Nocturnal Fright

Did you hear that? As the silence broke the bridged night. Did you see that? Hollowed marrow falsified the bright light. Was I going mad? Insane with the brink of the endless life. Nocturnal fright was why I never dreamt with the night. Only fright was why I couldn’t seem to ever just close my eyes. I longed for a restless night, just one settled peach of some delight. I could feel it, those hollow eyes protruding through my soul. I could sense it, the monster sitting on my shoulders pushing me more down the endless hole.

Where lay the barn owl flow? I wondered as I projected my concerns to the affair central glow. Come on, come on. Just close your eyes and find the inner peace. I had no peace I had only fear. Fear for the monster. That thing that follows my weary soul. It won’t let me sleep since it found me. It neglected the wonders of why I was here. What was my reasoning for existence? It was every single night it seemed. Every night just the same questions flowing through my head. My impending doom, my impending dream.

My eyes pouted as I looked to the neon sign. They felt so heavy, so floundered to crease my eyes. Just hollow bags fallen to my brain. I didn’t recognize those eyes anymore. Seeping in the darkness, flooded with redness and pain. I stopped looking in the mirror. I couldn’t bare to see it anymore. Just standing beside me, laughing. Just touching my shoulders, pushing. Smiling in its eyeless gaze. The beast was trying to take over and I was about to let it. Just a little while longer, I am about 200 miles away to the safely fortress waits.

He didn’t come in the day; I think the natural light frightens him. The only problem is I haven’t seen any natural light in what feels like centuries. Every day is filled with darkness, an endless loop of a frosted night. He stole the sun, he stole those rays, no happiness for past days. Just blizzard of cold, whisked in the temperate snow. There was only clouds, or smoke, maybe even fog? I couldn’t tell anymore.

For once I missed the feeling of what made people happy. I missed the sweet kiss of ice cream. The splash of the swimming pool. The laughter of my peers, my ‘friends.’ The people that I once shared summers and weekend weather with. Nothing was the same since we became of age. He knew that. He knew I wasn’t happy anymore. He knew I longed for something more, and he wasn’t willing to give it. He sent his servant to keep me at bay. Lost in the emotion that cradled within my brain day after day.

I sat in the darkness of my room. Laid out on the bed, completely still. My pinky twitched as my eyes glossed with darkness, shadowed in the iris rays. There was no silence in this dingy motel. Just rose of cars driving by, headlights dancing with every pillars might. The sound of the ice machine crushing outside. Laughter and salted aggression coming from the rooms alongside mine. I wasn’t looking for silence anymore, but the escape from this deviant reality.

Gentle fell my eyes, peering into the night sky. You ever wonder how the time just seemed to roll by? Passing every second, minute panting to the sound of the Earth revolving. Our lives just marked in the illusion of time. Nothing matters well you were living in a rudiment, marked from your birth. It was already set out for you when you glossed over the rhythm. I hated that, I no longer wanted to conform to the way the clock ticked on. That was one thing that this monster instilled inside of me. The realization of my nothingness. Even now as I crave freedom, I wonder for what?

I had no friends. My family hundreds of miles away. I stared at a computer. Formatting nonsensical information into excel sheets. My peers didn’t even pay time to me, just avoided the person sitting in the darkened corner. Cradling their teacup, staring into a computer. I hated that place. I hated those people. They meant nothing. I meant nothing. So why was I fighting to get back to the routine? Was this my wake-up call to better myself? To finally reach the person that I wanted to be.

I started meddling with this just for friendship, some inner peace of myself. Just for some form of guidance to tell myself that I was worthy enough to take over the world. Just to take my life back and not be mindless to the machine. I should have known that I would mess that up as well. You shouldn’t mess with the paranormal if you are not ready to face those consequences that come with them.

My back finally started to relax to the sound of the hollowed room. Radiator screeching on, faucet dripping. Splot! I could feel the eyes on me now. Staring from the perched window, just watching. What was that? Who is that? I sprung from my bed looking towards the window. The monster could not have animated into my dimension already. I had time! I thought I did. But it wasn’t him. It was something else.

A barn owl propped into the open air. He just looked at me, I could feel him analyzing my soul. Is this real? Is this just another lucid dream? There is no way that I am actually staring at an owl through my window base. Was my subconscious giving me a sign? Was I about to die and this was my own omen of death? This seasoned question didn’t help my already deteriorating sleep cycle.

What does it want from me anyways? To terrorize me. Well jokes on him, my whole life has been a terror, and I could manifest that all on my own. He doesn’t need to add to my chaos. Then again maybe he was here to grand my own wish, freedom from this monster. Maybe he was her to illustrate my self-wisdom to get out of this mess.

Why did he look at me with such hollowed eyes? In that second, I saw him nod. I swear he actually nodded to me. Now I knew that I was dreaming. A sense of peace fell on me as the bird rotated its head to look outside. I felt empowered in that moment, like I could beat this monster and take over the world. I can’t explain it, but I suddenly fell into a whirl of peace and serenity.

He wasn’t there to harm me. I don’t know how but I just knew it. I knew that he was friend not foe. I felt my shoulders lift, as the monster seemed to fear the bird. The owl turned his head back to me before lifting his wings. He let out a loud bloodcurdling shriek. My brain pounded with the noise, deteriorating my mind into a haze of swirls. I covered my ears to penetrate the noise.

My vision brightened as if all the darkness was suddenly fazed. The world was suddenly gassed in white. Was he gone? Had he finally left before his mission was done. Thank you. Thank you for showing me the brightened day. Thank you for giving me the inner peace before I went to lay. Guild me from the shadows into the light, I am ready to take.