1 How about we don't sleep

"He's coming, I can't stop him, oh shit I made a fucking mistake I shouldn't have".

Those were the meaningless blabber that kept slamming my eardrums, my mom kept on screaming such this was the third time this week, I tried ignoring them but it didn't seem possible, a warning note was sent to my brain pretty much telling me that my ears might eventually end up useless if I kept on being pretentious about what was transpiring, I had to snub the goddess of sleep, rubbing my eyes were inevitable everybody does that whilst waking up I couldn't be left out.

I turned out to be very unlucky while people woke up to toss pillows at alarm clocks I had to wake up as an underaged therapist whose work hours were between 2 am-5 am.

Like every other pubescent girl, I was bewildered to discover myself amid such an unfamiliar condition again. My mother sat up shivering and shaking even when the hellish weather could boil an egg, she held her favorite blanket close to her and her mouth didn't grow weary of muttering words such as "he is coming"... She was at it again, once the shorthand of the clock lands on 2 she becomes noncompos mentis, when it shifts to 5 and its long counter path moves an inch to record a minute after 5, momma becomes a different person, she never remembers all the junk she's been beating about, she reverts to her impossible self.

"Who exactly, c'mon mom you're freaking me out". I said to cut her noise-making short.

"...he is coming, he told me, he said he'll come it's just a matter of time..."

She said,

"Mom it's just 2 am c'mon go back to sleep, we'll discuss who this your new lover is in the morning...try and get some rest you've been going on with this for 3 flipping days how about we brush this aside as usual and sleep, you know like every other sane person".

"No belle you won't understand, how about you quit your futile attempt to brush this off, how about we don't sleep anymore, how about you pick up your self and run!".

I couldn't help but admire the seriousness in the tone of her voice from what I noticed it was covered under an enormous cloak of fear, I stood up from my side of the bed, I for sure wanted to witness her madness from another angle, she had been a single woman for the greater part of her life, her man was a victim to the coldness of this world, he rode the pale horse before their first seed sprung up she had to be strong, like duhhhhh... That's the selling point of all single mothers, seeing her in such conditions were odd it was like the blue moon It rarely appeared, I don't really know, my memory only expanded and stopped 16 years ago, anything beyond wasn't flashy pictures of thoughts, no! beyond that was an empty space. the definition of who I saw as a mother was carved out from the 16yrs I've treaded the surface of this earth, I've seen her stand up to guys not the random wimpy guys but the 6'3 kind of guys the one's with the dragon tattoos and stuff so her chances of being frightened by a man were nonexisting, unless...

******** ****** ******* ******** ********

He passed through concrete wall before molecules could split atoms an 8ft tall structure wrapped in excess melanin motioned his presence to a place where he became the center of attention, he was like the hunger-stricken version of Freddy Kruger with hair, slim to the skeleton, he had dreadlocks each strand as thick as a graduation scroll, he wore a dark blue suit of impeccable tailoring he wasn't Charlie Chaplin but he had a jaunty smile, one you could never imagine.

Suddenly my mother wasn't mentally deranged, no! she wasn't reacting to any sedative or antidepressant, she wasn't having a meltdown, she was completely sane. I became the one losing my grip on reality the image my mind portrayed as the towering man in front of me began to lose form, his mode of entry challenged everything logically, I saw different things before my very eyes he turned and faced me within seconds he was once gracing me with the fine product of bespoke, he wanted me to marvel at his apparels from behind, he got bored of showing off, he wanted to get down to business.

He smiled, it got odd when the meeting point of his lower and upper lips kept breaking apart to give him that Joker signature look he had tiny perfectly placed blades with a fair amount of blood on them instead of teeth...

"Izzy runnnnnn"

The voice that shook the foundation of that single room was my moms, she tried to squeeze her way from behind and make away with me, but the crushing power of that man is beyond the human mind, my mother attested to that he plunged the air with his right hand causing a flow of wind to lift all matter in the environment he took a step and proved he was a god by reversing a 6000-year-old statement, and total darkness fell upon us, I heard the scream of my mom and the next thing that followed was a thud, the population of the world was reduced by one.

I could have stayed to mentally grip his remaining distinctive features, but I was too busy guiding myself out of the room in a noir setting, I busted through the bedroom door and landed head first on the path that further broke into other paths, the vein arrangement of our house supported a series of room and for that alone several passages were created, I let out a mince amount of cry for I was in agonizing pain I picked myself up and raced towards Donald's room.

