The room was so silent that even my breaths echoed through the darkness. There was no light - I couldn’t see my own hand in front of my face, not that I tried.

I hadn’t been sitting down, had I? It was odd to fall asleep when one is sitting down, but it’s not unheard of, I suppose.

I struggled to pull myself to my feet, but it was as though I were glued to the chair I was sitting on. The tension in my legs strained, but it did no good, as not even the fabric on my pajamas moved. Had I somehow become paralyzed during the night? No, that couldn’t be, it made absolutely no sense.

“Mine,” rang a sharp falsetto voice. I immediately started looking around, forgetting momentarily that I couldnt’ see.

“What’s yours?” I barely breathed. Even my arms remained as if glued to the back of the chair - the only body part I was able to move was my head. “I’m sorry if I took something that wasn’t yours.”

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“Leave him alone!” the voice hissed, closer than before, though I heard no movement.

“Leave who alone?” I asked. I pulled in a deep breath through my nose, then sharply released it through my mouth - something I’d been taught to do as a small child when my work got too scary for me. Smell the roses, blow out the birthday candles, and repeat until your panic attack subsides.

“Leave him alone,” the voice whispered, now just over my shoulder. Slowly, as though it knew it was playing with me, I felt one sharp hand drag its way up my arm, resting on my shoulder. If it had been a different situation, I would have almost called the gesture maternal, but I couldn’t keep myself from flinching away.

“I can’t leave him alone unless you tell me who we’re talking about,” I said. The hand on my shoulder gripped tighter, the sharp ends of its fingers digging into my flesh. I took another deep breath, trying hard not to notice just how sharp they were, or what felt like a slight drizzle of blood that had started drizzling down my arm.

“Leave him alone,” the voice said again, squeezing my shoulder tighter for a moment before suddenly releasing it. “He’s mine,” it said again, but then the darkness closed back in, and the only sound around me was the sound of my own heartbeat.