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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?


It was later than she'd expected it to be when Rebecca finally closed the book of ghost and monster stories she'd picked up on her way back to the Romano's dorms. A lot of her classmates, she was sure, were probably taking advantage of the holiday to spend some time at home or out with friends at the very least, so somehow her much quieter means of celebrating Halloween had left her alone in her dorm room. That had been perfectly fine by her, in all honesty, because it had meant no one complaining about how late she left the lamp on and thus plenty of time to finish her reading.

It was only now, as she switched off that lamp and curled cozily into her bed, that she began to see the problem. In the light, those stories had been a lot of nonsense, fun to read and good for a laugh now and then, but nothing actually worth being scared about. Now that darkness loomed all around her, though, the finer details of each and every story came back to her. The way this character had been haunted, the curse that had terrorized this other one, the monsters that had lurked around every corner.

She had barely been able to keep her eyes open when she'd finally finished reading, but now, as the silence stretched painfully around her, her eyes were open wide and her heart beating erratically. Logically she knew she was being ridiculous. That strange shape there could only be the desk, and over there her bag. That imagined movement she saw was just- That could really only be-

The teen bit her lip, realizing she wasn't actually sure what could have caused that considering she was in here alone, and hesitantly tracked her gaze back to where she thought she'd seen it. It was probably nothing, of course. Probably just a trick played by eyes still adjusting to the dark. The correct course of action would be to stop being silly, close her eyes, and go to sleep already so she could get something done tomorrow. But if she was wrong... If logic led her astray this one time, what would the consequences be?

Would she be haunted for the rest of her life? Cursed? There'd been stories of ghosts attacking the people who'd seen them, hadn't there? It suddenly felt terribly vulnerable, just lying here in bed, but who knew what might be lurking under her bunk if she dared put her feet over the edge? One after the other her mind darted from one possibility to the next, no matter how remote that possibility might have been. Her eyes stayed wide open, even as, after time, the blankets covering her were gradually tugged higher and higher up until they hid her up to her nose.

Maybe it was silly and childish, but what little kid ever forgot that age old advice that the monsters couldn't find you if you were under the covers? Eventually she did drift off to sleep, but it was entirely involuntarily. Who knew what might be moving in the shadows when she wasn't looking?