text: Falling asleep has always been a problem ever since I was young. I thought what had happened was a dream. Only just recently I was reminded that it was all true. When I was ten, I would often lay awake in bed thinking about the day just had or the challenges the next day would bring. I spent nights watching the lights dance on my bedroom wall as cars went by or glancing around my room at the few toys I had. I would get lost in thought thinking about what kind of adventures they would get into if they had come to life like in that movie. The house I grew up in was located on the corner of a less traveled intersection. One streetlight lit the 4 way. The light was old but bright; shining through my window soothingly giving my room the orange fade like a dim melody. The streetlight would flicker every once and a while causing the collection of bugs around it’s bulb to disperse only to return once their oddity of light came back into existence. The nighttime setting was memorable and comforting. Until it showed up. One night, after crawling out of bed from pure boredom, I sat on the edge of the foot board watching cars go by. I counted the passing vehicles while getting lost in thought. One car, maybe two all night, but often none. A few hours passed without a car whizzing through the intersection. The light flickered and when the bulb regained power, it stood directly underneath. The night air still and noisy insects silenced. The dark figure stood frozen but not in a natural or what seemed comfortable way. Oblong limbs on a cracked and deformed body. The figure was so dark it was hard to be sure if what I saw was a person or shadow. Climbing over the end of my bed I creeped over to my window never removing my gaze from the being. I couldn’t tell but, I think it knew I was watching. It wasn’t long after I reached my bedroom window that I knew something wasn’t right. The dark figure under the streetlight had moved. My eyes narrowed and I focused on the abnormal being. I studied it. I noticed it was breathing. Not slowly, but fast and erratically. Almost as if it was out of breath or as if it had just exhausted stamina sprinting a long distance. Its arms moved slightly up and down with every sporadic breath. At this moment I realized it moved again. Slightly but, it was definitely not in the same position as when I first seen it. It was hard to be sure. The being was so dark under the light that it was hard to focus on what was it’s torso or a limb. I continued to stare at it. My eyes just above the window frame. I was so concentrated on the strange figure in the street that I jumped when I heard a noise in my house. Quickly, I turned around towards my bedroom door. One of my parents or perhaps a brother had just gotten up to use the restroom down the hall. After assessing the situation, I turned my head back to the newfound problem in the road and I noticed it had moved again. It was now staring at me. I knew this because I could see its eyes. I froze. It’s eyes were small but a bright. Piercing white sparkles so tiny that they almost seemed to get lost in the black void of it’s own body. I knew for some reason that it wasn’t just looking in my direction. It was staring directly at me. After a few minutes I decided I needed to leave. I had to run to show someone what the fuck was in the road. I slowly began to stand out of view of the window, but I didn’t take my eyes off the figure. It was at this moment I realized the game I was in. Before I made my way out of the window frame, I had blinked. Upon opening my eyes from a single blink, I noticed it had shifted. I blinked again. It fucking moved again. That . . .*thing* out there was moving any moment it wasn’t in my sight! It had by now taken a full step in my direction. The dark figure looked . . . excited. Like it knew I had finally figured out the horrific rules of the game. It’s frantic breathing grew more intense. This is crazy. This isn’t a real thing, right? My heart began to race and my breathing quickened. “This is. . .what is happening?” I thought. I wasn’t convinced. So I held my breath as I stood in my bedroom and SHUT MY EYES. I thought, “I’ll count to 5. This must be a dream”. One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississippi, 4 . . . suddenly I heard a crunch like a tree branch snapping. I opened my eyes. It was no longer under the streetlight. I was overwhelmed with adrenaline and panic. I bolted for my bed and dove under the blankets. I was so scared I forgot what I had JUST proven. I have look at it! As I shuffled the covers, I heard quickly approaching footsteps. They sounded unreal. The steps were quickly growing louder and were hitting so hard I swear I could hear the dirt and sticks being thrown into the air behind it. My head rose above my blankets and sure enough, the footsteps stopped. I stared at the window. The only visible thing was the intersection lit by the light pouring down from the streetlight above. Although the figure wasn’t in my sight, I knew it was there. Somewhere, in the dark. I sat in my bed staring through the window in the bedroom. I didn’t move. I would blink once in a while and when I did I could always hear just a little movement. I knew the longer I blinked the more distance between us the creature would cover. This nightmare lasted for hours. Every time I was tempted to yawn I would fight the reflex with what felt like every muscle in my body. After what seemed like an eternity the sun began to rise. A soft light began to wash over my neighborhood. I decided to get out of bed and move to the window and attempt to locate the