"The Horrid Unknowns" by Melissa C

Heading down the stairs as he typically did every weekday night around 8:30. He walks to the kitchen where his sister was sitting at the dining table eating cereal. Finding himself appetized by the cinnamon toast crunch he decides to join in and accompany her. They had a little conversation as usual, talking about how their school days went. However after some time in that fashion his sister decided to head to her room for the night, as she was very tired. Now alone downstairs, he plugged his ear buds in and watched a few videos on his phone before heading up stairs, whilst he knew the friendly voices of his favorite Youtubers would keep him company. Meanwhile he finished his cereal, washed the dishes and curled up on the sofa for a few.

His phone shut off. It was dead; he had drained the battery watching his videos. Looking up, until them did he realize it was already quite late and 2 hours had past. Thus he figured he might as well head up to his room and plug in his phone and go to sleep this dark cold Monday night.  

Before heading up the stairs, he turned off the lights of the house one by one , first the kitchen light then the family room the living room the porch light and the light to the stairwell. The only light that illuminated was the one at the top of the stairs, from the hallway, that lead from the end of the stairs to his room. Having lived in this house since birth he was quite accustomed to walking up these dimly lit stairs. At the top of the stairs now he knew what time it was. The child in him told him to run and stray from the darkness of the hallway to the comfort of his room. He turned the switch off. However now, this 17 years of age young man kept his calm, figuring that the child within him wouldn’t win this time. After all he was only a year from being a legalized adult and well adults weren’t afraid of dark hallways, he assumed.

Now half way down the hallway,
“Turn around!” said Timen’s inner conscious.
In relief there was absolutely nothing their. However still he scurried along to his room at a faster pace. Not even turning around as he closed the door to his room. He is now safe from the hallways horrid unknowns.

Being as sleepy as he felt, he gets ready for bed. No more than 10 minutes later he is ready to crash for the night. He hits the light switch and bolts to his bed, not being able to see anything he stumps his toes on the corner of the bed dropping his phone from his hand to the floor that he was going to plug in next to his bed as he habitually did every night.

His body is a hot sensation he wanted to scream but he couldn’t knowing he would have awaken the others in his house. It continuous throbbing for a minute or two longer then he scurries to turn the light on and check if had hurt his toe. Luckily everything was just fine. Now remembering, he picked up his phone, plugged it in and turned the lights off once more. This time making his way to his bed in a more cautious manner. He gets under the sheets, cuddles up, and closes his eyes. However with so much on his mind; it wanders to all the empty shadowed spaces that surrounded him. How much can be kept their and how little he knew of what ghosts and spirits he always felt around him, always feeling as if someone was following him or watching him . He felt as if this was it, the world’s weight fell upon him, he was now sweating , shortened of breath, and the world although he couldn’t see anything in the darkness he laid in, was darkening more and more second by second.
In a quick jump he jumps up and turns the light on. Paranoid of so much more than even he himself could express. Afraid of the nightmares he had with quite some frequency, he decided it was best for his sake to stay up.

Timen is writing this, Timen doesn’t know why, but Timen is tired of this darkness.