Lights Off

People always laugh when they find out that I am afraid of the dark.

"You are 30 years old Jake! How are you afraid of the dark still?" My little sister says.

"Monsters aren't real ya know." My nephew says.

I know the truth. The darkness is evil. Let me tell you why:

I was a typical 6-year-old little boy, you know what I mean? I liked to run around and jump onto or off of things. I enjoyed getting dirty and touching bugs, typical 6-year-old boy stuff. I was an only child until I turned 11. I have always had my own room. I always had my own toys. Action figures have always been my favorite toy. My mom would buy these big buckets of army men. They were small soldiers in different little poses. They had little bayonets. Some of them came with a parachute. My mom would get me all the latest G.I. Joe figurines too. My childhood was great...during the day.

"Goodnight Jake honey!" Mom said softly as she turned off my light and closed the door.

"Love you mom." I said back.

Same routine every night. I would pull the covers up to my chin, roll over to my left side and fall quickly to sleep.

"CLINK!"

I am a pretty light sleeper. I thought I heard something. I shrugged it off and rolled onto my other side facing the wall.

"CLINK! CLINK! PEW! PEW!"

"What on earth?" I said as I sat straight up. I looked around my room. Just shadows. I never noticed how scary my room looked in the dark. Stuffed animals appeared to be figures. My pile of dirty clothes on the chair looked so menacing. I stared at each thing for a moment. Nothing moved. That made me feel better. I laid back down. Eventually, I fell back to sleep. The next thing I remember is my mom waking me up for school. I convinced myself I was dreaming or just hearing things.

"Goodnight my Jake sweetheart." My mom said.

"I love you mom." I lovingly said back.

This night, before I went to sleep, I had to do a couple things. I hopped out of my bed and put all the dirty clothes in the hamper so my chair would be clear. I put my stuffed animals into my closet and closed the door.

"There!" I thought. "I won't be seeing any shadows tonight."

I got back in bed, pulled my covers up to my chin, rolled over and went to sleep.

"PEW! PEW! PEW!"

"ARGH!"

"Was that a scream?" I thought to myself. I stayed completely still to see if I would hear anything else. Silence. I slowly looked over the side of the bed to look at the floor. It was moving! I was terrified. What do I do? Do I scream for my mom? Do I step down into whatever is moving around on the floor? I ended up just pulling the cover over my head. Typical six-year-old response I'd say. Time for school. Nothing happened for like a week or so. This helped convince me that I was dreaming. I started sleeping with cotton in my ears. No random sounds would be bothering me at night again. Sound asleep I was, like every night. I may have started sleeping deeper after plugging my ears at night.

"Ouch! What the heck!" I yelled, popping up in my bed. Something hit me. I felt my face. I touched my cheek. It was wet. I was bleeding!

"Ahh!" A sharp pain at the bottom of my back. It felt like something had stabbed me.

"Owww!" Something smashed my toe. What the heck is happening right now? I am alone in my room, but my face and back are bleeding, and it feels like I stubbed my toe. How have these things happened to me? I did not leave my bed once. I put my feet on the floor. I felt stuff moving all over, under, in front of and beside my feet. My other foot (remember one foot got hurt somehow in bed) started stinging, then burning.

"The darkness demands quiet..." a voice said. "We fear nothing but the light."

Im completely freaked out now. I lifted my feet back up. There were little green bayonets in them. Yes, the little green bayonets my toy army men were carrying.

I now sleep with my bedroom door open, a light on and music playing. I will never be in the dark again, I will be safer that way.