Death Has Wings

Nyctophobia

My fear of the dark was natural because I was five, but unlike other childrens' fear, which was imaginary, mine was real. I could see things. I could see the demons playing in the shadows, tempting me, calling me. It scared me so much that I never slept at night.

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"Alfie, you need to sleep in Clark's room tonight, he hasn't been sleeping at all. He needs someone with him and we both know that I can't do it." I could hear my mother talking to my father in the kitchen. She had told me to go to bed but I couldn't. The demons were there. Just like every night before that. Demons were scary at night. They were friendly in the day. I was sitting on the top step of the stairs, as far away from my room without being noticed by mother and father.

"Why can't you do it, Amelia? You don't have work to go to in the morning! You don't have anything to do except look after the house." My father was shouting. I didn't like it when he shouted. It hurt my head really bad.

"I have a job interview in the morning." My mother's voice sounded quiet. There was silence for a couple of minutes, then father spoke.

"What time?" He sounded calmer. It didn't hurt my head when he spoke like that.

"Seven in the morning, and you don't have to be at work until nine, so I think you can sleep in Clark's room for a while. Just until he falls asleep." Mother sounded angry. I didn't like it when mother was angry. She broke things. I heard father mumbling as he walked from the kitchen to the bottom of the stairs. He jumped when he saw me sitting at the top.

"Clark," He advanced up the stairs slowly. "Why aren't you in bed? C'mon..." He picked me up and carried me into my room. I could hear the demons laughing at me. They were laughing at my fear. Their laughter filled my head, whirling around like a tor...tor...tornado. It hurt a lot. I scrunched up my eyes and put my hands over my ears but I could still hear them. Father stopped and put me down. He lowered himself to my level, gently taking my hands from my ears.

"Clark, what's wrong? Look at me." I opened my eyes. The laughter was gone. The demons were silent but they were still in the shadows, waiting for me to fall asleep. Waiting for their chance to eat me up. "Clark, look at me. Tell me what happened." I looked at father reluctantly.

"The demons were laughing at me Daddy. They were laughing and it hurt my head so covered my ears to stop them from laughing but it didn't work." I stumbled over most of my words because I was scared. I called him 'daddy' as well. I was really scared. Father hugged me and whispered to me:

"Everything's going to be okay, Clark. There's no demons. They're all in your head."

I knew it wasn't true. Every time I told someone about the demons, I got hurt. It was like they didn't want me to tell anybody. I stayed silent after Father's words. He took me to my bed. I got in and snuggled under the covers. I could feel the demons staring at me. I felt really uncomfortable. Their eyes bore into my soul. Father sat on the end of my bed and began to tell me something.

"When I was your age, I was scared of the dark too. I thought that there was monsters wanting to get me. My dad started to sleep in my room and I felt safer. I felt safe with him in the room, like he was scaring the monsters away. Do you feel like that Clark?" He was calm. I didn't understand why he couldn't see or even hear the demons. I shook my head and a look of hurt showed on father's face. "Why not?"

"You can't see them, can you Daddy? You can't feel them watching you." I pulled the cover closer to my chin. Father looked behind him as if something had disturbed him. He turned back to me.

"No, Clark, I don't. I don't because they aren't real. They don't exist Clark." His eyes locked onto mine. "Did you hear me?" His voice was low. It scared me more than the demons. I nodded. "Then repeat after me: Demons don't exist." I paused for a second.

"D-demons don't e-e-exist." I was frightened of Father. He nodded slightly and got off my bed. He went to my door and opened it.

"Now, you'll go to sleep and stop being so silly." He walked out and closed my door. I didn't want him to leave but I didn't want to call him back.

I was in darkness. My heart began to thud in my ears as the demons began to whisper things all around me. I could see their eyes glowing, yellow, red, green, even blue. It was like I was in space, but the stars were different colours. I could feel them trying to claw at me. I pulled the covers over my face but I could still feel them crawling all over me, trying to rip the sheet off. I felt as if I was going to die that very second. I couldn't make a sound. I was paralyzed. Sweat was forming on my skin. I felt like I was as good as dead. This had happened every night for as long as I could remember. The speech from father, the laughter, the darkness. I wanted it to end. I had to wait till sunrise for the demons to go to sleep, then I could be safe.

All I wanted was to be safe.