Alex was sleeping peacefully in his warm bed. Snuggled deep within the sheets he had been lulled to sleep by the sound of rain pattering on the roof and wind whistling through the branches of the tree outside of his window.

He sighed contentedly, his mind filled with sweet dreams until he heard it. Footsteps coming up the stairs. The boards creaked beneath heavy footsteps. His mind fought against the disturbance, comfortable in its deep slumber.

Silence once more. He breathed a deep sigh of relief as he rolled onto his back, tugging the sheets up to his chin.

Now there was a tapping and scraping at the glass of the window. As if the wind had picked up, the branches of the tree outside of his window were now clawing at it as if trying to reach inside. Groaning, he put his hands beneath his pillow and wrapped it around his head. Covering his ears, he rolled onto his side.

Apparently not wanting to be ignored, the entity increased its efforts. A noise like a heavy chain being dragged over the floor now filled the room. Occasionally there was a loud bang as if the chains had been lifted and dropped as Alex’s eyes snapped open at last.

He glared at the clock on his bedside table. The glowing red numbers informed him it was currently three o’clock in the morning. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling, trying to ignore the cacophony of noises.

Slowly, something a deep red began to bleed through the plaster of the ceiling above his bed. At first it was just random splotches of color against the white paint, but it slowly began to take the form a great, dripping letters. He felt something warm splat on his cheek as the lettering finally formed two words.

“GET OUT”

Frowning, Alex wiped at his cheek, smearing the red substance over half of his face. Suddenly a burning anger ignited in his chest as he sat bolt upright in the bed.

“God damn it,” he snapped at whatever was in the room. “Do you know what time it is?”

Seemingly taken aback, the rattling of chains hesitated, the dripping letting on the ceiling seeming to fade a bit.

Alex sat up and swung his legs out of bed. He sunk his feet into his warm, fuzzy bunny slippers. He made a point of ignoring the grasping, clawed hands that looked to be reaching from under the bed to grasp his ankles.

He stomped out of the room and down the hall into the bathroom. Clicking on the lights he was greeted to an image of himself as a rotted corpse in the bathroom mirror. He grabbed a paper cup from the sink and filled it with water before taking a drink. He rolled his eyes at how his decayed reflection let the water slip back out through blackened teeth to spill in a brackish pool in the sink.

“Oh WILL you knock it off?” He crumpled the cup in his hand and tossed it in the trash as his reflection returned to normal. It did, however, remain in the mirror as he left, watching him with a confused expression.

The house swayed and boomed as he headed back towards the bedroom, almost seeming to rock on its foundation. Alex rolled his eyes as this wasn’t the first time this had happened.

Sitting down on the side of the bed again he finally snapped.

“Stop acting like a damned child, whatever you are! Look, I know you don’t like me being here and trust me, I don’t WANT to be here. The problem is I can’t exactly afford to go anywhere else so this is it. We’re stuck with each other whether we like it or not! Now, if you want to try to communicate about this tomorrow like civil… uh… intelligent beings?” He shook his head as he stumbled over that term. “We can see about it tomorrow after my shift is over at the hospital, but right now, I just need some damned sleep!”

He flopped back in the bed and all was silent for a moment until he heard a soft scratching coming from the ceiling above. Groaning, he opened his eyes to see the red splotches on the ceiling starting to form again. There were less of them this time, forming much smaller letters.

“sorry”