Hypnophobia


1 week ago

The lounge stood empty as a husk and shadows danced across the walls. The lights of cars filtered through the blinds, casting light across the dark corners.

A shadow formed on the far wall and took shape. Its form becoming more human, more distinct as time passed. The light from a nearby car caused it to shrink back into the darkness. Once the car had gone, it proceeded to take form.

Jinxx stood by the far wall and inched his way up the dark stairs towards the rooms. He had waited for a weeknight to sneak into the building. The weekends were always busy here and drunken students would loiter in the hallways.

He moved silently along the hallway using his shadow form to slip under the doors of the sleeping students. The first room he ventured into was obviously a guy’s room.

There were posters covering the walls; some were of football teams, others were of scantily clad women. Clothes were strewn across the floor like the wardrobe had exploded. Jinxx sighed and slid back under the door.

He carried on down the hallway, pausing at another door, then slipping underneath. The room was the opposite of the last room, very girly, but still with clothes thrown everywhere. He moved towards the bed.

The girl in the bed was very pretty. Her hair was red, clearly too bright to be natural. He tilted his head, analysing her with interest. Her soul tasted rotten and he recoiled. Again, he left the room, continuing down the hallway.

A light flicked on at the end of the hall and he hid in a dark corner, waiting for the light to be turned off. Eventually the culprit flicked off the light. Jinxx re-emerged and carried on down the hall. He skipped two doors, stopping at the next one.

He entered the room. This room was very neat. A laptop was situated on the desk along with some books. On closer inspection he found they all related to the care of young adults and the elderly.

There were no posters on the wall, simply photos of people. He walked over and looked at them. There were three in total. One was a family portrait and featured a burly looking man, presumably the father, a rather curt looking woman, a handsome boy and in the centre was a young girl.

The other two were pictures of the boy and girl together. Jinxx could see they were brother and sister. He glanced over at the bed and abandoned the pictures. He leaned across the bed. The same girl from the photos was asleep in the bed.

Her hair was mousy brown and her cheeks were dusted with freckles. He smiled slightly and traced a finger over her cheek, feeling the soft skin. She stirred in her sleep and he pulled back, but she remained asleep.

His hand slid down, grazing her neck and collarbone, before tracing down and sliding the sheet down a little way. Her pyjamas were baggy and hid a lot of her figure, but he could see she was curvy.

None of that mattered though. Her soul was clean and he smirked. He couldn’t wake her tonight. He’d save that for tomorrow night. He wanted to see her eyes.

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He had visited her every night this week, but not shown himself. She had awakened, obviously, but had been paralysed, unable to move. He had watched from the shadows as fear lanced across her delicate features.

He knew it would be wrong to get too close to her. It was against the rules, but as the week had gone on, he had been unable to resist. He watched her as she went about her life. He had found out her name was Eleanor.

Ellie sounded like a better fit for her. She was a treat to watch, but it wasn’t enough. She had gone doctors today after nearly a week of being awakened repeatedly. He knew tonight he wanted to see her properly and for her to see him.

Dusk came around quickly and he watched her have her usual conversation with her parents. Her mother was a pain, but the father seemed nice. Ellie settled down after that and eventually she went to bed, unaware of anything different.

Jinxx waited till three in the morning and stepped out of the shadows. Ellie had woken up again, startled by a noise. He inched closer and stepped into her line of vision. The look on her face was absolutely priceless.

He leaned over her, watching her eyes dart about the room and then fall on him. She looked like she couldn’t believe it at first. He could sense that she wanted to move, but he didn’t remove the spell, not just yet.

“Good Evening, Eleanor.” He murmured.

Her eyes widened and a look of horror passed over her delicate features. Jinxx traced his fingers down her face and her eyes flickered to his hand, probably realising how vulnerable she was now.

Jinxx wanted to have a conversation with her, but the spell was still active. Would it be a good idea to unlock the paralysis? He bit down on his lip in concentration, watching her still.

Perhaps he would take the risk tomorrow night. With one last gentle touch to her face, he stood.

“See you tomorrow night, Ellie.” He grinned, and vanished.

On returning to the shadowy dimensions he ignored the call for souls from his master. He groaned when the bleating got too much.

Jinxx entered the pocket dimension and glared at the horned demon opposite him.

“Where’ve you been?” Baal sneered.

“Nowhere important.” Jinxx retorted.

“I send you out for souls and you bring back scraps. Do you wish for me to die? Is that it?” The demon snarled.

“Quit being so melodramatic. I’ve been busy.” Jinxx growled, walking over to his master.

He handed over a glass vial with a collection of souls. The other demon lifted the vial, staring at the souls, then his red gaze flickered to the younger demon.

“Why are you in that form?” Baal grumbled, opening the vial.

“Convenience.” Jinxx rolled his eyes.

Baal sniffed the souls and grumbled in anger. He narrowed his red eyes at the young demon.

“These smell awful like rotten fruit. You could at least retrieve pure souls.” The older demon sniffed angrily.

“Or you could go get them yourself?” Jinxx began to leave the dimension.

He didn’t bother looking back, instead thinking of Ellie. To keep such a secret from Baal was forbidden, but fun.

Notes