Chapter Text
You stared into the mirror, thoroughly rumpled and worn, looking (at least to yourself) as if you’d been hit by two trucks and an ice cream machine. Your hair was tangled so deeply in the hair tie you’d secured it in this morning that you were certain you were going to need a scissors to remove it in the morning. There was something sticky attached to your face, just below your cheek.
But you were too exhausted to bring yourself to care.
The bristles of your toothbrush scratched at your gums as you haphazardly brushed your teeth with half closed eyes. Your hair was more messy than usual, and you’d barely had the strength to discard your shoes, socks, then pants somewhere in a messy trail across your apartment, but double shifts tended to do that to you. The extra money was great, and the thrill of helping your pregnant coworker was even better, but you almost weren’t sure if the burnt out feeling that came with it was a fair cost.
…well, you thought to yourself, staring down your dark circles and foam filled mouth. At least you had tomorrow off. You could sleep late and grocery shop in the afternoon. Or maybe you’d just have them delivered, if your shoulders stayed as sore as they were currently.
You also needed to swing by the library and bring back your books before you went over the return time though…
You spit out what was left of the toothpaste into the sink and sighed dramatically to yourself. Maybe you’d use the extra money to treat yourself to something to make up for all the effort. You deserved it after the back breaking hours you just put in.
But first, you would thoroughly enjoy the bliss of unconsciousness.
You zombie walked to your room, dragging the last couple of steps before you collapsed and closed your eyes, not even bothering with getting comfortable outside of dragging a blanket over your cold legs. It was that annoying time of year where it was cold in the night, but too hot for the heater by morning, and you didn’t have the energy to fuss about it right now.
No. You just needed sleep.
You buried your face deeper into your pillow as light flickered in your room, just bright enough to see behind your eyelids. You would not get up. You wanted to sleep. Weird green light be damned.
…weird green light? In your windowless room?
Your eyes found enough adrenaline-energy to peek open blurrily, a faint wandering thought running through your mind that you’d accidentally left your phone on again.
‘It’ was most definitely not your phone.
Your room was darker than usual. The small flickering lights of charging devices and the shadows they cast had vanished. The center of the only light you could find (and the source of your discomfort) hovered in the air across your room like a shining circle of acidic horror movie magic.
You couldn’t move.
The light flickered ominously and something in the corner of your eye caught the light. You’d’ve scrambled away, or at the very least flinched, but every muscle you had was locked into place. A strangling sense of terror curled its way around your throat and squeezed. Some primal part of you whispered that if you so much as blinked, you were going to die.
A quiet, rasping voice wound through the shadows from the creature. “My, my, finally awake for a visit?”
A quiet wheeze escaped you and your eyes watered. This could not be happening.
“And here I was beginning to think my little star was ignoring me.” The shadows were moving. Why were they moving. Why couldn’t you move?
Long, dark shapes caught the vibrant light as they reached forward, finally shifting into your view. Something cold and damp curled around the edge of your blanket and pulled it up more comfortably around your shoulders. You felt goosebumps crawl across your skin like a cascade of ants.
“I’ve missed you.” the creature cooed, far too close for any sort of comfort. Your muscles jumped under your skin, every part of you howling to scream for help. To run, hide, do anything. The smile on its face (was it a face? All you could see was the flash of teeth as it grinned wider than what should be physically possible) was less reassuring and more starving. The look in its eye screamed that this thing wanted to eat you.
And you couldn’t move.
“Oh, that's a pretty expression.” It, he?, purred, shifting again and dragging your hair out of your eyes with what you hoped were just long nails and not the claws they felt like as they breezed past the skin of your face. “Fear looks good on you.”
Your eyes burned as they tried to track the dark, strange looking hand that retracted from your head after fiddling with your hair for a second longer. Even with the near blinding light illuminating the room, the limb was practically invisible, almost entirely blended into the shadows.
It was terrifying.
The creature hummed, shifting from towering over you to... sitting on the side of your bed.
You could feel a tear slip down your skin and dampen the pillow under your head as you were forced to stare straight ahead while the shadow moved from your view. You could feel his (you were just going to go with 'he') weight setting next to your waist, the solidity of someone pressed against you almost more horrifying than being able to see him. The same dark shapes from earlier settled all around you like some morbid, fleshy weighted blanket.
"It's funny," the voice echoed, clawed hand returning to your hair. "How such a little thing can make my whole day better."
The thin fingers started gently dragging over your scalp, running all the way down to the nape of your neck before returning to the top of your head. Against all reason, it felt almost nice. Relaxing, even if you didn't want it to be. "Just having your eyes on me..."
He continued to talk. About his brother, and how he'd narrowly missed killing him (which was... horrifying). How he'd 'punished' the poor, poor person who'd allowed for that to occur (you were certain the only thing keeping you from vomiting at the graphic detail was whatever paralysis had overcome you). How his favorite rug had been torn up by some sort of scuffle. You didn't understand why this creature was telling you about his day, but you couldn't do anything but lay there and listen while he continued playing with your hair and comfortably describing absolute horrors to you.
Eventually, your mind started to drift. You were so tired. And, despite the fear everything about the creature caused you, the low hum of his voice was starting to become something similar to a thrumming background noise pushed to the edge of your brain.
Maybe you could pass out and not have to deal with whatever horrible hallucination (you prayed it was a hallucination) this was.
The creature seemed to notice your exhaustion after a while. He laughed quietly (and the sound sent absolute chills down your spine), swiping his thumb under your half closed eye. “I really can’t help myself when you’re near, can I?”
Your vision blurred as something solid brushed against the side of your forehead, “Sleep, Starlight. You need the rest.”
And then everything went dark.