Thick darkness surrounded everything, engulfing the light in his eyes and drowning his voice. He wanted to scream but instead he stood silently in awe, his body trembling as wisps of darkness brushed up against his bare hands like shy, sharp waves in a painfully cold ocean. The pulsing shadows roared in a way only the mind could hear as they drew closer and closer, starting to suffocate him.

As he stood, panicking and trying to call out for help, the pieces of the swirling darkness suddenly leapt out at him and wound tightly around his wrists like shackles, cutting into his skin with their razor-sharp edge. He cried out in pain and sunk down to his knees.

From somewhere deep in the endless darkness, a low voice let out a pleased chuckle that seemed to rumble his very soul. A familiar form emerged slowly from the shadows, it's entrancing eyes watching Tyler.

When the gargling laugh finally faded, the form edged closer to kneeling Tyler and lowered to his level, his glowing eyes tracing the broken man's face.

"What do you want, Bl-Blurry?" Tyler barely managed to whisper, head hung low.

"Oh Ty," a smirk appeared in his sinister expression. "Such a silly question."

It was difficult to keep his eyes on the humanoid beast, so Tyler kept his gaze to the ground. 

Blurryface began to pace in taunting circles around Tyler, letting the awful scene sink in further. Tyler just sunk down deeper, hating himself for falling asleep.

"You know, I almost have you," Blurry hissed pridefully, tasting the victory of Tyler's disappearing peace on his lips. He  "I've come so close so many times. Why do you insist on fighting?"

Then he whirled around suddenly, like someone had poked him with a sword. His flaming gaze turned to Tyler and a wave of anger crashed over the spirit as he watched the broken man quietly mumble. 

"What are you doing?" Blurry spat, his eyes burning even hotter as he slowly backed away from the man. "Stop that, right now!"

"Please," Tyler muttered, his head falling softly as he begged. "I can't do this anymore."

A soft voice played like music in the deepest part of Tyler's mind, "Hold on."

That was enough.

Tyler lifted his eyes up to the raging shadow and glared with tired eyes, "Let me go, Blurry. Let me go or I'll crumble in these shadows. You don't want that, do you? You want me to give in. Going like this isn't giving in, it's being killed."

The filthy creature turned his eyes to glance at the swirling darkness. He seemed to ponder Tyler's words as he let out a thoughtful groan.

"Fine." Blurry glared at him. "But know this, if you're still around tomorrow night, you'll be hearing from me again."

With a racing heart and an eerie silence, Tyler jolted up from his sofa and glanced around the room. Blurryface was nowhere to be found and there was a sharp stillness.

He wished he could feel relieved, he wished he could be at peace, but his eyes deceived him with imaginary shadows that danced across the curtains and wrestled on the walls as he sat, trembling and trying to shake off the horrible nightmare.

Warily eyeing the darkness scattered across the corners, as if they could attack at any moment, Tyler stood up and shuffled over to the kitchen. He pulled out his notebook and Ukulele and quickly made his way back to the sofa. He plopped down onto the couch and clutched the homely old instrument close to his chest.

"I have to play something," he mumbled, biting his lip to keep the feeling in his chest from rising any further.

His mind scrambled to find a song, but he went blank from the dark memories screaming in his mind.

Tyler began to strum aggressively anyway. Only when he paired words to the music did he realize what he had begun to play.

"Amazing grace,
How sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch
Like me,"

He didn't know all the words but he kept playing and singing anyway, each word increasing in volume as he felt the darkness scatter and run.

The almost silent still flickering tv sent weird shadows across Tyler's face as he continued to pass the night with stressed music. His voice had long since faded since he couldn't quite recall the lyrics but the music was soothing, regardless.

Finally, he was relaxing, maybe even enjoying himself a bit. But that changed when his notebook crashed down from the table onto the floor.  A chill ran up his spine at the sudden noise. 

Torture. 

"I'm so over this," Tyler growled. "Nothing is hiding behind my furniture, nothing is coming to get me in my sleep, it's just stupid dreams!"

He didn't like to hear himself yell, it make him feel uneasy. 

He sighed, "If I was able to give up, wouldn't I have done so already?" 

"So why haven't you?" A voice asked from the darkness, it's curious tone weaving through the thick air like a playful song.

Tyler was up on his feet in seconds. He might have been along the lines of what some called crazy, but he could recognize a human voice from a spirit voice. And this was a human voice.

Oh my gosh. Tyler thought. He's back!