I laid rigid with denial as some presence entered into my chamber. It had been happening for several nights past. It would creep in slowly as a form unseen and unknown, and then force a trance-like aura throughout the room. It would creep purposefully with the slightest breath of a breeze brushing across one’s skin, to make even the bravest hearts skip a beat. Each night it was the same: I raised the silk taupe sheet up close to my chin, as if the thin layer of woven cloth would protect me. The slight breeze brushed up against my flesh, turning it a paler hue. The disturbing sensation trickled down my spine as if a demon was standing above me, breathing faster and faster to elevate the hairs sitting upon my skin. It was the same fear each time: It crept forth, uninvited, in waves, slowly deteriorating the faith I held in sanity. Darkness draped about me; the eerie shadows wrapping the walls seemed to creep closer and closer. “It’s all in my head, it’s all in my head,” I relentlessly whispered to myself, as if this chant could place an invincible shield around me and prevent the darkness from entering; as if it could protect me from the blade of a murderer or the jaws of a raging demon. I closed my eyes in hope of sleep. In hope of blocking out the presence haunting my room. It must have come, for when I awoke I had no perception of time or of what day it was. It had even slipped my mind for a moment that an evil presence was approaching and taunting me. Darkness still presided all around. Faintly, I noticed the slightest creaking coming from the floorboards and protruding from the corner of the room. It seemed to dwell closer and closer toward the foot of my bed. “It’s all in my head. It’s just a rat or some other critter searching for anything to quell its hunger,” I reassured myself yet again. Still the creaking drew in hither. I lifted the covers slowly, placed one foot upon the frozen floorboard, but all motion ceased. I proceeded to the door of my chamber, opened it slightly and peered out. Nothing. Just a draft rattling items carelessly scattered down the hall. I stepped back inside and crawled under the cold sheets. I closed my eyes. I wanted to forget this all, I wanted the light to pour through the shades again as daylight made its way from behind the mountain tops. Suddenly a light, oh the light, like a shimmering nova, burst forth and exploded to the ceiling. More light leapt forth from the corner of my room where my mirror stood, like a spontaneous firecracker. In an instant I had my entangled legs free from the sheets. I leapt forth from my bed, ready to accost my intruder. “Who dares enter my chamber?” I demanded. “Beast, reveal yourself! What oracular mysteries have you to hide from me? Why? Why do you continue to torture me so? Reveal yourself and speak, what is it you seek?! My soul? My body? Why can’t you leave me in peace?” With no hesitation the conspicuous beast revealed himself to me. He had terra-cotta colored skin that sagged in lucid shadows behind him. His saffron-rimmed horns pointed like daggers, and those eyes! Those terrible eyes! Like infinite gaps, staring back and staring back, haunting my sole soul all alone. Intrepid, I leapt forward to find the lamp, but once illuminated the room revealed nothing but myself trembling before the vanity mirror, casting lucid shadows, and staring back and staring back…