Awake, finally

A throbbing behind my eyes
A rustle of sheets as a warm
Body turns beside me
I open my eyes
Awake

Thin light falls over the bed
I turn in the grey sheets facing
his back, more awake now
A squid clings to his
shoulder

The inky arms reaches out
Towards me, wrapping
Around my torso,
My thighs
Enticing.

It's getting brighter, red light
Behind my eye lids creeping
In. bringing me back
Into that small room
A dream?

Red sheets wrap around me as
I turn to face a wall. suddenly
I'm surrounded by water,
floating rubble
everywhere

I put my hands to my face, up
side down, I wish to close
out the scene. But I
Have to look
eventually

A gruesome face, bloated in
The water, startles me
Awake. I blink, twice
Something feels
Off

A green light is blinking behind
My desk. That's odd. The
room is hot and my body
is damp. The spot
next to me is
empty

I rise to turn on a light. I need
to use the bathroom. A 'click'
Then nothing. Only
darkness. I try
again.

Nothing. I walk over to my desk
lamp. Same result. I look
Outside. Pitch black
A power outage?
Must be.

I strike a match to light a candle
then realise the candles are
in the closet, in the
hallway. Damn!
I open

The door. It's so dark. I open the
closet door and fumble
around, keeping an
eye on the dark
livingroom

Behind me. Wearily. Luckily I
know where to look. There!
I found them! I walk
back into my
room

I strike another match, almost
burning my finger as I
fumble to light the
candle. The match
goes out.

I try again, this time success!
I put a candle on my desk,
one in my open closet
One in my hand.
I need

To pee so badly. I stand in front
of my closed door, taking
a breath, I walk into the
darkness, gingerly
Into the

Safety of the locked bathroom.
But as I sit in the dim
candle light I think
I can hear muffled
voices.

Deep voices, inside the apartment.
I freeze. Suddenly, a thought;
what if someone cut the
power to get inside
unnoticed?

I sit in silent apprehension, scared
to flush, scared to move.
Finally, I get up and
dash back
inside

I lock the door, and breathe. I lay
Down, leaving the candles
Burning. I try to sleep
But a dreadful
Howling

Rises outside my window. The
Wind won't let me rest. I
Turn on my phone -
I need something
To listen to

Something calming. I hide under
The covers. A sweaty, uneasy
Sleep finally takes me.
No more nightmares
No more.

I blink, twice. A warm light floods
The room. It's morning. I turn
To face the wall. No one
Lies beside me. It's
Empty

Yet full. The terrors of the night
Are over. A new day ahead.
I look at my phone - a
Message;
Good morning sweetheart.