Nighttime falls rapidly
Covering the ground in a smothering blanket of despair
The darkness falls
Seemingly unstoppable
Seemingly unavoidable

It glides through the air
Weaving itself within my bedroom walls
Sliding through the cracks under my door
Hovering above my listless body
Tensing every muscle

So to counter the darkness
I close my eyes
And block out the last remaining light
Until the morning rays dance across my bedsheets
And wake me with delight

When I close my eyes and inhale
The only sounds are the whispers of my breath
The only movements are the gentle rising and falling of my chest
The steady beat of my heart, rhythmically

Here I am
All night making friends with shadows on my walls
Staring blankly into time that seems to stop
Waiting for the morning, hoping the night to fall

As the darkness encloses
It suffocates my very being
Overpowering and overbearing
It surrounds me each and every night
Binding my invisibly
Gripping with such force
Restraining any sense of mutiny

So I lay awake
Not yet dreaming, not yet sleeping
Thinking to myself
Thoughts spilling forth from my mind
Somehow escaping their silent quarters
Filling my entire room with endless sound

They scream and shout
But only I can hear them
Only I can understand their perplexing echoes
Their seemingly foreign vibrations reverberate off my walls
Back and forth, round and round, but never gone

They tease and torment
Evoking fear and insecurity
Bringing back memories that should be long forgotten

I blink my eyes and shed a single tear
Somehow hoping they will go away
But realizing this is false hope
For they never truly leave

The silence scares me because it screams the truth
To steal me away in the dark of night
Alone and undetected, alone and forgotten
So silent that even hushed breathing can become deafening
When all is so still that the beating of my heart smothers all else
When my throat cannot utter a single sound
All leading up to the final plan of attack

I can feel a surge of nervousness flood through my veins
Quickening the pace of my otherwise consistent heart
The shadow friends I once had no longer exist
Replaced with unthinkable creatures
Who wish to devour my very being

The walls seem to sink inwards
Closing in, trapping my poor lifeless body
The seem to rush at me
Threatening certain death
Then just when I think I am about to be crushed

I open my eyes and everything is fine

Everything I once feared
Is merely a figment of my imagination
Simply an illusion created by the bending of light
Everything is all right
Because when my eyes are open they see the world completely

During the day I no longer fear my own thoughts
There is noise and merriment galore
Shadows are simply a refraction of light; nothing more
The world seems brighter, less intimidating
As if the darkness itself were responsible for all evils

And the world seems to blend
Melting shades and colors
Assembling pretty little scenes
Nothing like my mind creates
Nothing like the lies I construct
Simply pure and real
Lightness and darkness