#Chapter56
Darkness was a trickster. It was the master of illusions and the warper of reality. It manipulated fear, toying with it until the shadows became so much more than darkened shapes against the wall.
It turned them into monsters. Warping the thin slither of street light that peeped in from the minuscule gap in the curtains, the creatures that had only minutes before haunted my sleep were birthed into the waking land. They gained life, kissed by terror and ready to drag me back into their horrifying grasp.
They —
/"Oz?/"
The voice, deep and confused, husked with sleep, it triggered something in me. It . . . the intense burn to my chest eased as a gasp forced its way out of my mouth. It was only then, as air was gulped down like a starving man's last meal, that my lungs got with the program and started to work again.
/"Da — /" Nope. Lungs were not quite with it yet, and the word splintered off beneath the need for another breath.
