You are just getting ready to head to sleep and you're all tucked in when something catches your eye. It's a strange shape, or light, in your room. It's only there for a second, but dread immediately floods through you. It was just a shadow, right? Maybe you pulled too many all nighters? Forgot you put up that new poster and thought it was something else?


...Or was it something else?


Either way, whatever you thought you saw was only there for that fleeting moment. What did you see? How do you react?


...Are you going to be able to sleep tonight?


Word Count: 691


Abigail Miller finished her nightly ritual with a yawn. The twelve year old was more then ready for bed after a day full of classes and studying. Not only school but dance and karate pulse all the homework that the teachers thought was necessary. It was enough to tire out a grown adult let alone a young lady quickly growing into her own. Abby snickered at that thought as she finished up in her bathroom and quietly padded across her room lit only with the small lamp by her bed.

A simple room with everything in its place and a place for everything, Abby even deviated from her path to replace the stuffed bunny that had fallen off the window bench where the rest of the stuffed animals were. Giving the rabbit one last pat the young girl climbed into her bed and turned out the light, plunging the room into darkness. The only glimmer of light trickling in was from under the hall door and the weak moonlight filtering in through the frilly curtains.

She was just about to drift off to sleep when something caught her eye. A shadow where there shouldn't be one. A large and imposing shadow that seemed to get bigger the longer she stared at it. It was coming for her! It would kill her! It would devour her vary soul! She opened her mouth to scream and then she blinked. It was gone! With her heart racing and her breathing harsh with fear she scrambled for the lamp switch. Of all the people who resided in the city she knew that things went bump in the night. She knew that there were monsters out there but never before had she encountered one close to her house let alone in her room. This was her safe place. This was her home!

With a click the lamp flooded the room, Abby blinked painfully against the light, momentarily blinded. Once she could see more than just bright spots she scanned the room. Searching… for anything. But there wasn’t. There was nothing. Nothing wrong with her desk, nothing out of place with her bookcase, even her armoire doors were closed. The mirror in front of her barre reflected a disheveled scared little girl who was surrounded by white fluffy pillows and a cabbage rose covered comforter. Even Sherlock was undisturbed. He was snoring away on his bed in the corner. If something was wrong he would have been awake at least.

Right?

...Right?

Using what she learned from both dance and karate Abby did her best to control her pounding heart and rapid breathing. In… down to the diaphragm… hold… release all the air… in… hold… release… She did this over and over until her racing heart was once more beating normally, her breath was coming in more than just gasps. She focused on mentally visualizing the air she was taking in was traveling down her windpipe, swirling through her lungs, gathering deep in her belly where it sat until she let it go in a controlled exhale. The trapped air, the trapped energy, was slowly released from within, taking with it all the fear, all the worry, the very thoughts in her mind until everything was clear. She knew what had happened. She knew it was just a trick of her imagination. Abby knew that there wasn’t anything in her room that could hurt her.

“Sherlock.” The dog started awake. “Sherlock come here.” He followed his little girl’s orders and soon was stretched out next to her on the bed, someplace he had been forbidden ever since he got so big. It didn’t take very long for him to go back to sleep, his paws twitching as he chased some dream creature, likely a squirrel.

Unlike her dog, Abby took longer to fall back asleep. Part of it was the huge dog taking up most of her bed, part of it was the light from the lamp she refused to turn off, but most of it was the little voice that lurked in the back of her mind that just wouldn’t stop whispering ‘what if’.