Vivid dreams plague my sleep. Or rather, I should call them vivid nightmares; horrific things I don’t recall but still fill me with a sense of brooding dread like a disaster or a monster loomed closer than my very breath, nestled in the shadows where not even the brightest lights can reach.
I awake panting, drenched in sweat.
For a few seconds I hear nothing but the hammering of my heart and the harsh inhale and exhale of my breath. I blink multiple times to clear the blur of sleep and the spider web of darkness spreading behind my vision. My body is sharp and alert, yet my mind reels from the grogginess of sleep.
I turn the lamp on my nightstand.
The soft orange glow of the lamp floods the room, chasing away the darkness to the furthest corners of the room. I look around, squinting an
