AFRAID OF THE DARK

• Abhilash Sunny, Grade 10, St Monica's College - Senior School
• Short Story
• 2015

Excellence Award in the 'The Write Track 2015' competition

I kept waking up to the slightest bumps in the night, hoping that they weren’t real; that they were all just illusions conjured up by my subconscious mind.
It was pitch black in the bedroom, with the blinds down, to ensure that not even the slightest glimpse of the outside world could be seen. The bedroom door was firmly shut, closing off most of my fears. However, there was always the bedroom itself, not to mention the bathroom attached to it.
The main problem was that there was no light. I had learnt that exploring the darkness without a source of light was suicide. For one thing, it was always harder to navigate if you can’t recognise what’s around you. It wasn’t like daytime, where I could easily make the distance of the bedroom with a leap and a bound. If I did that now, I’d probably hit my head against the wall.

I tried forcing myself to calm down, but I was aware that I was doing a terrible job, as I was already starting to picture terrible creatures, their claws swiping just out of range of my bare feet, as well as the other countless horrors manifesting inside my imagination.

BANG!!!

Another gale of wind smashing against the window jolted me awake yet again. This had to stop. I carefully crawled out of bed, careful not to make a sound, but to no avail. The bed made the loud, creaking sound it always made when deprived of its prisoner. Indeed, the bed was like a prison, alerting the room that I had escaped, and was now roaming about. And the room was always waiting…

I quickly turned on the only weapon I had, the torch. I then held it like a dagger, poised to strike. However, as I was about to walk towards the bathroom, the sudden sound of a car pulling up in the driveway made me abandon my endeavour.

I stumbled back into bed, making sure to turn the torch off, and pulled my blanket up and over my entire body, including my face. I used my arms and legs as weights to keep the blanket stable, ensuring that not even the tiniest gap would appear.
I heard the bedroom door open, and the footsteps made their way right next to my bed. I closed my eyes, aware of the sweat that was forming on my brow, and my heart beat growing louder, and louder. I felt the blanket being pulled, slowly and gently, off my body. And just like that, my only line of defence was gone.
I heard the flick of a switch, and the light was turned on. My eyes were twitching, but I tried to keep my body as limp as possible. I felt a gentle hand on my head. Slowly, I opened my eyes to see my dad grinning at me. I returned his grin with a sheepish smile, before drifting back to sleep…