nyctophobia

Nyctophobia:
The Fear of Darkness
- - - - -

Mark has been afraid of the dark as a child... This phobia has sticked with him till this day. His family find it confusing, why was he so afraid of the dark? He used to always love the dark, he'd hide and stuff, so what came to this?

So apparently, there's one thing that Mark kept as a secret from his family... Why was he so afraid of the dark you ask? Well technically speaking, he wasn't afraid of THE dark, he was afraid, of what was in it. Here's what happened...

Mark was 8 years old, he was a very social kid... On one night, he was told to go get some stuff at the store nearby, and he saw something... Something that any innocent child shouldn't see.

Mark giggled as he skipped along the sidewalk, he hummed a tune of his favourite song and was careful to not drop the bag he was holding.

All of a sudden, Mark heard a muffled scream from inside an alleyway, of course, being a little and curious, he decided to look.

A neighbor's dog, which was a few blocks away, sensed what was happening and started barking loudly. The people who heard though, didn't get what it meant and just told it shut up. Mark walked further in and saw what he wished he never saw, there was a man, smiling over a lady as he cut parts of her flesh and ate it up. It was cannibalism... Mark was in shock... He couldn't run, he was too scared to move.

The neighbor's dog kept trying to jump over the gate, trying to save Mark.

Mark accidentally hit a trash bin from behind him and it fell down, making a loud cling! Loud enough for the man to hear it. The man looked up and saw Mark, the strange man laughed like a psychopath and slowly got up.

“Come here kid, I won't hurt you.” But Mark wasn't dumb, he didn't believe it. “S-Stay away f-from m-m-me you m-monster.” Mark was about to run away but the man grabbed him, Mark then tried to scream but the stranger's hand covered his mouth.

Mark soon started to cry, hoping someone would come to the rescue. The man almost successfully dragged Mark into another dark alleyway, but then something bit his leg, he shouted in pain as the dog still bit on his leg, biting deeply into his skin. The man kicked the dog off and cursed at it, “FUCK OFF YOU FUCKER!!!” But the dog didn't give up, it barked at the stranger, protectively hiding Mark behind him. The dog charged at the man and bit his neck, the blood started to come out. The man screamed in pain and pushed the dog off, shooting it 8 times in the stomach... but it didn't stop there. The dog watched as the man knocked out and ran towards the road, whining and barking, it finally caught someone's attention and lead him into the alleyway. The stranger was shocked but understood... And there, the dog layed down in pain, and then died. Mark's parents were called to the police station and found their son, silent and pale as a ghost. He didn't talk, nor show emotion, his face was blank.

They took Mark back home, and whenever they'd asked him what had happened, he'd just ignore them and go back to his room.

He vowed never to speak of it towards anyone. He made a vow, and he would keep it.

Now, he's 18 years old... And he's just moved into South Korea, what will life there bring him? Good or Bad, let's find out...

{ srry y'all but... I have mad respect for this fictional dog I just created, like damn... }