Captured by a Demon

VI Chapter - Red Eyes

Oh my mind, give me a break!

Rachel tossed and turned that night, but just couldn't get to sleep no matter how hard she tried.

She had even taken a couple of sleeping pills, but they just wouldn't work. She was exhausted, craving for some sleep, like she had just had the night before, but her body and mind just wouldn't let her. The sleeping pills made her very drowsy, but she was still conscious and unable to put her mind at rest. 

Guilt and regret.

They flooded her mind every time she closed her eyes. She relived the scene in the cafe and the look on Sebastian's face as she almost yelled at him. Accusing him.

The shock on his face. The fear. 

Rachel still wondered, whether she had seen fear in his eyes. And every time that thought came to her head, she tossed around even more. She must have looked like a lunatic. That's why Sebastian showed fear. He must have not expected Rachel to be so messed up, so crazy. 

Am I crazy? Rachel thought.

Probably.

But the pain of thinking that she may have lost all chances to reconnect with Sebastian, a person who had helped her so much during that dark period in her life, after she had just found him again, was unbearable. And it happened only because she couldn't control her emotions, which she usually excelled at. 

At work. At school. At home. With friends. With her brother. She was always in control, give or take a flinch here and there.

But not with Sebastian. Why couldn't she just be patient and keep her cool? 

Her exasperated sighs made her mouth dry and she felt thirsty. But she didn't want to move. She didn't want to do anything besides fall into a sleepy bliss in her bed, forgetting what she had done. Forgetting his face, when she left him at that cafe. But to no avail, Sebastian's face swam up in her mind every time she tried to think of something else. She was even more thirsty now, but she didn't want to move an inch. Every movement took so much effort and she was so sleepy. It must have been past two in the morning now.

Once she felt severely parched, she managed to stand up. Barely having the strength to open her eyes, Rachel tottered around, at one point hitting her shoulder against the door, trying to get to the kitchen and drink a glass of water.  She stood there staggering and drank the contents of one big glass. Then another.

The glass fell into the sink and broke when Rachel misplaced it trying to put it on the counter. She didn't notice it as she was already heading back to her bedroom, stumbling after every two steps. Coming in, she felt her heart start racing and cursed under her breath. 

This happened from time to time, because her body considered sleeping a scary and dangerous activity. This was usually fixed by turning the night light on and doing some deep breathing. It didn't help with falling asleep though. But that's exactly what her drowsy mind ordered her to do: she sat on her bed and turned on the night light. 

Except, it didn't turn on. It was still dark.

She knew that even with her eyes closed.

Rachel groaned sleepily and tried again. She touched the lamp and its wire. It was clearly plugged in the outlet, Rachel felt it with her hand. She then touched the lamp and understood that there was no light bulb. How strange.

Rachel distinctly remembered that she had read her newly bought historic novel with that same night light just a few hours before. How did it light up with no light bulb? 

Or maybe it had been the night before, when she had read the novel. Sometimes days blended together.

Rachel decided to do the breathing exercises in the dark and found some sleepy humour in the fact that she didn't need to close her eyes for the breathing, since she hadn't really opened them yet. For some reason, the breathing didn't help to slow her heart, like it usually did. She tried for several minutes and if something, her heart seemed to go even faster now. She started panting lightly because of it. Her mind wondered to the lamp again. The lamp without the...

That's when she froze. 

Someone had taken the light bulb.

There was somebody in her room. She was sure of it and her racing heart agreed. And that person had taken the light bulb. That was it. That must have been it.

Her erratic heart was beating only faster and faster as she dared not open her eyes, even though it was almost pitch black in her room. 

"Quick like a band-aid," she muttered, her voice barely audible to her own ears. "Quick like a band-aid."

She opened her eyes and let out a sigh of relief. There was nothing to see. Everything was in its place and the weak light of the new moon shone in her room, showing nothing out of place. She had imagined it. Again. She had thought of the most ridiculous excuse to be scared again. 

Hah, a missing light bulb. What a joke!

Rachel cursed her feeble mind and fluffed her pillow to try and go to sleep. She would simply have to find a way to calm her heart. 

Remember, remember...

She suddenly found herself recalling the words of an old lullaby. One, that actually Sebastian had taught her, when she was having one of her panic attacks in captivity. It always had a way of taking her mind off of troubling thoughts. Did she remember the words? 

Remember, remember

The Cold of December,

The Smoke From The Kitchen,

the Light from so Rich in

the Warmth, you're Twitchin'

and as bad as You're Itchin'

You should never 

peek into the night.

Rachel was glad she remembered all the words and attempted to hum it to herself, not sure if she remembered the melody.

Then she saw it from the corner of her eyes. 

Swift movement in the dark. 

Then a hand on her mouth, stifling her screams. Her eyes pooled with tears as she realised it.

Black face in the black room.

Red eyes threatening to shine through the mask.

The Demon had found her.