Too Close to the Edge by Susie Field

   The security lights shine through the blackout curtains.  Strange, this has never happened before.  I climb out of bed, and pulling the curtains aside, peer out into the inky blackness of the night.  I must have been mistaken, yet everything seemed so bright.  My eyes adjust to the darkness, and I shiver. 

 

   The wind is whistling through the trees, and a full moon suddenly appears, casting an eerie glow across the garden.  I silently watch and wait.  What is lurking in the dark shadows?  A lonesome fox approaches, staring straight at me, daring me to confront it, eyes bright and piercing, but I remain still, and it swaggers on its way, soon out of sight.  The moon disappears and darkness envelopes the garden once more. 

 

   I sigh and close the curtains, longing to return to my welcoming bed.  I gasp at the scene before me.  I am asleep, buried beneath the duvet, dead to the world.  I’m looking down at myself.  How can this be?  I cannot explain.  Is this what is known as an out of body experience? Yet I’m very much alive, although afraid. I creep towards the bed and climb beneath the still duvet.  I shudder and shake, my body quivering as we become one.

 

   I’m fully awake and lay still, shocked, and frightened.  I hug the duvet close.   Was it a dream?  I’m not sure.   I turn on the bedside light.  I don’t want to be swallowed by the darkness.  I must stay awake until dawn breaks.  Maybe then I will be safe.

 

   I turn away from the window as the lights illuminate my bedroom once more.  I remain perfectly still. I sense someone close.  Voices, they’re calling my name.  Their fingers scrape my window, they’re trying to reach me. Someone is knocking on my door.  I know it’s locked.  Why would they want to harm me?  I can hear footsteps in the hall, climbing the stairs.  The door slowly opens, but there’s no one there.