Quill's 31 Days of Halloween

Day 6

Endure


Daren sat in the darkness of night. No light entered the bedroom, everything was held in absolute silence. Daren’s mind was racing, a thousand thoughts like a train through his head. Each commanding his attention, each as important as the next.

Daren hadn’t slept for days. Nor would he ever again, if he could help it. Ever since that fateful October night when the clock struck twelve, he would never risk falling asleep again. He knew the horror sleep brought.

Daren’s parents were worried. What parent wouldn’t be if they knew their son refused to sleep? They had already dragged him the doctors. All they had prescribed was sleep, which of course Daren wouldn’t do.

It was worse when he slept, he wished it was only hallucinations, but what he saw each night was terrifyingly real. The demon’s shadowy abstractions danced menacingly on his wall, trying to lure him to slumber. Daren could only watch in silent horror as the night played out. His eyes wide, too scared to miss a second of the display, for if he slept it would become all too real. When he was awake he could convince himself it was just misty imagery in his mind, but at night, he embraced the horror for what it was.

Daren waited in the dark for the light of day to chase the shadows away. To banish them from his room and his mind. He would finally be able to command his limbs once more, and flee the nightly demonstration.

But he must wait.

He must endure.

He must,
Stay awake.