

1:26:36

leaving the door unlocked, I left to

1:26:38

attend to a new plan and returned an hour later. With

1:26:40

a moment's preparation, I

1:26:42

slipped into the spare room.

1:26:45

There I lay in the unsullied bed waiting. I was

1:26:47

sure that this was the end game, that instead of toying

1:26:49

with me, it would come to

1:26:52

kill me. How

1:26:55

it had escaped that watery grave, I did not

1:26:57

know, but I would be damned if it

1:26:59

would escape again. I could only hope

1:27:01

that it would sense me from

1:27:03

the other room. I closed my

1:27:05

eyes preparing to be sound asleep. Time lumbered onward, and

1:27:08

although I fought

1:27:10

it, exhaustion finally took

1:27:12

me. Sending me into

1:27:14

a deep slumber. I awoke with its hands around my neck, it coughed and spuddered

1:27:17

on top

1:27:20

of me A rants of black liquid dripping

1:27:22

on my face as it oozes from its facial wounds. I struggled gasping

1:27:24

for air and hoping that I

1:27:26

had the strength in me to a

1:27:29

gape its grasp, but it was too strong and my hands could not

1:27:31

grip it with any sense of conviction as it was still soaking wet

1:27:34

from its plunge in the

1:27:36

lake. It may

1:27:38

not have seemed rational at the time, but as my vision dimmed and as the last light of my consciousness extinguished

1:27:44

within me, I did

1:27:46

as many animals do in their last moments. I played dead. motionless,

1:27:48

holding my breath, it shook

1:27:50

me violently by the neck and

1:27:55

then released me. I waited for my moment.

1:27:57

My last chance to destroy this

1:27:59

thing. Its labored breathing relaxed

1:28:01

slightly and seemed to stare

1:28:03

at me almost quizically, leaning down close

1:28:06

to me, its wide crumbling snare puckered, gathering

1:28:08

its putrid saliva in its

1:28:10

mouth and in what was left

1:28:13

of its cheeks, its fat, its western fluid onto my face, the remnants

1:28:15

dripping down onto me through

1:28:18

the hole in its jaw.

1:28:20

I wanted to scream to do anything to remove such

1:28:22

a vile smear on my skin, but I dared not

1:28:25

move. The time was not

1:28:27

right. Meaning in closer,

1:28:30

I prodded and scratched at

1:28:32

the wound on my shoulder, the pain

1:28:34

searing through my body. With all my

1:28:36

resistance, I remained emotionally Then, it

1:28:40

slowly and patiently slid two

1:28:42

of its long distended fingers

1:28:44

into my mouth. The taste

1:28:46

was overwhelming and rants hit rotten. The

1:28:48

arthritic clicking of its knuckles shook

1:28:50

my resolve. As I arged its

1:28:52

back in glee, it suddenly pushed

1:28:55

its fingers down into my wrote,

1:28:57

I gagged an instinctive reaction. Instead of

1:28:59

being shocked, a garbled laugh emanated

1:29:01

through its broken

1:29:03

teeth as it thrust its fingers

1:29:06

deeper into my mouth. I felt its cold hard flesh scraping against the inside of

1:29:08

my throat, pleading without

1:29:10

words for it to stop.

1:29:14

I rolled onto my side using its

1:29:16

weight against it and finally managed to

1:29:18

break free. I fell onto the

1:29:21

floor, its long reach grasping at

1:29:23

my feet, I kicked and screamed and at last was free. It stared

1:29:25

at me only for a moment, rising

1:29:27

up on top of

1:29:30

the bed, its brittle bones cracking under its own force, it

1:29:32

now towered tall and gaunt

1:29:34

ready to pounce. This thing

1:29:37

had terrorized me since I was

1:29:39

a child attacked Mary and broken my life. I would

1:29:41

not stand for it anymore as

1:29:44

a grown, shrieked,

1:29:46

cracked, and contorted, readying

1:29:48

it self to pounce. In

1:29:50

one swift motion, I removed a blanket from the floor, revealing a bucket filled with gasoline,

