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Ugh! I’m supposed to have control here.

A humanoid form develops several feet away. It may be shaped like a human but that’s where the similarities end.

Made from black smoke and utter disapproval, her eyes glow scarlet at the deep disappointment emanating from her marrow. She knows. She knows I disobeyed.

She’s not real. She can’t hurt me.

Except she’s approaching me like that’s exactly what she intends to do.

“Fall,” I hear beside me from a voice that’s staticky and…masculine.

My head rotates in that direction automatically.

Next to me is him…or something that used to be him. Grotesque features mar his face, making him nearly unrecognizable. There’s a hole in his cheek, a slice down his eyebrow, and his jaw is offset. He’s hard to look at but harder to look away from. I want to be so mad at him. But if I don’t focus on him, I’ll see her. I can feel her snarling inches away, waiting for me to give in to her completely. I defied her and she wants my penance. Penance I don’t have.

“Fall,” he repeats through lips too big for his face.

“I can’t,” I say but don’t hear. No one can.

“Fall already!”

Tears gather in my eyes, and without blinking, I force my head to fall backward, the rest of my body following its lead all the way down, until I—

My eyes pop open, my bedroom ceiling high above me. Small spurts of air rush in and out of my nose. Hands on the pillow by my head, I use them to wipe the outer corners of my eyes.

Why didn’t it work when I tried to wake myself up? Only when I followed instructions?

Even in my dreams, I’m submissive.

The ray from the lighthouse flashes through a crack in my curtains, momentarily brightening my room. Wind whips the exterior of the house, causing it to groan out its displeasure.

“I know how you feel,” I whisper, feeling a sense of camaraderie with it for the first time in nineteen years. While it is looked after, it’s not loved by any means.

Still, it stands. Still, it performs. It just voices its displeasure more than I do.

Parched, I roll over and get up to leave. The dark hallway is much colder than my room, so I pull my hood up around my ears, covering the lobes.

An outline of a person materializes at the end of the hallway, gradually making its way toward me.

My feet come to a halt as breath catches in my throat.

The nightlight. I didn’t ground myself by looking at it. I went off what I thought was the lighthouse’s beam. A mistake. Another one.

I’m still asleep.

This used to happen all the time until I learned how to use an anchor in the real world to ensure I’m truly awake.

A whimper escapes me soundlessly.

Fully formed, the figure increases speed. No red eyes, no smoky wisps, she’s not half as scary as usual.

But it’s darker here. No faux moon. Or any other unnatural light source giving her the spotlight.

Except, it’s not her. It’s him. Not quite as mangled as he was in the cemetery, but close. He definitely appears more humanlike.

He’s the demon this time?

Or is she still going to show up?