"he'll protect me, yes he'll do just that"

I had it all in my head, the blueprint of the whole house, you can only be blind in an unknown environment navigating myself through darkness proved to be easier than all quadratic equations and word problems. I quickly went down the stairs not with my leg being a support beam but with my whole body tumbling down the perfectly placed cedar stairway. The solid P.O.P covered floor did well enough to catch me as I fell flights of stairs, I rose to meet the bright lights emitting from Donald's torch, as it molested my vision I had to squeeze my eyes or risk going blind, close to his torch I could vaguely see the nozzle of his silver derringer pistol pointing at me if I had delayed my words a minute later, I would have been dead.

"Donald..."

"oh jeez, it's just you," he said heaving a sigh of relief."

he lended me an arm he wished to help me get back on my feet, but I didn't take such kind gesture I was to mentally broken to stand back on my feet, I launched my self at him and embraced him with a hug while few drops of tears raced down my cheeks, I was quacking in my boots, he being very keen noticed something was off he tried to let out words but I didn't let him, I kept shoving him back, I wanted him to run with me, i've already lost a large part of my family, I didn't fancy the idea of being called a Lone wolf in the long run so I escaped his wild open arms that were a cushion of comfort, I cornered my way pass him, grabbed hold of the collar that was attached to his night robe and yanked on it, I tried to pull him along and make for the exist, uncle Raymond's house was just across the street he'll know what to do all I had to do was make my way towards there in one piece, I couldn't leave my brother behind but the block head wouldn't let me, he was an obstreperous individual he always opposed everything he wasn't certain about, he made a slight turn and jerked back a little the force in which he applied in doing so released him from my grip, he pointed the torch at my face once more, he saw confusion and fear mixed together in one expression, he saw me wearing another mask.

"what the hell!....what the hell is going on, what the fuck has gotten into you?

what happened to you?...you look like shit..where is mom? is she alright, who turned off the light, I heard noises, did someone break-in?"

he said,

"yes, no, I mean...mom is dead.." I said while wagging my hands and pumping on a spot, Donald was never aware of moms newly adopted behavior, even if he knew, he would have brushed it aside with cold indifference, she was the only one that saw it as a major thing,

"mom is.....mom is...what?" he said in great awe,

"There is no time to..."

"How did it happen, who broke in?"

he jumped in, cutting me short, he grabbed hold of my shoulders while shaking me roughly, before I could grab back my sense of equilibrium, Donald had already tossed me aside making his way up the stairway aiming to reach my moms he felt an empty room filled with silence would have answers to his questions, I stood up and screamed his name, I very much knew the 19-year-old boy was stronger while on defense, launching an attack against the unknown, was just him giving his enemies a reason to dance over his grave.

"DONALD! DONALD! DONALD?!,"

I kept screaming his name while tears started building up again in my eyes, I heard gunshots and bullet casings dropping, I slowly backed away from the staircase, I saw flashes of light, it became fixed and approached me, behind the blinding lights was Donald robe, I could see his feet well rigid on the landing part of the stairs, I was glad nothing happened to him.

"let's go, Donald, Raymond's house is just a mile away, he'll guide us to the cops," I said as I made my way towards the living room where the frontage was, the entrance door served as an exit door, I would like to end this nightmare, please.

I noticed Donald wasn't running behind me, so I halted, I turned to discover him still standing on the staircase holding his torch, I moved closer to him to inquire if he was alright, 3 steps up on the 14 staircases I stretched my hand to touch him, but froze, I broke through the icy power of the terror that rippled through my body, I jumped down from the stairs immediately and started making my way towards the exit with a renewed burden of fear on my mind, Donald's headless body dropped down from the stairs right behind me it glided towards the floor while leaving behind a trail of blood, it was very evident our man in suit couldn't be killed with mere bullets.

all feminine desires in me pointed to only one thing, staying alive, and for that to happen I had to move faster than my legs could initially go. I met the exit door with ramming speed, I slammed hard on it got hold of the knob twisted it, and made my way through, what I thought should have led me to the outer part of my house, to a place where I could see Streetlight's and cars and other houses delivered me into the kitchen I was shocked, I tried running back through where I came in from but the door vanished it was replaced with a long line of wall that naturally wasn't supposed to be. I heard footsteps, it got closer, I quickly grabbed a knife and held unto it tightly while pointing it toward the angle I heard the footsteps.

"Hello?....Hello?....is..is anyone there"

the footsteps stopped, I turned around to run towards what I thought was a door but bumped into someone, I staggered back and met the floor, it was him,

he leaned forward and I saw his face,

he had multiple scars,

two holes in which he must have probably bragged about breathing through,

his eyes where dark with a little red dot representing his lens,

he stretched out his shadowy hands at me and I screamed aloud then I woke up, yes I woke up it was all a dream.