Assignment 11- Leighanne Guettler-James

"Goodnight",  my mother tells me as I crawl into bed. I hear her voice through the crack underneath my tightly-shut door, just like every other night.
I tell her goodnight back and get settled in. It's been a long day and I am thankful for the relief that my bed brings as I relax under my comforter. Just like every other night, I turn my lights off, then quickly back on to ensure that there is nothing lurking in the shadows, waiting for the opportunity to pounce. Since no goblins are there when I flick the lights back on, I feel satisfied. With my bedroom still, and a feint glow from the hallway light bouncing off of the hardwood floor just beneath my door, I reluctantly close my eyes, just like every other night.
I open my eyes to a pitch black room, with a jolt, unsure of what awoke me but starkly aware in the change of my surroundings. The feint glow of light from beneath my door has gone and is replaced only with the awareness that the others in my family are far away from me, separated by the veil of sleep. Like other nights, I wake a few more times, due to nightmares or cold feet. Like other nights, I close my eyes and quickly fall back to sleep.
Black is all I see when I wake again. I would close my eyes and go back to sleep like other times, but this time I did not have a nightmare or cold feet, only the feeling that something was not right. So instead, I peel my covers away and turn my lights on.
The light exposes my room exactly the way I left it when I went to sleep but I still can't shake this feeling.
I decide to calm myself with a survey of the house and a glass of water.Feeling the cold hardwood stealing the warmth from my feet as I walk across my lighted room, wishing again for the glow from beneath my door to comfort me. I break the seal of my bedroom door for a brisk walk to the kitchen.
When I open the door I'm met with the darkness that I had expected. Something unexpected clinging to it, the sense that someone was watching me, something that I felt immediately as I turned my eyes down the stairs and into the dark living-room below.
In rue of this sensation, I hurried down the stairs, past the dark living-room and into the darker kitchen, quickly flicking on the light above the stove. The sound from the cabinet opening fills the deafening silence of the house as I reach for a glass. I inspect the glass for a moment, seeing the dimly lit kitchen through its walls, suddenly ready to be back in bed. I fill my glass with water and flick off the light above the stove. Approaching the stairs, I take a glance across the living room, still feeling the eerie watchfulness of the dark. Turning my head, I lift my foot to reach the first step. Each step getting quicker as I make my way to the light spilling from my room.
By the time I reach my door I am almost at a run. I push myself quickly out of the darkness, feeling it catching my heels and shut the door.