SHADOW

Fear

A shadow passed near her window, and she screamed into her pillow. There was a tangling sensation every night she went to bed, as if somebody was watching from behind her windows. She didn't dare to open them, but she just knew it was there. The pressure inside her gut, the painful fear that made her breathe heavily-it seeped into her bones like a rabbit watched by a predator. Every night, she closed her doors, her windows, checked every single lock. The girls living with her on campus thought she was crazy, but she didn't care. She watched the dark line of the forest near their university and wondered what darkness lurked down there. Nobody seemed to care, but Sha felt it. When one of the girls disappeared, she knew it was real. She told everyone, but they just laughed at her.

This evening, she watched the moon through the window. It was round and fat, its light beautiful yet sinister, casting more shadows along the dark line of the woods and spreading golden light across the empty courtyard. The moon was there, its light guarding her sanity. She felt better seeing the perimeter, spending long hours watching into the night, a silent and unknown sentinel. Every time the moon went under the clouds, she trembled a bit, feeling giddy as she was immersed in complete darkness.

Her roommate went home for vacation, and she regretted not doing the same. Maybe tomorrow she would pack her things and leave. No summer campus celebrations were worth this distress. Perhaps she was going mad because she wasn't used to living alone in this large, empty room. She watched the white linens glowing in the darkness and smiled.

"I am a fool. I have to sleep," she told herself and trod on the cold, bare floor with her barely warm slippers. The sheets were cold, and she trembled a bit, feeling giddy beneath their embrace.