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Chapter 1

The darkness that surroundedintomoment I was too scared to move, afraid I would run into some kind of obstacle, or worse yet, step off into sohtly closed and rubbed theht or outline, but it was no use The blackness continued its unforgiving assault on ness The hair on the back of my arms stood on end as a cold bead of sweat trickled its way from the nape ofthere was so in this dark cavern with me Maybe it was just my own paranoiathis kind of pitch black really screith your head

"Who-o-o's th-there?" I finally stuttered out in a near whisper

I ju at me from multiple directions My htened its grip around my throat I was cohtheaded as I spun around trying to protect myself fro to regain some kind of control, I suddenly realized that the noise was merely an echo from my own voice

Relief flowed throughand cal like a race horse in my chest

Cautiously, I placed ht onMy relief grew as round I raiseduide Before I could complete my forward motion, I heard a soft sinister chuckle close toback quickly, I stu in the darkness My feet tangled together round

I wrapped le chuckle turned intoonacross the surface on my bottom The noise bounced off the unseen walls of the space I was in, closing in on asped in terror as a cold dead hand grabbed my arm

"No-o-o!"

I woke choking on a scream that never seemed to find the power to leave htht weeks, you would think I would lose the panic that gripped ht, but instead it only seemed to multiply over the last feeeks

Sitting up on ht streah the s to , I awoke scared that the Daemons from my dreams had followed me into reality

Shivering in rabbed a fresh stack of clothes out of my bottom dresser drawer and hurried to the bathroom to take a hot shower I cranked the knob to the hottest setting and perchedthe decrepit water heater in our house always took a few ood and hot

When I stepped into the shower, the water cascaded overaway the last of the cold sweat from my body Once I felt sufficiently thawed out, I finished the rest of my shower in a hurry

Mornings were by far the worst ti before ht weeks, I had becohts at bay Having people around helped I craved the endless chatter of my friends and family to help keep my mind busy Between my part-time job at the bookstore and extended family ti as I could avoid the nagging reminders of what happened, I was okay

Feline aiting for me when I opened the bathroom door as the steam from the enclosed space behind me billowed out

"Hi bud," I said, scooping him up in my arms My restless sleep over the last fewchair that sat in the corner of led , I couldn't blame his mutiny