thing from the road. I knew it was out there but, where? I slowly approached the window and was given a much broader view of my yard leading up to the intersection. Even though I was looking for the creature it still made me jump when I laid eyes on it. There it was in greater detail. The blood left my face, hands, and feet as I seen just how terrifying it truly was. The thing was in a paused motion. Must have been 7 feet tall and perched on one leg as if frozen in mid stride. One dangly arm was open palmed on a tree it had been passing as if using it to push off and increase it’s speed. The other hand was open and clawing, right in my direction. It was now 20 feet from my window whereas in the road it was about 45 feet. The creature’s skin was black, wrinkly, and had the texture of dried leather. Other areas of it’s body were made up of random patches of black mangled fur. Tall, gangly, and unbelievably skinny the creature looked as if it was malnourished. Starving, desperate, and it’s sights set right on me. Every time I moved, even slightly, I noticed it’s breathing would intensify. It would get excited as if any moment I would turn and lose eye contact and it could continue the rampage toward me. I remembered it’s piercing eyes and decided to look at them in the small glimpse of daylight I now had. As I lifted my gaze towards it’s head the streetlight suddenly flickered. The sunrise was causing the light sensor to diminish the power to the bulb and it was shutting off. I was tired and not thinking when I flashed my eyes to the light which I noticed had just went out. My eyes hit the streetlight, the light went out, and I then heard a low growling coming from the creature. The noise it emitted was low and scratchy and it sent shivers down my spine. I quickly relocated my eyes back toward the creature and . . . it was gone. I didn’t move for quite some time. The creature had vanished and the last time that happened it had covered nearly 25 feet in a matter of seconds so my guard was UP. I scanned the yard intensely. I stood shaking. I could feel the cool morning breeze hit my cold sweat covered body. Minutes had passed and still no change to the absence of the being. A car passed through the intersection. I hadn’t even noticed if cars had passed at all since it appeared. I still couldn’t find it. I felt unsure that the thing had vanished at all. “BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!” I jumped and shot my head around behind me as to evaluate the sudden noise in my bedroom. My alarm was going off. I threw my head back towards the window. Still no sign of it. Had the monster finally disappeared? Was it unable to be in the daylight? It vanished as the streetlight went out. It must be gone. Maybe it can only, “POUND, POUND!”. My bedroom door shook and I let out a gasp. “Turn off your alarm it’s so annoying! Come on dude!” It was my brother. I sighed relief and mouthed an almost silent, “Yeah, sorry”. Knowing that someone else was within reach I felt that I could take my eyes off the yard and I turned to silence my alarm. I felt uneasy. I felt alone and unsure. I sat in bed and covered myself attempting to regain composure. The day went but many questions clouded my head. Was I going to see it again? Could anyone else see it? I told my brother what happened and he just chuckled. Same reaction from my parents. Their conclusion was that I had a vivid imagination and so no more scary movies. This was mine to handle on my own. It was under the streetlight multiple times after that night. Some nights it didn’t show but that didn’t mean I was just going to bed like nothing happened. I mean, there was no instruction manual to this fucking thing. All I knew was I had to stare at it, blink sparingly, and under no circumstances nod off. I made that mistake once and it nearly cost me my life. After a few nights of this I had a good system going. I would blink about 20 times per hour so by sunrise it would only have made it a few steps onto the lawn. The system worked so well that I became bored. Boredom led to drowsiness. One night I repeated what I had done most every night for a couple of weeks. I didn’t even remember shutting my eyes. I only recall jumping awake to sound of the screen bursting off the window. My eyes met the creature as it was now frozen in place. One foot on the bottom of my window and a hand at either side of it as if it were in motion to launch itself at me. It’s breathing changed from fast and frantic to slow inhales and exhales. Calm. Like it was sure it would finally reach me. Huge gnarled teeth and unblinking white eyes that expressed anger and yearning. I stared for the remaining hours and once that sunrise hit, it vanished once again. The nightmare lasted about a month and then it just stopped showing up. I stayed awake almost a year after that until I slowly began to gain a normal life. 5 years past, 10, and beyond. I’m 32 years old now. Sitting at my desk writing this letter at about 6:30 in the morning with a cold cup of tea. I’m submitting this experience everywhere I can in an attempt to reach out to someone who may have seen this *thing*. I need to know if others are seeing what I’m seeing and if they have any answers for me. Because it’s back. Last night it managed to climb up the 4 stories to my apartment’s balcony. I accidentally spotted it on my way back from the kitchen with a hot cup of tea. It was only just getting it’s other leg over the railing outside the slider door. That fucking look on it’s face. It almost had me. Please, someone contact me if they know what this is. I can’t do this again.