1:29:52

which I had

1:29:55

bought in that short time of

1:29:57

preparation. I threw it as hard as I could. The liquid splashing all over that

1:29:59

horror in the

1:30:03

bed. It grind at me, mocking my very existence, making light of

1:30:05

my pain and the agony it

1:30:07

had caused. From

1:30:10

my pocket, I pull out a lighter, it threw it

1:30:12

onto that wretched thing. It arrived

1:30:14

and screamed in agony, parts

1:30:17

of its flesh, crumbling

1:30:19

array, searing into nuts thing

1:30:21

in front of my very eyes. That was

1:30:23

the last thing I remember. Thankfully, her neighbor heard the

1:30:25

screams and saw the smoke and called

1:30:27

the fire department I

1:30:31

spent several hours in the hospital being treated for

1:30:33

light smoke inhalation and the painful burns

1:30:35

to my hands. It

1:30:38

still hurts now, but it will

1:30:40

heal. Perhaps there will be a few

1:30:42

scars, but I can live with that.

1:30:45

I was arrested shortly after on suspicion

1:30:47

of arson. I told them that someone had broke

1:30:49

in and that the fire had started

1:30:51

accidentally, but they

1:30:53

found no remains nor any evidence that someone

1:30:55

else was there except a strange

1:30:57

outline of a figure etched deep

1:31:00

into the bed and wall.

1:31:02

It looked as though whatever had been there had

1:31:04

attempted to escape, but I do

1:31:06

not think it accomplished this. Away

1:31:08

has now been lifted from my shoulder

1:31:10

One which I now realized was always there since I

1:31:13

was a child in fact. I believe

1:31:15

that thing had an effect

1:31:17

on me even from a distance. And now that

1:31:19

it is gone, I feel whole again. I'm devastated

1:31:21

that I've lost Mary, and my

1:31:24

house can be written

1:31:26

off as I'll probably be charged arson after they started

1:31:28

the fire. My hand's ache

1:31:30

has does my shoulder, but

1:31:34

my spirit does not. I'm recording this from a hotel room,

1:31:36

but small and unassuming, but

1:31:38

it will suit my purpose. Tonight,

1:31:40

I intend to sleep and dream

1:31:43

as I did as a child

1:31:45

before that wretch invaded my life. I believe that it was my rationality which

1:31:48

saved me. My logical thought which

1:31:50

allowed me to destroy such an

1:31:52

evil, but

1:31:55

I will never escape the conclusion that there is

1:31:57

much more to life beyond the veil.

1:32:00

Out there

1:32:02

in the darkness, It is a world I have seen

1:32:04

and I do not care to revisit,

1:32:06

but tonight I will rest and

1:32:09

tomorrow I will rebuild my life. With the

1:32:11

confidence that my unwelcome guest has gone forever. It

1:32:13

will take time for me to adjust

1:32:15

and perhaps my mind will play

1:32:17

a trick or two on me

1:32:19

along the way. It is difficult to

1:32:22

abandon the paranoia of a lifetime. I must learn to accept my safety once again.

1:32:24

I refuse to be looking over my

1:32:26

shoulder for the rest of my days,

1:32:30

but I will always be cautious as I

1:32:32

was when I was in the hospital this

1:32:34

morning lying on a bed in a

1:32:37

quiet ward I thought I felt the

1:32:39

bed shake for briefest of moments, but I know was just my imagination. I am

1:32:41

glad I have recorded

1:32:44

my experiences. It

1:32:46

has illuminated much about myself to me,

1:32:49

and most importantly, should anyone

1:32:51

ever, god forbid, find

1:32:53

themselves in a similar situation, then

1:32:55

maybe you will know what to do. Now, it is

1:32:57

bedtime and I must rest for

1:32:59

I have never known a

1:33:01

weariness such as this.

1:33:04

Good night. And sleep

1:33:10

tight.