The light

The lights fade in the corners of my eyes when I sleep. Always the same time. 11 36, when all the people in the house fall asleep but me. I talk for a long while, mostly to myself, sometimes to my phone, and close my eyes to dream. But they're never there. There is always a light, however. A single, faint glow in the corner. I can never reach it, I cant turn it off, and I don't know what it is, but it is always there, watching me, in a weird way.

One night I finally got to sleep before 11 36. I was proud of myself as I slept, until the minutes went by. I watched, and the light slowly appeared, pacing in front of my eyes.

There's an effect people get where our skin is translucent enough that you can shine lights through it in certain places, like the fingers. This is why even with your eyes closed, you should never look directly at the sun, as the light still penetrates through your eyelid.

This was the effect the light had. Although my eyes were closed tight, I could see the light floating back and forth in front of my bed.

It finally stopped pacing, and the light dimmed slowly. I wanted to open my eyes, but I was too scared to do it. And when I finally had the courage, it was gone.

The next night, I did the same, but this time, I would see what the light is. I was riling myself up when there was a small cough.

I froze up, like a rabbit in headlights. The cough turned into a sneeze, a soft, yet wild sneeze.

'Bless you.' I muttered, unthinking. What i expected was to be murdered right there and then. Instead, I got an answer.

'cheers mate.' the voice was gruff and heavy, grating on the mind like fingernails on a chalkboard.

'Excuse me, If you don't mind me asking, who are you? And more specifically *where* are you?' I was quaking in the middle of my room, originally confident enough to take on a dragon, now I would fear a paper clip dropping near my feet.

"oh," it started, "'scuse my arrogance mate, I'm ya demon. Hope you don't mind me taking a break from it to talk to ya, you just never seem to interact with me much."

I collapsed near my bed, only to see my 'devil' crawl out from underneath. I was about to scream, but the slightly overweight creature begged me to shush, seeming scared himself." Best not to wake ya whole house up, don't ya think?" he gave a calming smile, and sat next to me. "so, how've ya been mate? School okay?" I just nodded, staring at this demon.

He seemed to be almost a regular human. He was a short stocky creature, with small fat arms and short fat legs. His round red stomach would've been his most noticeable feature if it weren't for the horns and tail, which almost seemed costume like in appearance. His eyes were a deep purple, and his skin a blood red. And although that would have been scary, for some odd reason, it was actually rather calming to see.

We chatted for a while, and I came to terms with the fact that he wasn't evil, just doing a job. A job which he didn't even like, having to "always make the buggers depressed depresses me, ya geddit?"

He started to get up before he faced me, head on. "oi, how long until 11 36?" I checked my phone, only to see it was 11 36 now, just turned.

The creatures face turned pale black, and he dragged me under the bed with him, although I fought hard against it. There was a bang at my bedroom door, and I struggled quietly.

The light burst into the room, and I fell silent.

It shone past the bed, pacing, as if waiting for something. Grabbing my phone, I turned on the camera to get a good shot. Reaching out, my hand started to burn, or so it felt, but when I brought my hand back, although it looked completely fine to me, the devil looked in pain for it. He stared at me wide eyed for doing something so unbelievably stupid. The light fell away, and left, putting the room in complete darkness.

I looked at the picture, and woke up the next day under my bed. The devil was gone, and so was the light. I wondered if that was the first dream I'd had, and checked my phone. There were 38 new photos all bright white but one.

The light was faded enough that I could see what it truly was, and it turned my bones black with the burning fear inside.

The creature's face was a skull, no muscle, just a pure grey skull, however, the eyes were melted into the sockets, and a small shattered halo lay above the cranium. The light was now seen to not be a lamp, but the creatures heart, pure metal and blazing hot as if a sun had been shrunk down into the creature's core. The entire body was not flesh, but an illusion of flesh, an apparition of meat on the bones of the dishevelled creature. It had wings. They spanned the entire room, basking all in scorching light to rid it of evil.

It was an angel.

A horrible, decrepit angel sent down to watch over me and be rid of the demon that keeps me sane.

I haven't slept well since, I always stay up past midnight and wake up at noon every day. I sleep in the day and wake in the night. My parents even found a night school for me.

But I still feel watched, as if the angel tracks my every movement. Luckily, the demon keeps me company.

I named him Louis.