You Draw Dreams, I Draw Nightmares

Good Morning Insomina.

Sheets shuffling and a body constantly turning is heard in the dark apartment. She reaches over and grabs her phone. 4:03 am...she sighs and gets out of bed. Turning on the bathroom lights, she sees her messy green dyed hair, dark circles under her eyes, her grumbled up Suicide Commando band shirt was evidence to another sleepless night.

'Four years of this....' she mentally told herself. She fixes herself up the best she can and hops onto her drawing tablet to create another nightmare fuel piece. Amity Blight is her name, a college sophomore studying for a bachelor in arts. But she also goes by the name Restless_Rabbit on social media, where she posts and even streams her horror artwork. If she can't sleep, then you can't either. A phrase she found amusing from a stream chat and even adopted into her merchandise. She had gained a massive amount of followers from the past two years. Yet, no matter who she was....she was someone who had insomnia. Four hours passed and she was in class virtually on her desktop setup. Amity was an extreme introvert, who was a little insecure about her baggy eyes, thank god Willow was there to drag her out of her "bat cave". She dreads it everytime, but appreciates her friend's concern in the end.

By two in the afternoon, Amity was done with classes, studying, and managed to take at least a thirty minute nap. She catches Willow at a cafe.

" How many hours did you get this time?" The plump girl asks.

"Three..."

"Ami have you thought about sleeping pills?"

"I've tried it. It messed up my sleeping schedule horribly." She replied while rubbing her temple.

"Well...You think you're up to go with me at a bike shop?"

"Sure...did your chain break?"

Willow sighs as a response.

Amity was a goth through and through, always wearing sunglasses. Willow on the other hand was more of a hipster. Amity kinda liked how their styles were opposite from each other, it was like she was a venus fly trap while Willow was a yellow daisy.

"Hey Ami have you thought about collaborating with other internet artists?" Willow asked while purchasing the chain.

"Eh? Am I boring or something?" she says in a cute huff.

"No. But I'm noticing artists are now doing collabs. Maybe you should join the train,who knows you might find a princess in shining armor."

Amity chuckles and playfully shoves her but gives it some thought, once she makes it back to her den and eats a lazily made sandwich she explores on instagram.

Doodle puddles - She was an artist that drew animals and even funny comics of her friends.The animals were detailed and beautiful while the comics were simple and had a bit of a cartoony feel.

Trooper_Soldier99 - They had sci-fantasy artwork, it was like looking at the gallery for Star Wars. Eventually it was revealed the artist was a big Star Wars fan after finding a post with many of the movie merchandise they got from a birthday.

Otter.Antics - The artist drew anime and game characters. Their coloring was amazing and she even managed to find a real life picture of them. She was a latina, had a geeky tomboy style, and had short wavy curly hair with a fade....she had to admit she was cute. She recalled the artist was friends with Puddles.

She laughed it off remembering Willow's tease.
"What are the odds of that happening anyways.." She says with a smile getting her equipment ready for a stream. On camera she talked in a lower octave than her real voice, it became her signature voice since she would often stream when she wasn't able to sleep and was usually exhausted. Comments in the chat or on youtube constantly remark on it, how it's 'chiling', 'perfect', and of course... 'sexy.' Even on camera she developed a unique look. Sunglasses to hide the bags, a black surgical mask to hide her face, putting her hair up in a small ponytail, and always wearing black. She warms up by challenging herself to make something innocent like a cute bunny into a horrifying creature. Amity sketches out a kelpie taking someone to drown and consume. She enjoyed drawing and reading about cryptids. When her family or friends would camp, they would always tell chilling stories like the Jersey Devil or the Goatman. She looks over to the chat seeing all of their nonsense, "Okay...Chat. What do you think about me collaborating with someone?"

Comments came flooding in encouraging her and some started to suggest who to collaborate with.

"Someone told me about doing it and I looked at some artists...Anyone know Otter.Antics?"

Definite yes from her followers, some made comments about her being a potential girlfriend to the goth girl.

"Ha, ha....I get it. Because she's colorful and cartoony while I'm dark and horror realistic. That's funny."

Now that she thinks about it, having polar opposite artists interacting would be an interesting stream. She talks about the other two artists she came across, both having positive feedback. A potential Star Wars theme stream or an animal mix creation challenge. Suggestions were made and by 1:00 am Amity's drawing was almost done. She signs off and attempts to sleep. In the morning, she was greeted by many tags on twitter.

'I only mentioned it....'

She looked through the many, many, many tweets. Surprisingly she came across Otter.Antic's:

"A collab with the internet's best nightmare fueling artist? @Restless_Rabbit I'm down, let's do it one day!"
There was also a selfie of her in one of the gothic hoodies in her merch store.

'Why is my face warm...?' Amity shakes it off and freshens herself up for another day of studying, drawing, and attempting to sleep. She couldn't help but think about Otter, maybe she should DM her today and see if she coul-
Knocking interrupted her thought, Boscha barges in with just inches of opening the door.

"Oof! Girl, you would not believe the morning I had. Mmm...Ami open your blinds for fuck sakes, looks dead in here." Boscha bluntly says, letting light in the room almost blinding Amity.

"Ugh....Boscha c'mon! You don't just walk in a goth's home and let in the blinding ass sun like that!"

She rolls her eyes, "Whatever, you need some light in your life sometime. Heh....still have that raccoon mask?"

Amity blushes in an embarrassment. She looks away.

"Hey, don't be embarrassed. I know the things you've been through...have you thought about seeing a therapist?"

Amity's eyes narrow, her mood completely changing. She recalls her mother's cold voice in her head.

"There's no point to it....besides I have enough on my hands."

Boscha didn't push the issue "Well...anyways...saw the craze about you on Twitter."

"Yeah...and I only mentioned it too. Didn't think collaborations are THAT popular."

"Well are you gonna do it?"

"Um...not sure..."

"We'll get dressed! I'm taking you out!"

Amity made a slight cringe expression as a response, Boscha helped her pick out an outfit and dragged her to a sushi restaurant that just recently opened up. While she was dragged, the apartment next door became available.

'Wonder who's gonna move in....and somewhat be okay with my death metal playlist....' Her voice questioned in her head.

In between the dragon and tempura rolls the girls chatted about their high school years.

"Oh man I completely forgot about you being so good at hockey!"

"Eh?! How??? Dude I was like...THE best!"

"Woah woah captain of the Hexside Huskies, I was just teasing~"

Amity stuffed her face, making Boscha giggle in the process. After the meal, she thanks Boscha and goes to her introvert duties. Reading her Junji ito manga, she heard some sort of commotion outside of her home. Curiosity fueled her and she decided to see the root of the noise. Boxes and furniture literterd the hall but she wasn't sure to who was the new owner. She pictured herself as a black cat in an ally and in the shadows there was probably a deranged creature in the distance...

'Hey that would be a good art piece to make...maybe in a dark city...some rain...' she stands there while internally discussing her next masterpiece.

"Hey."

A voice says and she looks behind her. She couldn't believe it....there she was. Her hazel skin, brown puppy eyes, and cute smile.

"Hey I'm Luz. Looks like we're neighbors, neighbor."