Silence…except for the soft hum from the overhead fan.
Stillness….except for the gentle current of air that the fan creates as the blades slowly spin
and
darkness….. a darkness so deep no shadow can possibly form.
 
and yet………..
 
 Though there are no sounds,
though there is no movement,
and
though I lay under a heavy, thick, shroud of darkness….
 
iit begins again………
 
Sound….a sound that’s, almost, not there. A sound that, when it first starts, I have to strain to hear. It grows louder, but just loud enough to barely break though the silence. A slight scraping noise, as if something is moving across the floor. I hear it and it’s to the left of me. No, wait, it’s on the right, No, I think, I think, it’s…above me. I can’t be sure.
 
Movement…..yes, movement, lots of movement as it keeps changing positions. Each time I think I know where it’s at it quickly moves again.
Or maybe, just maybe, there’s more than one,
and
shadows…..shadows that form somehow without the aid of light. A vague, illusive, swirl that grows and dances in the darkness as it, or they, yes, I’m sure it’s “they”, move around me.
 
I know they are there, but that’s not what frightens me. I can ignore their presence. Well, almost. I could ignore them. I could if it weren’t for one thing.
You see, they know that I know about them. They know I am aware of their movement, the scraping noises they make and their shadow play and– it pleases them. The fact that I sit or lay, night after night, very aware of them seems to somehow……..entertain them.
 
The thing that frightens me, the one thing that terrifies me….
is wondering…
what happens when they are no longer “entertained” by me just being aware of their presence.
 
What will they do to be entertained?
 
What happens then?