Can't Sleep...

The pills rest in a little tube on my nightstand. ‘Take two a day: one in the morning and one at night’, it reads, but I don’t want to. They never help. The monsters and demons never leave when I take them.

I sit up in bed and look around. There are three holes punched into the wall; I wouldn’t do that again, I tell myself. There never was a reason to do that before.

Momma says I need to sleep, but I just can’t. Not with the walls staring back at me. We have to remove everything else from my room because they were afraid I’d hurt myself. I did before, but not now.

I look at the multicolored sharpies littered across my floor; I pick up one.

Black dreams and silver nightmares. I write on my arm with corresponding black and silver ink. That’s why I can’t sleep. Dreams are terrifying to me. But nightmares, oh, nightmares are so sweet. I constantly live in a nightmare, at least, when I don’t take my pills.

Minutes pass and I do nothing but stare at the walls. The walls black eyes are staring at me. I can’t sleep now. The walls are watching me.

The beige walls twist into pink flesh. The eyes blink. I can’t look away, not for one second. One second and I’ll be swallowed by the wall’s gapping mouth.

Out of nowhere, I hear a music box. I can’t tell where it’s coming from, but I can’t look for it. I have to make sure the walls don’t eat me. But the music grows louder. The minor melodies ring in my ears. The Augmented 4ths hit my ears like hammers. They bang on my skull until my head goes numb. I scream, singing along to the funeral requiem. But I don’t dare take my eyes off of the gapping mouth.

Then I hear the demons. They sing in time with the music. I stop screaming. I can’t let them hear me. I don’t want them running in. I can’t break the focus on the face in front of me, otherwise I’ll be gone.

But I can’t take it. The augmentation grows louder, the screeches amplify, and my eardrums feel like they’re about to burst. I have to do something. I have to keep the monsters from getting into my room.

I climb off of my bed which instantly melts into flesh, like the rest of my room. I take one step onto the skin carpet beneath my feet. I instantly recoil as every step I take hurts me. I feel it, I know it’s teeth I’m stepping on. The mouth is trying to eat me.

I take one more step to the door. But, it’s too late. The screeches are too loud, too close, and I know the mouth is closing in on me. I run to the pills and swallow them all.

It hurts, but I will escape. This time, I’m coming out on top.