When the room went dark, she heard her name and sat upright almost instantly as light footsteps scurry hurriedly away from the dark corner from which she heard her name, she turned on the bedside lamp and had a quick look around the room before switching it off again and lying back down, her head going a million miles a minute as it always does from this crazy memory to that nonsensical idea and then back and forth in a non stop tennis rally.... insomnia and paranoia vs depression and anxiety in the mixed doubles final.... funny thing is this final set has been going on for at least 15 years.... ."Grace..." It's her name again, she lies still as she hears the light footed steps get closer slowly... then in a calm almost angelic voice.... "Grace... could you listen to my voice for a short while please.... I'm sorry to impose like this but we're not welcome on the surface anymore, that's why I'm here at 3am.. and I worry that my appearance would..... well anyway if you don't mind I'll get on with it.... there's a place beneath here.... where I come from...it's not a nice place, not nice at all... everything burns, all the time... it's like you can feel it, the skin bubbling and melting away....so you're constantly like... itching at it... usually your eyes go for a bit, and when I say a bit it could be like a hundred years so you're feeling all this constantly but can't see shit you can just hear the voices as they walk past you taunting.... or screaming, it's usually your mom's voice, or your brothers or that bully from school.... to be honest tho it's better when you can't see cos woi..... I can't even.... well let's just say that I've seen everyone I've ever loved die in every way possible, from slow gruesome torture to action replays of car crashes and slow motion house fires..... you're always there... there's always something you can do to stop it..... but you can't..... I don't know why but you just can't..... you know in your dreams where you can't fight or run... everything is slow...just as you're about to do it you get boomeranged back..... yeah it's that but it's your first sweetheart n two adorable kids drowning, a family that didn't fucking exist by the way but to you they're your everything so you're rowing the fucking boat n sometimes they disappear in the waves, sometimes it's a shark devouring them one by one, sometimes you spend hours trying to resuscitate your two year old who's ribs crack with every push n you can just keep hearing "daddy, daddy, daddy" until you're releasing your hands from the tight grip on her throat next to the other bodies you've just created and the life disappears from her eyes... that's a pretty horrendous one.... n I bet you're like "but I haven't got any kids" or trying to pretend to yourself that because you don't talk to your family none of this would bother you that much..... well the funny thing is that when I'm given let's say "free will" n I'm me again...

Well the Me that's left anyway.... I know I didn't have any kids but still I've watched my kids die a million times and it's always been my fault.

.. that pain there you'd think that you couldn't just control and plant at will but something does and they're fucking good at it, brilliant even.... I thought I didn't give a shit when I was where you are, saw shit, heard shit, felt shit that barely budged me at times but here.... here... every fucking time I see my little kids tears...my kid that doesn't fucking exist by the way!!! my heart breaks out of my chest, I can feel it, I hear the bones crushing, I've felt my heart struggle with it's last few beats in the palm of my left hand, badoom, badoom..

. bad.... it's always bad... that last beat... it's like your whole body gets an ungodly electric shock... but not just electric.... It's cold, like super fucking freezing.... then you have THE headache that has you crying for your mom out loud... as a grown man... you physically can't move an inch, even the movement of your chest when breathing sends a shock from your head to every nerve in your soul that lasts until you can remain still for a while which is impossible.....and this can last for hours.... days... weeks.... fuck knows?? When you stop going by the laws of time a year can be 4 simple minutes, but regardless ... A year.... Four minutes... it's all the same when your whole existence is a badly put together montage of "and the award for best horror movie goes to"...... By the way there's always a worst one..... you'd think there couldn't be but wow I mean really WOW!! n in case you think you're being smart again like "you'd just get used to it" .... Have you ever had hallucinations, like an acid trip or something? If you know you're tripping you're hunky Dory but if shit gets bad n you get trippy trippy then God save ya....well in a few short minutes I'm going back to that trip whether I like it or not.... I might be four years old watching my mom get.....well enough of the terrors, you won't sleep God bless ya....I just wanted to say that this place that I unwillingly call home is kept just for the ones that do that kinda shit.... Fucking disgusting ....."


The footsteps back off slowly....  

 "Anyway thank you for your time Grace... I need to ask you just one more massive favor... Stay calm as you have whilst listening to me... Thank you for that by the way and sorry for all of the theatrics, it's the best way to get someone to think... Like really think... And I didnt wanna rush to go back to be honest... Anyway I need you to stay calm, make no movement or noise whatsoever whilst the three masked men hiding in your closet slowly exit the premises via the window next to said closet..."  


The voice switches from calm to terrifying 


"I can't physically touch you right now but if my brief and not too graphic in comparison look into life after doing unthinkable things hasn't changed your stupid ignorant mind then I'll see you soon...  By the way I only killed a fucking dog.... What you guys were thinking of doing is waaaaay worse... And what goes around comes around you know"