:: The Lullaby - a start?

Sam had never really been afraid of the dark before. She distinctly remembers tackling that fear at an early age. With a father like hers it was out of necessity as it was her only savior from the drunken evil that stumbled outside her door. She slipped out of her window and welcomed the solitude the night provided. Out here, he wouldn't find her and when he was finally passed out from his nightly intoxication she returned. She embraced the darkness like a friend so why is it she finds herself so terrified in the company of her old friend? Sam pulled the covers up around her, "What the fuck? This is crazy, I'm a grown woman after all." It was the nightmares, the shadowed face she continued to see night after night looking in on her in her dreams. "I need to stop staying up so late." She pulled herself together enough to get out of bed and pad across the bedroom to fetch herself a glass of water. She flipped the light switch on in the bathroom but the sudden flicker of light still startled her. "Get a grip, Sam, it's just a dream" The tap water in her neighborhood was horrible but the coolness of it was refreshing. She filled the sink and washed her face. The bags under her eyes were clear indications that the week long repetition of the dreams were taking their toll on her. "Maybe I should go see a shrink?" She splash her face again. "Yeah, let's go down that road again, Sam. Remember the last time you spilled your soul to a quack?" She quickly dismissed the memory and padded back to bed. She rolled over to check the time. "Five o'clock in the morning, UGH, why can't it interrupt my sleep earlier in the night?" She lay there motionless for several minutes pondering whether to just get up or shoot for those couple extra hours of sleep and hope them to be free of any more visions of shadowy men.