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WESTCHESTER, OREGON MONDAY, 3 AM
THE PALE MOON was shining bright, casting shadows through the small Westchester. Her window was safely closed and locked, but the shadows left by the big, brown trees were still as scary as ever. The night was always traumatizing, making peoples' minds come up with the darkest and scariest scenarios they could. It was because of the unknown. Because we aren't able to see everything in the dark. Anything could hide in it. The sky this night was full of small pecks of clouds, appearing like cotton candy full of sugar. It was strangely beautiful, but the sounds of the wild animals in the woods that surrounded her house were too distracting. Looking at every aspect of the sleepy town, most people would call it scary, but somehow, there was something so pleasing to the person's eye. Though nobody was outside appreciating the darkness of their town, everybody was in peaceful sleep, regenerating their energy for the next morning. They let the light of the big moon lull them to sleep, but regardless of how late it was, the teenage girl couldn't get an ounce of sleep.
Something was wrong. The girl couldn't put her finger around it. Sure, Demise Shin was always a night owl, staying up late and overthinking everything her little brain would come up with, but it was already pretty late and she has school tomorrow. Her eyes just didn't wanna stay shut, almost like something itchy was on her eyelids that was stopping her from closing them. And even if she did close them, her disturbed mind didn't let her stay like that for long. Sleeplessness was a frequent guest that, lately, kept coming back, making her feel like an over-energetic kid who never wanted to stop playing. She tossed and turned in her bed, but the creaks of tall trees and howling of wild animals were ringing in her ears. As I said, insomnia became her friend this summer, and nightmares were the plus one of it. It was no wonder she couldn't sleep, the dark creatures dancing and twisting through the foggy woods occupied her sleep and the girl never felt safe closing her eyes.
Her parents were never home, so of course, being alone like that made her imagination wild. Her paranoia was going crazy, coming up with hundreds of monsters and scenarios of her death. The small town she lived in since she was a kid was always safe, and she always considered it a safe place. But when a teenager was living in a debatably big house, with no parents home, surrounded by woods, the creepy thoughts and constant fear were always present.
To be honest, it wasn't only a consequence of a teenage girl who loved horrors and was a bit too paranoid, it was more because of the internal scars the incident from her childhood left. The death of her best friend, the small bubbly child she spent every day with, left Demi with a lot of emotional baggage and scary nightmares. She was young when it happened, very young, so as a kid and now, a teenager, she refused to talk about it and get help, along with the other kids who were left with trauma from this horrible incident. And their parents refused to acknowledge that their precious children were haunted by the darkest of thoughts.
