ANOTHER DISCLAIMER: I'm also writing this at 2 o'clock in the morning while slightly intoxicated so please forgive me for any typos or general shittiness. I'll edit this once I'm sober ok?
---
11 pm
"Goodnight, Sweetie!" He heard his mum yell down the hall and he almost chuckled at the irony of that small sentence.
The corners of his mouth twitched, but he couldn't get himself to smile.
Dan was very aware that this night would be anything but good, just like countless nights before. Even with the ridiculously expensive mattress beneath him, and the comfortingly cool light of the moon, that shone through the stakes of the Victorian door, leading to his very own balcony, there was nothing here to put him at ease.
He could feel his heart thump in his chest. These threats felt so real, but his subconscious yelled at him.
Crazy, you're completely nuts!
In this strange room, - it was so spacious, yet it felt like these four walls were closing in on him - he felt like he was being watched.
His back was against the wall, so nothing could jump at him from behind, blanket pulled up to his nose. Because even though it was a lukewarm September night in the suburbs of Manchester, his fear was shaking him to his very core. His skin was crawling at his own thoughts.
Wasn't it funny that his imagination painted worse scenarios than any horror film could?
Blood.
It had all been his fault. An innocent life had been taken because of his stupidity. His egoism had led to death. Yes, Dan had blood on his hands. And what was happening to him, what was happening to him every night since the incident, was just the least he deserved for being such a vile person.
There were creatures lurking in the shadows, and he knew, just knew, that there was something waiting to attack him, strangle him to death, as soon as he dared to close his eyes and get just remotely close to the sweet comfort that only sleep could give him.
It was an ongoing battle inside his own head.
I don't want them to kill me. I want it to stop. I want to die, but I don't.
Dan was alone, so lonely, in this large home, though his brother and his parents were just down the hall, fast asleep. But there was no one who was going to help him, no one to save him from the voices that were feeding his crippling anxiety.
He was lost.
4 am
The first ray of the morning sun were very close to climbing over the edge of the horizon when he felt his eyelids grow heavy, his breathing get a little more stable and his thoughts run into nothingness. Dan was now lying on his side, back to the wall and he just waited for sleep to overtake him and save him from his own insanity.
And when it finally did, he greeted it with a smile on his chapped lips.
