_Not Again_

_Running. Panting. Screaming. Laughter. I need to escape. I need to run faster! I can feel IT’s breath hanging on my heels. If only i can find a way to slip around a corner or melt into the shadows and let IT slip by. An other worldly raspy, cackle splits my awareness like an axe through dry wood. IT is toying with me! I can’t think. I can’t escape. Then it happens; as if IT could sense the hunt was about to go stale, IT strikes. In one fluid motion seemingly impossible given IT’s size i feel a deep rip and crunch and then bitter numbness as my bisected half flies wide. A sadistic hungry grin fills my field of view as It lunges…_

They can feel the scream clawing at their awareness as they’re dragged from the nightmare into the terrifing dark.

_Why did you stop running? It was just getting fun._

Their eyes snap up, cold sweat dripping from their prone body. The feeling, the need to run burning from their head and spreading down their feet. They can’t speak only look in object terror at the nightmare that has entered their bedroom.

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_What did you expect? Safety? Are you going to hid under your covers like you did when you were too young to realize what true monsters were in the world?_

Bitter fear fills their mind as they realize this monster has been watching for a long time.

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_Watching!?_

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Raspy demonic laughter fills their ears like a siren warning that death is near-by.

_Not watching, stupid thing! Living! Don’t you understand!?_

IT’s huge multiple lumbering feet move closer.__

_I have your memories, I feel your delicious mundane fear!_

IT clambers effortlessly onto their bed.

_When you are in the car contemplating a head-on. When you remember that those whom you love WILL someday die._

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IT’s horrifying face fills YOUR view.__

_I am those fears, personified. You made me. Welcome to the hell you designed!_

You start to feel your finger tips warming, getting ready to move. IT notices.

_You think just because you can move I will go away!?_

Another raspy laugh rattles from IT’s gaping maw.

_You pitiful creature. You know what the doctor said. It will just get worse until you see me everywhere. Not just in this liminal space between nightmare and reality._

As the warmth spread across your body the inverse happens to IT, IT start fade and become transparent. You know this hallucination won’t last long and you might not even remember it as the day drags on. As a response to the thought, IT leaves you with a promise.

_I will be back. As you lose your grip on those mundane fears and only I take their place just do me a favor._

_Always run._

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