Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-24996913-20150110011031

It's been quite a while since I've written something or checked back on this site. The idea for this story randomly popped up into my head as my mother complained of my sleeping with the tv on obsession. I hope someone likes it out there. Enjoy.

My mother has always been a bit different. Most mothers obsessions lie in the field of cleanliness or culinary experimentation. My mother's obsession was... perplexing. No matter what time it was, I would awaken to find my room encased in darkness, my tv indistinguishable from any other furniture buried within the black abyss. At first, I thought it was because she wanted to conserve energy or lessen the stress on my father when it came down to the monthly electricity bill, but it was much more than that to her.

It didn't matter if I had closed my eyes seconds prior, my mother would find her way into my bedroom to power off the tv. Of course, being that I wasn't in a deep sleep, I would awaken immediately, powering on my tv once more to calm my fear of being confined within total darkness. But once my room illuminated once more with the blue tinted light, my eyes would glance over towards the doorway. There, standing in the most bone-chilling fashion, was my mother.

I stared at her for a moment, waiting for her to disappear from sight before I regained my composure. The thing was... she would never walk away. She would remain motionless, standing within the doorway... almost in anticipation.

Countless times I tried to resolve my creepy encounters with my mother. I've tried locking my door, but she always found her way in. I've tried barricading myself within my room, but she still found her way inside without so much as a peep. I even tried talking to my dad, a priest at our family owned church, but he was always buried waist deep in work that he could care less of my mother's routine. He would simply chalk it up to being "her thing" and carry on about his day, ignoring his bratty teenager's inquiry. I couldn't blame him for putting it off. As strange as it sounds, her new obsession was much better than the last one.

Still, I wanted nothing more than to put an end to her new obsession. See, I had always slept with the tv on. I don't remember a time in my past that I hadn't fallen asleep knowing that the comfort of the blue tinted light would protect me from the darkness. My mother used to be quite okay with my condition. She understood the seriousness of my phobia, and aided in making sure I was comfortable. Now, she's trying to take it away from me, and the only person that I have to depend on agrees with her actions, leaving me to the darkness I had avoided for so many years.

At this very moment, my mother stands within the doorway. Her shadowy silhouette barely noticeable as a commercial break causes the screen to go black momentarily. My eyes are heavy, the product of many sleepless nights. My eyelids flutter open and closed in quickened variables. Each blink draws my mother near, her silhouette still as transparent as it was within the doorway. I tried with all of my might to remain awake, but after days without so much as a nap, I couldn't fight against my own depraved body any longer.

So as my eyelids came to a close, I watched on as my mother stood before me. Her body was a mere fog once the tv's light disintegrated and my room blackened. The moon's rays from outside provided just enough of a glow to illuminate my mother as she stood over me.

"It's time to grow up," she mumbled in an eerie fashion.

I stared at her, the previous heaviness of my eyes now as light as a feather.

"Sleep tight," she said.

With her final words spoken, I buried my face within my comforter, my body trembling extensively beneath it. I never really knew my mother. I had only seen her in pictures growing up around the house, mostly hidden away by my father. Before, she would simply move things around within our house, making her presence known to my father and I early on. Now, she's elevated to showing herself to me.

Thing is, my mother's been dead for years. 