[ drei ] -- [ three ]

Being awake was the best part of my days, no matter how tired I was from a lack of sleep the previous night. It meant I was safe from him. He only appeared in my nightmares and materialized himself during my biggest fears. Sleep was my biggest fear. Most people thoroughly enjoyed it, but I dreaded the time when the sun would set behind the horizon and there was nothing more to do but to get into bed and wait for sleep to take me.

I tried to prolong it as much as possible by watching movies, reading from some of my music class text books, or going for long moonlit walks on my own. The latter of the three was the best way to stay awake, but also the most dangerous.

The campus was at the very top of a high mountain where there were stories that girls would see huge owls at night, foxes, and even mountain lions. I was yet to see one, but it was the last thing I wanted. My grandmother was a very superstitious person and she would always tell my siblings and I the stories of her childhood in the rural districts of Argentina. Her family had immigrated there from Russia before she had even been born, and she grew up in a place where there was a fine line between legends and reality.

Her claim was that the animals that lurked in the night were actually witches who transformed themselves into creatures for different purposes. She said she had seen it herself, in the Pampas district of her country.

It was difficult to imagine that something like that could happen on a university campus.

Before I knew it, I had walked the loop around campus twice and when I returned to the top of the mountain where the dorms were located, it was fifteen to three in the morning. Soon it would be the witching hour, and a chill ran down my spine just thinking of being in my bedroom at that time.

My only other sanctuary would be the church.

A tall standing building at the very top of the mountain where the school was perched. Its towers stood high and proud overlooking the university campus. 

And inside, as I took a peek, I noticed there were candles burning near the altar. 

I opened the wooden door carefully, trying not to make any noises and I walked in. From the back of the church, I could see towards the front where there was a girl. She was the same girl from that morning, and the candles burning were black.

The church bells soon struck three in the morning and she went to one of the pews where her backpack was. She opened it to pull out a long black robe and put it on. I watched, paralyzed in fear as she returned to the altar to arrange her black candles in a specific order. From where I stood at the back of the church, near the doors, I couldn't see how she was arranging them.

But it was clear that it all had everything to do with the black aura that had been floating above her head that morning.

-

i had another sleep paralysis nightmare last night, which was mostly what inspired me to continue this story. i was honestly so terrified that i started crying and couldn't fall asleep again last night. i hadn't had one of those nightmares in so long that i had already forgotten how terrible it felt. i really don't want to experience anything like it again.

but i'll tell you more about it in the next chapter, which may be very soon since the experience has made me gain some inspiration for this book again.

so i hope you all continue to read and vote. i know the updates are rather short, but that is the way i prefer them. so thank you so much for all the support you have given me. it means the entire world.

-clary xx