The girl who never slept lied awake. She rubbed her eyes. Pools of sand fell from them around her like a waterfall. Her dark eyelashes fluttered and her eyes shut for a brief moment, but she forced them open. The night air was dark and thick. The only noise was her breath, ragged and short, yet quiet. It was as if she was attempting to breathe steadily but failed. It was as if she did not want to disturb the evil creatures of the night. The monsters who lurked in the shadows and fed on fear. She slowly began to sit up and hesitantly scanned her walls, preparing for them to slither and creep out of their hiding. She examined her dresser, her closet door, her dollhouse. She inspected every crack and crevice. She tilted her head to the side, Where are they? Are they just in my head? She then heard something. A sweet lullaby, her dark eyes closed, her lips parted. She was lulled by the hushed notes, a soothing violin, an angelic harp. Her head began to sink, her body folding over. However, she fought against the lullaby, she refused its tranquilizing scales and decrescendos. She heaved her eyelids open. Hoisting the moon on her shoulders would have been an easier feat, yet she did it. Her eyes were open but lifeless. She sluggishly sat up and sighed. She grabbed a part of her arm with her two fingers, she winced as she pressed them together. Her soft, paper pale skin turned red. No falling asleep, she thought to herself. In her head, the statement rumbled like thunder and had a temper as sharp as a crack of lightning. It was not a suggestion, it was a command. She lied down, collapsing onto her bed, a cotton cloud. She heard it whisper, “close your eyes.” The girl crossed her arms. She didn’t let go of the moon, she defiantly raised it above her head, her arms straight, yet trembling. She held the moon until it waved goodbye along with the stars and the darkness of the night. She didn’t let go until she was greeted by the sun's warm presence and the light she always brought with her.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------“What's wrong?” Her mother asked, sipping her coffee. They sat across from one another at the kitchen table. Her mother looked at her and tilted her head a little to the side, waiting for an answer. The girl sat up straight, she put on a mask that she was becoming quite familiar with, the “I’m all good” mask. Recently,  it had thick, deep cracks and was one moment away from breaking into a million pieces. “Nothing, I’m just a little tired..” The girl looked down at her breakfast. She observed the pancakes on her plate, they were drenched in syrup. The brown glutinous substance slowly spread around her plate. enclosing everything in its suffocatingly sticky hold. Her mother raised an eyebrow,“You’ve been tired a lot lately.” The girl didn’t respond. “Has everything been alright?” The girl poked her pancake with her fork. She watched as a piece of her mask fell to the ground. Before she knew it, piece after piece broke off. They shattered on the floor into even smaller fragments. The mask was completely destroyed, she knew she could no longer hide. She looked down and continued to nudge her pancake, it was now a saturated gel. “I’ve been having bad dreams lately.” “Do you have trouble falling back asleep after them?”
“I don’t fall back asleep after them.” The girl mumbled quietly. Her mother's eyes widened.
“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to see them.” Her mother crossed her arms.“How long has this been happening.”

"A long time.” They sat in silence for a while. 

“I have nightmares, sometimes.” Her mother eventually said. It was less of a confession and more of an effortless statement. “You do?”
“Of course! Everyone does.”

"Do you not fall asleep after?"

”Of course I go back to sleep! I need my sleep!” Her mother said, laughing to herself.“Don’t you have another nightmare once you fall asleep?”
“Sometimes I do, but you know what? I’m not afraid. Do you know why?” Her mother moved up from her seat and walked to where her daughter was sitting. She got down on her knees so she was eye level with her.  “Because I know that those fears and all the unpleasant things I see are not real.” She said it confidently, her wide eyes looking into the girls, she grabbed her hand. “What is real, is my family and the fact I am safe.” The mother smiled, “So, I go back to sleep. And you know what? I sleep like a baby! I sleep so heavy I can barely wake up in the morning! Those stupid dreams have nothing on me!” The girl laughed with her mother. Her mother reached out her arms, embracing her. “So don’t worry about those bad dreams, they will never happen, nothing can hurt you.”-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------It was winter. Just like it always was. Snow piled around her, the freezing wind sent a sharp pain through her body. Just like it always did. Suddenly, the ground fell from beneath her. Just like it always has. She had fallen through a layer of ice and was now frantically flailing her arms in a river of piercing cold water. “Help!” She screamed. Then she saw them, the odd figures. They looked like people but, off. Something about them was so off. It must have been the way their eyes looked, glossed over and unblinking. Or maybe it was the odd manner in which their long limbs twisted, like old oak trees. “Someone help! Please!” She yelled, becoming breathless. They simply looked down at her…and just, stared. Their faces looked bored and distant. “PLEASE!” The girl screeched one last time before the current pulled her under. It pushed her down the river. She slammed against the river's top layer of ice. She was trapped under it. The girl violently wailed her arms, trying to swim back to the hole she had fallen through. But, it was no use, the water’s pull was too strong. As she hurtled down the river, she pounded on the ice, yet it never broke the surface. Her fists started to slow, her eyes closed. She was too exhausted and dizzy to fight. She let the current do what it wanted to her. She waited for her lungs to give out, her body scraping against the jagged layer of ice. “Gasp!” She shot awake, clutching her chest. Her cold, damp hands shakingly endured the thrashing of her pulse and the harsh movement of her chest, up, down, up, down in large heaving motions. She sat there for a moment, the only noise was her breath, ragged, yet quiet, as it always was. She lied back down. Her eyes burned and her body ached, begging her to fall back asleep, just like they always did. She pried her eyes open, as she assumed she always would. But, as she sat awake, her mind wandered and her mother's words echoed in her brain. Nothing can hurt you. These words were her blade, her secret weapon. These words built her a safe haven. They gave her the ability to swim, hell, to fly. That blizzard, that river, those people who just watched, were nothing. I’m okay, she told herself. But this time she was not just saying it to slow her heart rate, this time, she believed it. Her eyelids closed. The girl who never slept no longer stayed awake, she was no longer afraid.