"The night is dark and full of terrors," said Melisandre, from the Game of Thrones, leaving me with goosebumps even in the broad daylight. I looked around and switched the TV off to go out for a walk. I watched the sun go down and I was weighed down by the thought of getting back to the office after the long weekend. I headed back home and my roommate Rakesh was already lying on the couch in the living room. "What do we order for dinner?" he asked. "biryani?" I replied. After a five minute discussion, we agreed on Chinese and placed the order.
"Goodnight!" said Rakesh, before shutting his door. I jumped into my bed and fell asleep while reading Ruskin bond's short stories.
Surprisingly, Rakesh was up early the next morning. He was reading the newspaper while sipping on his coffee. "I have noticed this a few times, you sleep with your lights on?" asked Rakesh, with an interrogative tone. "I... I just fall asleep reading, ya reading most of the time, so maybe I forget the lights sometimes," I stammered. "oh okay, casually asking," he replied and went back into his room to get ready for work.
I have never discussed this with anybody, that I have developed a new fear for a few years, after an incident, to be precise. I cannot withstand darkness. I am a 26-year-old grown man, who is scared of darkness. That sounds embarrassing. I have lived alone for a while now, so nobody knows that I sleep with my lights on every day. I had to shift my house to move closer to the new office and living in this area is only affordable with a roommate, and so I had no choice. Whenever I go home for vacation, I somehow manage, as my parents sleep early.
The week passed by as usual and mundane as ever. It was Friday evening, I returned home exhausted from work. I jumped on to the couch and switched the TV on. Rakesh returned an hour later, and he was excited about the weekend. "I have invited some of my friends for tomorrow evening, just a small house party. I hope you don't mind. It would be great if you could join too," he said. I normally don't enjoy partying with all new people but what choice do I have. I don't want to be the weird guy in the other room, so I said, "Sure!"
Me and Rakesh returned home, our hands overloaded with a carton of beers, two bottles of vodka and some starters. We dumped everything in the fridge and went to our rooms to take a shower. Around 7 PM, his friends started coming. I tried socialising with a few of them, they all seemed to be fine, not too boring, not too entertaining either. After a few hours, I slowly sneaked off into my room and fell asleep.
YOU ARE READING
Dusk is the deal-breaker
Short StoryIt is a story of a young man, who suffers from nyctophobia, which crept into him after experiencing a traumatic incident that occurred in his past. He feels embarrassed to accept it, hence tries to hide it from everybody around. However, the issue...
