The voice isn’t stopping. It never stops. It is always in the back of my mind. It never goes away. At first I only heard it the moment I woke up in the morning, but now it never leaves my head. Always pounding its message, like a ticking clock. Today it’s the worst it’s ever been. Today instead of just nagging at the back of my mind, it’s as if it’s the main topic of the conversation. It’s taking up all my thoughts.

At the end of the day I’m so exhausted I flop face down into my bed. ignoring the voice that is now screaming my name, I fall asleep.

My sleep is filled with strange dreams, strange dreams of people, people who are yelling my name and telling me that I have to hurry, that I have to leave before it’s too late. Just as a savage dog is about to bite my neck in my dream, I wake, my bed and clothes soaked with sweat.

I settle back into bed. I try to fall asleep again, but something isn’t right, something is off…

Then it hits me: its silent. There is no voice in my head. It’s completely quiet.

I sit up, and suddenly it feels like my soul leaves my body. I scream so loud and so long, probably because I don’t know what else to do: in my doorway, there stands a dark silhouette with red, glowing eyes that are staring at me, unmoved by my screaming. I scream so loud.. it feels like my throat is tearing…

“SHUT UP!”

Everything is quiet again, but my ears are ringing with the sound of my screaming. I’m shaking and my stomach is doing flips.

“Sorry about that, but I really can’t afford you waking your parents, and probably your whole neighborhood,” the voice that comes from the figure in the doorway sounds like a boy going through puberty. “It’s probably too late though, you were pretty loud.”

My brain isn’t functioning. My whole room is dark and the only reason I can see the creepy silhouette is because the light is on in the hallway. The only thing I can see of the person in the doorway are their glowing red eyes, and I’m pretty certain that’s not normal.

“Oh, pff. Sorry. I forgot you can’t see.”

Suddenly there’s a light. It’s weak, but now I can see a short boy standing in my doorway, holding a lantern. He has straw colored hair that looks like it hasn’t been brushed in weeks, and his clothes look equally cared for. He looks completely normal except that his eyes are glowing red and look a bit too big.

“Who — what — why are you in my… “ I can’t form my words properly.

“I’m here to get you out of here before they do.” He gestures out the window.

I’m afraid to turn my back on the strange boy, but I look. There’s nothing there.

I jerkily turn back to the boy.

“Oh right, you can’t see them. Well, they’re kinda creepy looking, and they have weird eyes…” he looked at a loss for words. “ok you know what? We don’t have time for this. I’ll explain later.”

And without warning, I’m thrown into the air. But instead of hitting the ceiling, I’m floating through the cool, clear night sky. I am completely confuddled.