Fear

It's always the same. i fall and something jolts me awake. right before the end, before the masked man twists me a little further. Pain screams up my limbs and i find myself struggling to free my limbs from tangled bed sheets and my mind still foggy with sleep is still running. My heart thuds in my chest and in my head, so loud i can hardly hear anything. eventually i realize i am not breathing and suck in a much needed  breath into starving lungs.

It was nothing i tell myself whilst i try to relax, but my body betrays me by searching vainly in the darkness for the figure. my Memory certain that he was there a moment ago standing there. watching me. waiting for me to lose focus and look away. That's when he strikes.

I lie back down and take deep breaths still too jumpy to close my eyes. i scrunch up my toes and count to ten.

one, two, three, four

my eyes flicker closed against the darkest night.

five, six, seven

something in my minds eye moves.

eight, nine...

i know he is there...

ten...

in the darkness unable to see or hear anything. paralyzed in my bed he walks forward. a wicked grin across his face. and i know.

I know its starting again.