|..^..|

         I woke up to the sound of footsteps. It was the middle of the night. I heard nothing but the crunching of dirt and sand. It startled me, for I could not move. I struggled in my mind to free myself of the horrors. The faces, the figures. The danger of sleep paralysis. The danger of suffocating silently as the demons in my mind decide how to devour me.

         Would this cannibalism be stopped? Would someone come in, break the silence? The terrible, loud, suffocating silence that surrounded me. It was until I realized the voices were real and were in my room that I was fearful.

         I felt the fear instantly shift to hopelessness. To nothingness. To a large empty box. Crowded, cold, and damp, yet lonely. I was frozen. I was ill without a cure. I didn't feel anything. I would lay still and let them devour me. The stillness seemed to lead them off track. The voices silenced. The last thing I heard was, "we'll never find it." I closed my eyes and sunk deep into the lair of my mind, and I dozed off. One more night to go into the long list of fears.