Sleep had become a hard to find commodity lately. There was always something going on ever since October rolled around. Temu Jumanji boards, teleporting leaves, aliens, endless corridors, youma, and of course, late nights drinking and partying and Halloween still hadn't come. Addy could not wait for the month to be over. Her hope was that with the end of Spooky Month, whatever trickster or diety or alien or interdimensional being that brought all these things with them would pack them all up and go to whatever hole it considered a home. Hopefully forever. Most likely until next year. Who knew, really? Nothing made sense anymore.

Pulling the covers down, she slipped into bed and snuggled into her impossible soft faux fur blanket. It was decorated with cats in various Halloween costumes and she couldn't help but bring it home. Maybe she should get a cat. Something to come home to a breathe a little life into this drafty old house. Plus, she could put the cat in tiny little costumes and take pictures. Was twenty six too young to become a crazy cat lady? Romance seemed out of the question any time soon, so perhaps she should lean into being a spinster.

Scratch.

Addy paused in her musings, eyes flying open to stare at the darkness that concealed her ceiling. That damn noise again. She had been hearing it for a week straight. Each time she came up with an answer as to why it didn't matter, but it was back again and she was out of excuses. It had to be rats. She supposed it wasn't so farfetched for a rat to get in. The house was old, after all, and while her aunt had meticulously maintained it, it was still a risk that you ran. With a sigh, she resolved to research if cruelty free pest companies existed before closing her eyes once more.

Scratch. Scraaatch.

"Damn rat," she mumbled under her breath as she pulled the covers up to her chin, unwilling to get out of bed to investigate. It was a future Adelinde problem. Definitely not a right now Adelinde problem.

Addy closed her eyes once more and slowly started to drift to sleep. The rat was blessedly silent. She could tell in just a few more moments, she would be gone and the rat could do whatever little rat tasks it had unbothered for the rest of the night. Rat groceries. Rat aerobics. Rat college.

Thump!

Addy's eyes flew open as the bed beneath her shuddered after something rammed against it from below her bed. What sort of rat could do that?

What if it were a youma? ********. Her knife and her spray were downstairs in her purse. She was unarmed and it could be a literal monster under her bed. No way she could sleep now.

Slowly. she reached over to her nightstand and flicked on the lamp. Dim yellow light fought against the encroaching darkness in her room. The light seemed unable to pass much further than the area around her bed and it made her even more nervous. Her heart was racing. This wasn't normal. Was it the October Trickster again?

Addy took a deep breath, letting the air slowly fill her lungs before she exhaled and reached for her phone. Flipping on the flashlight, she slowly crept out of bed, placing her legs as far away from the suspicious blackness underneath her bed. Crouching down, she held the phone with one hand and slowly reached for the bed skirt with the other. Her fingers shook, casting distorted shadows on the side of her bed that didn't look like they matched her hand.

This is stupid. This is how you die in a horror movie. Just get up and leave. Run. Anything but this.

But she couldn't stop. Something compelled her to lift the bed skirt. With a quick yank, she pulled it up and shown the light under the bed. With great relief, she saw...nothing. Just straight through to the other side of her room...Except...Was that the spiked shoe she had lost when she fought that Nega in the alley? No way. She couldn't find them, she knew she didn't bring them home and yet there they were.

Before she knew what she was doing, Addy reached for the shoes. They had been a favorite pair. The moment her fingers connected with the pair, something leathery and monstrous grasped her wrist. Addy screamed and threw her phone involuntarily. It slammed and skittered across the room, leaving her blind to the horrors that waited for her under her bed.

The leathery hand began to yank on her wrist, its grip firm and painful as it crushed the delicate bones inside.

"No, no, no," was all she could whimper as the thing began to pull her under the bed. Her free hand scrabbled for anything she could use as a weapon but found only cold, hardwood floor. She tried to angle her legs to brace against her bed and pull back, but the thing was quick and soon her entire arm was encased in darkness.

"No, no, please," she whimpered as with one more painful jerk, the darkness overtook her.

Addy screamed herself awake, jolting in bed. Frantic eyes assessed the room around her and she slowly came back to herself. From the lamp light, she could see her entire room. Everything was perfect and as she left it.

"A nightmare?" she whispered, slowly sitting up. She must have left the light on and fell asleep. That made sense. Exhaustion had been weighing heavily on her lately. With all the strange things happening, of course she was having nightmares.

Addy reached for her phone, but a look of confusion crossed her face as she found only wooden nightstand. Her phone charger was where she left it, but her phone was nowhere in sight. With a huff, she scanned the room, only to note a second source of light. Her phone flashlight was on across the room. Odd. Sighing heavily, she got out of bed and padded across the room to pick up her phone. As she reached out, something else caught her eye.

A red imprint of a hand ringing her wrist.

(WC 1044)