Thought of this idea randomly. its a rough draft, but i hope you enjoy it The night, a time where the horrors of our imaginations can seemingly creep out to wreak havoc on our lives. Where the shadow of a simple object can warp into the most terrifying of creatures; and when a creak in the house means more than the house settling. 9yr old Oliver knew this. He wasn’t very frightened, there was nothing in the dark that could scare him. His parents taught him that. But even the strongest minds have their own fears. The clock in the hallway chimed through the house. Oliver counted the chimes. It was 12:00pm, he wasn’t that tired. He was more thirsty than tired. He grabbed the flashlight that his mother gave him when he had his first night mare. “When you’re scared, take the light and shine it. Then you will see there’s nothing to be afraid of.” His mother’s words bounced around in his head. He unlocked his door and pulled it open, shining it into the seemingly never ending hallway. The flashlight illuminating the dark corridor he made his way to the kitchen. As he turned on the tap he could have sworn he heard someone knocking. He shone the light down the hallway until the light hit the end. There was nothing but the cupboard filled with towels and dishrags standing there. He placed the cup in the sink and went back upstairs. After some time the clock rang out again. It was 1:00pm; but Oliver was still not tired. In fact he was more bored than tired. He got up to grab the remote when he noticed the shadow of something on his window. His heart practically stopped, reaching for the flashlight he shined it at the window revealing nothing but a branch that had been twisted and warped to shape like a hand curling up against the glass, the wind giving it life. He sighed relieved and turned on the TV. The show airing had just concluded, Oliver preferred to do something else to relieve his boredom while the commercials ran. He looked back at where the branch hand was, now it had been knocking at his window. He laughed thinking about how scared he was because of it. He shone the light anyway. But to his surprise the branch was not there. It had vanished into thin air. But the shadow still remained. He became terrified. Had his dreams come to get him in the night? No…impossible…this can’t be. The hand did not reappear when the light was shut off. As if it were never there just like the branch. But then he turned to his TV which had turned to static. He could make out a faint shape, that of an arrow pointing to the window at his left. How strange he thought, it must be a coincidence. He looked out the window to see the lights POP out on the street. The darkness returned. His house had also gone dark as well, just like all the other buildings on his street. He looked out the window and kept saying to himself “they are just shadows they can’t hurt me, they aren’t real” he kept repeating to himself. His flashlight flickered out. The dark had left him entranced by his own terror of the unknown. He stared at the street in horror, as he heard footsteps moving through his house, because the shadows were staring back.