The dark has never bothered me. In fact, there was a time I found comfort in it. The silence, the way that everything hung suspended\u2026 It was peaceful. But things change. I feel watched. Followed, even. Something lurks behind me, following every step I take. Watching. Waiting. My heart speeds up every time I\u2019m alone and I can\u2019t lie awake in the darkness of my bedroom anymore. I am afraid of who, or rather,\u00a0<\/span>what<\/span><\/i>\u00a0might be following me. In the early hours of the morning when I wake up, panting and paralyzed with fear, there will be a silhouette that watches me. It is not human. It is not of this realm. It gets closer every night and I fear that one night if I open my eyes, I will wake up to its face right in front of mine, and then I will vanish from this plane. Anyone I talk to dismisses my concerns as nothing more than stress or anxiety acting up. But I know that what I see is true. I cannot document this creature, for every time I see it, I am too struck with fear to do little else but stare at it and shiver like a helpless babe. If I try to remember it in the morning, it is all for naught.\u00a0So\u00a0I have decided to outwit this creature. To try and capture some proof so people will know that what I see is real. That the demons that plague me are real.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But this was to be my undoing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the evenings, I would take to retiring early, so I could get a head start on the creature. I know that naming it might give some clarity on what it might be. I have never seen anything like this, to my knowledge. I can\u2019t ever remember what it looks like. And now it haunts me during the day. I see black shadows following me out of the corner of my eyes. When I turn to see what had been there, it\u2019s always nothing. I am being followed. No one knows about this. No one seems to care. But I persevere. These things, whatever they are, must be brought to light. And I am the only one who can do that. And now, in my bedroom, I have watched and waited for what feels like hours. It is dark and my heart thunders in my chest. I know that it is here. I can feel it breathing in time with me. I dare not sleep now. If I wake as I usually do, alone and in the darkest hours of the night, it will be right in front of\u00a0me\u00a0and I will be powerless to stop the horrors that I know await me. I desperately wish to know what it wants from me but it either cannot understand me or does not care enough to listen. But still, I force myself to stay awake. But now the creature plagues me while I lie in wait. It hovers, just out of my vision, taunting me. Ever watchful, ever following me.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It is as though my end comes by the hands of this creature are inevitable and it taunts me with that knowledge.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It has been months. This creature taunts me still. I cannot sleep, I cannot eat. This is the only thing that matters. Finding proof. And here and there, I will see flashes of movement that do not come from any earthly being. It leaves prints that disappear in the morning when I try to prove to my wife that what I see in the night is real. It is watching us. It means to\u00a0kill\u00a0and it has been creeping ever closer. It moves barely more than a centimeter every night but every night that it gets closer, I can see more of its face. It is too beautiful, terribly beautiful. It is not of this earth with its horrific beauty. All I can hear is my heart and the ragged breathing of this creature every night. I can no longer hear my wife or my children. This creature looks at me, every night. And every night, without fail, dread washes over me every time I see it fixate those glowing, haunted eyes on me.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It means to end my life.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Who am I to stop what watches us in the dark?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Finn UpChurch The dark has never bothered me. In fact, there was a time I found comfort in it. The silence, the way that everything hung suspended\u2026 It was peaceful. But things change. I feel watched. Followed, even. Something lurks behind me, following every step I take. Watching. Waiting. My heart speeds up every time… <\/p>\n