In an effort to become more comfortable with sharing and get back into the swing of things I have decided to submit a short story to Bloody Parchment. Here is the start of it:
Darkness Rules
The irony of being afraid of the dark and reading horror stories right before bedtime never really occurred to her before. And of course the fact that she kept doing it though it usually meant that she would spend the next thirty minutes lying in the dark contemplating the silliness that led her to being unable to fall asleep. Scrutinizing every sound for any possible tell tale horror lurking in an unknown corner of her space. Inevitably somewhere in the coldest darkest part of the night the call of nature would come and she would slink out of bed as quickly and quietly as possible while trying to not see anything apart from the carpet in front of her. Fastidiously ignoring the mirror in case there was some image lurking in there that she really wouldn't want to come face to face with.
Hurrying through it all to get back to the seeming safety of her bed where she lay once again for what felt like ever to drift back to sleep. This had been a way of life for her for so long she put no conscious thought into her "process" any longer, it just happened now. The only times she really thought about it was when she happened to find herself in a relationship that involved sleepovers of any kind. She would then lie in bed contemplating the strangeness of this and each time fervently vowed to change such crazy behavior. Inevitably though the relationship would come to an end and her idiosyncrasy would continue.
Like so many in that time and space she lived in a comfortable space in the main sector, big enough to accommodate her needs yet small enough to fit many units in a building. She often wondered how many people lived in her particular building, however never really trying to find out.