Chapter 2

I finally checked into the hotel at eleven o'clock. When I made it to my room, the first thing I did was turn on every possible light I could find.

The driver of the car that crashed, thankfully, wasn't killed. I don't know how I would have handled knowing that, what was supposed to have happened to me, had taken someone else's life. The whole thing was messed up. Not only terrifying, not only disappointing–to put it lightly–but confusing.

It felt like that fucker was helping me.

I walked over to the bathroom, my pajamas bundled into one arm. That was exactly what I needed. A nice hot shower followed by about ten hours worth of sleep. If I got to sleep. A deep anxiety weighed heavily on my mind. I was that little girl all over again, afraid of her bedtime, afraid to close her eyes. I wasn't sure how I'd handle it if this really was my illusions come to haunt me. Go ballistic? Full blown, come lock me up, crazy? They sounded like plausible options, but neither of them were conducive with my plans for the future, and I wasn't about to let anything stop me from having one.

This was my new start, and no monsters were invited.

I spent a whole forty-five minutes in the shower, as if I could wash away the crazy. My new landlord was meeting me at noon the next day, I had to go to the college and get a copy of my class schedule, and all of these things were supposed to be normal. My first taste of normal.

I stepped out of the shower, dried off, dressed, then stared at myself in the mirror.

My journey would begin the next day. I would go to school. I would become a pediatric psychiatrist. Then, I'd spend the rest of my life helping those scared children that nobody believed.

I doubt I'd ever be able to make their monsters go away. Apparently, I couldn't even get rid of my own at twenty years old. But I could believe them. If just one person had believed me, I think it would have been a lot easier. I was going to be that person they could rely on and always feel safe talking to.

Just the thought of my end goal lifted my spirits and had me smiling to myself. If I could survive my childhood, then I could do anything. I opened the door to exit and froze.

Every light outside of the bathroom was off.

Bullshit. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. I grit my teeth and took a deep breath before quickly making my way over to the light switch. Flipping it on didn't help at all. My lipstick was opened, sitting on the footpost of the bed, the cap neatly placed beside it.

Disturbing as that was, it was the least of my worries.

Across the room, in big letters, huge letters, letters composed of my cherry red lipstick, were the words, Sweet Dreams.

I stared at the message as anger slowly worked its way through my blood stream. I had the sudden, undeniable urge to hit something, anything. This thing! This, whatever the hell it was, has the nerve to come back after all of this time and ruin my new start. Well, I wasn't about to let that happen. I would not be afraid of it! I was going to have a normal life, or I was going to die trying.

Slowly, I walked over to the bed. "I'm going to sleep!" I called out angrily to the empty room. "If you wake me up, so help me God, I am gonna show you what the fuck scary is, you little asshole!"

I climbed beneath the covers and remained silent for a long time, waiting for what was next. This was supposed to be my fresh start. This was supposed to be the beginning of my normal life. I absolutely refused to have it taken from me by this... thing.

My thoughts left me feeling a sense of power that I'd never felt before. A resolve. I clung to the feeling, let it fuel me to do something I would have never dared to do in my youth.

I turned off the light.

Regardless of my newfound bravery, I didn't sleep. I just lay there, waiting for the game to start, like it had so many times before.

I closed my eyes, evened out each breath, and it wasn't long after that I heard it. Light footsteps pattered across the hotel floor. I could make out the familiar sound of its breathing as it slowly moved across the room.

It took every ounce of willpower I had to keep calm and still, especially when the sounds drew closer.

It came to a stop at the side of my bed, and my bravery faltered. Warm breath fanned across my cheek, and for the first time ever, it touched me.

Rough fingers lightly traced the scar across my forehead, the one left over from the accident.

A menacing growl rumbled from the monster's chest, and I decided I'd had enough. In one quick move, I swung out my fist with enough force I managed to roll myself out of the bed. I hit the floor hard, then quickly looked around the room. Empty. Alone.

"That's right you better run!" I yelled into the empty air before climbing back into bed.

But it hadn't ran. It never ran, and by some grace of god or curse of the devil, darkness consumed me.