Sleeping used to be peaceful.
Recently, it has felt as though he was just passing time.
He can't remember when that began. Tonight, the experience is completely unexpected.
A heavy weight has landed on his chest.
At first he thinks it is just exhaustion, exhaustion that comes from having a million thoughts in his head and not enough answers to any of them/ exhaustion that comes from lack of, or too much sleep — as exhaustion usually does.
Then his throat begins to close off or tighten, making it difficult to breathe.
His breathing becomes rapid.
His eyes pop open—only to discover the room is gone.
The walls are gone, no light in sight.
All that is left is utter, never-ending darkness.
He attempts to move but can not move.
His body is literally pressed down like it had been held in place by some unseen force (his own flesh and blood, perhaps?).
And then he hears it.
The voice of a young girl.
Soft. Fractured.
"Akiel, do you realize what I've said to you in the past?"
Akiel feels as if his heart is crushing him.
The shadows beside him flare and twist.
He tries to concentrate and see what is below himself.
He sees a figure beneath his feet.
The figure resembles a human, but has no face and nothing human-like features – just an area of darkness replacing a human.
The darkness has a hand wrapped around the back of Akiel's neck.
If strangling someone was possible without choking them, then this is how it would look.
"I told you last time that you couldn't forget me," the girl said from somewhere as if about to cry. "Please don't ever leave me again."
Akiel struggles to make a sound.
It is impossible for him to produce any sound whatsoever.
His hands are wrapped tightly like handcuffs around his neck, and rather than choking off his air supply, they have completely separated from his body, yet they are still crushing his trachea with incredible pressure without moving from their current location .
He discovers a way to get up, and now he's free from whatever binding force was keeping him down. As soon as he gets enough freedom, he feels that he has escaped from the grip of death, but while he's doing so, he feels a coldness rush over his ankle.
That coldness pulls him back to an unseen, dark body of water.
At that moment, all he sees is darkness. The peripheral vision fades until it becomes dark, and his eyes become teary. His lungs are screaming out for him to take a breath.
"She is still alive,"
he thinks, just like a bolt of lightning hitting the earth.
There is no fear in this thought, there is no doubt.
It's solely a guarantee, and once that thought disappears, so will his existence.
He wakes up gasping and sitting up in bed, unable to breathe.
He looks around the room, and there is a greyish color coming from the light at dawn through the closed blinds .
He clasps his hands on his throat .
Clasp both hands around his throat and hold onto the bed .
He checks for cuts , bruises or anything that would indicate it was real and not a dream.
There are no marks to be found.
However, he still feels like he has experienced something that happened to him.
He throws his covers off, gets up and closes the blinds from window completely .
More darkness now in the room .
You feel better.
You feel safer.
He feels like there is light of an up-close nature.
He feels as though he should be standing in front of a bunch of people, their gaze evil.
His heart is now pounding hard in his chest and he checks all corners of the room.
No one is there.
The sense of fear / trouble continues.
He backs into the corner of the bedroom and slides down the wall while wrapping himself in the blanket.
He draws his knees into his chest and shakes back and forth.
"She is still alive."
He says it in a frightened voice.
"She is still alive."
He repeats this over and over.
Trying to persuade somebody.
Trying to persuade himself.
"She is still alive."
After a while, he's gotten tired.
He falls asleep on the floor.
The room remains silent.
But somewhere deep in his mind...
The girl is still crying.