22 Phobias

Somniphobia

The fear of sleep.

That familiar rush of cold in my chest came back. I could see the sun setting out the large glass windows from the couch, the sky a brilliant swirl of blues and pinks and oranges. Sometimes I wonder how I ever found it beautiful, now it only incites fear into my heart. My aching legs stumbled towards my bedroom where I silently changed into my pyjamas and settled into the soft plush duvet of my bed where I began my long and painful wait. It'd been 6 nights since I slept, shown so obviously from the deep purple hollows of my aching eyes and I stared at the bottom of my bed as the clock ticked by. Two hours passed. Then four. Then five. My eyes were fighting to close, for me to finally rest but I couldn't. Seven hours. No. I can't sleep, please I can't. Nine hours. Black.

It was 4am when I woke up. My eyes were focused on my legs due to the position I fell asleep in. No. No I can't have fallen asleep. I oh so slowly looked up to the end of my bed to meet another pair of eyes boring into my own. Empty, hollow, terrifying eyes deep set into a head heavily outlined by the skull beneath. A pale lithe body branched out into spindly limbs, where my real fear lay. On each arm were freakishly long clawed hands with dirty razor sharp nails, stained by dirt and what I can only imagine must be blood. I fell asleep. He got in.

A choked scream was cut short by a skeletal creature ripping out my throat.