Chapter 3

  I'm in my room.  But this isn't the room I live in now.  I grew up in this room.  This is my childhood bedroom from my foster parents' house in Tucson.  I immediately know this is a dream and it won't end well.  I don't want to be here and it's dark as hell.  No matter how old I am, when I'm in this dream I still have my childhood fear of the dark.  I know from past experience that the door is locked but I try it anyway.  Yep.  Flip the light switch.  Nothing.  Shit.  Nothing ever changes.  Go over to the nightstand.  Try to turn the lamp on.  Nothing.  The same with the desk lamp.
  Only my old night light is able to provide even a glimmer of illumination.  That was the only thing that ever gave me any security on all those dark nights growing up.  That tiny light is a small comfort to me now.  It's all I need to be able to see that my sliding door closet is wide open.  There is no comfort in seeing that.  After all these years it still chills me to the center to look in the direction of that dark portal to unknown worlds of danger and malice.  It's as if the darkness itself has a temperature.  Think winter.  Think ice.  Under the covers of my bed I would still be shivering.
  I can already feel the familiar pull urging me closer into that all-encompassing tangible gelid darkness.  I turn my back to it now because that is what I always did.  The pulling starts as a tingling in my stomach.  I squeeze my eyes shut.  My hands desperately grab onto my bed's frame in a futile attempt at resistance.  The icy invisible hands are far stronger than I can ever hope to become.  Just once can't I win?  No.  The hungry closet drags me in and the door slides shut.  Those cruel hands which can see in a place with no visibility afforded to me, grasp at my helpless form as that gutteral old, familiar, evil laughter starts up again.  I keep my eyes squeezed shut even though I can't see a damn thing anyway.  When the hell do I ever get to escape this nightmare?
  Mina awoke from this dream the same way she always did.  Knowing that all she could do was get up and get ready for work.  A glass of tepid tap water and a fried egg were her sustenance for the morning before she headed out the door.  She had no idea that on this day everything she was familiar with was going to change.