Dear Susan

Dear Susan

Not sleeping again? Is that because of me? Can you see me at the edges of your bed? Dark, hooded, darting in the corner of your vision? I bring with me an atonal cello soundtrack that vibrates your chest. I’m so close you can hear the bow cutting the strings.

This time could be beautiful. Sleep could take you to another world, a different realm, get you away from the dullness and predictability. Instead, I’m here, just beyond your senses, like the shadows you chased as a child.

I make you cold. You pull the blanket closer.

Of course, you are rational and don’t believe in me. Spirits, ghouls, ghosts are just literary devices. So then, what am I? Just an apparition formed from the notifications flashing on the blue screen of your phone?

You want to reach for that phone, don’t you? As if it will have an answer.

I exhale.

I know you feel it on your forehead. You want to believe it is just the wind forcing through the open window.

Your skull is tightening with anxiety. You recognise that feeling. It was when he called you unnatural, wrong-headed, silly little sweetheart, misinformed.

Shush, shush now. Are you getting emotional? Are you about to lose control, again?

I can’t lie; I’m loving your frustration. Your unease is my sport.

You didn’t brawl. You didn’t shout. Did you just capitulate?

The worst thing was he didn’t care. He was having fun. He was playing a game. There were no high stakes for him. I’m not visiting him. Where would be the fun in that? He’s snoring soundly, with playful dreams about winning. His eyes twitch as he takes a victory lap.

What went wrong? What reply might have worked? What did you miss?

Insomnia, leaving you in the borderlands. Half-sleep. You could sway along with night-time sounds, have fun with the shadows on the curtain. Or lay back and enjoy the hazy incompleteness. But instead, you let this haunting taunt you further from dreaming.

I leave when I see tears. The water dissolves my resolve.

But I’ll be back.

Yours,

The argument you feel you should have won...

This was written in response to Tales From Beyond: The Haunted Letter Challenge (An Unoffical Vocal Challenge). The details can be found here: https://vocal.media/writers/tales-from-beyond-the-haunted-letter-challenge