April 22 – A little night terror

She wasn’t sure why she was awake, but as soon as she came to her senses, she could tell that there was something else in the room with them.

Instinctively, her eyelids flew open.  There was the distinct sound of somebody brushing their hands together.

She rammed her eyelids shut.  She slowed her breathing, which had begun to race.  Best to feign sleep.  Hide.

She reached across the bed, putting her hand on her partner for reassurance as the window blinds rattled.

Then – silence.  She slept.

The next morning by the window, a large, dead moth was on the floor.

March 17 – On Falling

She had leaned too far – just slightly too far, and that was all it took.

The instant feeling of vertigo transcended any feeling she had ever known, as suddenly there was no pressure on the tips of her toes; no weight except gravity tying her to the ground, far below.

She had time to marvel at the sensation of the air rushing past as she fell, the sound of it.  It filled her ears, along with another sound, which took a moment to register as her own scream.

The day was fine, the sky blue.

Then she thought no more.

March 16 – On Fear

Fear is good.  It’s healthy, right?  The thought popped unbidden into his head.

He remembered going bungy jumping last year – in the natural world, throwing yourself wantonly off a cliff would almost certainly lead to death.  That gut-wrenching sensation, the sweat prickling his palms – had felt the same then, as now.

But this wasn’t a life or death situation.

He calmly extended his hand to meet hers, and shook it with a firm, decisive grip.  It felt more confident than he did.  She smiled spectacularly.  The hairs at the back of his neck ruffled.

Why did this feel so wrong?

February 28 – A Little Night Fiction

I’ll never forget the bats.  That’s how it all began; they were always there, and then one night, they weren’t.

Nobody knows where they went, but I’ll never forget the last night that I saw them – earlier than usual, their great leathery black wings dark against the twilit sky.  I remember seeing them fly lower than usual, I could see details; fur, talons, eyes.

The sky seemed full of them.  At the time, just the standard nightly exodus from their home to feed.

The next morning the Fog had descended over the city, and nothing has been the same since.