An eternity of torment.

Too afraid to turn off the lights at night but it happens regardless.

I cower beneath my covers, clutching them close to my body, my feet tucked in, pushing my toes into the fabric to keep it tight, hoping that will somehow stop them from being revealed if I finally manage to sleep.

It's hard to sleep when the sound of my heart echoes through my ears and yet, its rhythmic beating is still drowned out by "Them".

The blood rushing keeps me energised, keeps the sleep from taking over as my joints and muscles ache, wanting to move, stretch and be used, to run from this hell, run and never stop.

I'd cry out, scream for help but nobody listens anymore, nobody cares. They used to think I was just crazy, that it was all just in my head. They'd say, a pill a day will keep the demons away and what naive fools they are.

Nothing keeps the demons away, I've tried to fight them off my whole life, several lifetimes it seems, I fought battle after battle but they kept appearing, kept talking to me, speaking so in my ears only.

Even now, in my fabric fort of denial, I try so hard to drown out their voices and push away the images they force upon my brain.

So cruel and sadistic, thoughts that my mind would never wish to stomach, words I would never speak constantly driven through me like a series of spears.

"Please, somebody listen to me."

"Make it stop."

My head falls back to the pillow, I feel the fabric shift, lowering down to my chest as the darkness of the room submerges my view, my words fall to the floor where they'll be left, ignored, laughed at and soon, forgotten.

A slither of light from the door, pushing through the window and giving me a moment of peace, I lock onto the light, seek it out like it is the oxygen I need to survive.

A small whimper as it grows faint, weak and barely giving me the comfort I need, a cruel, dark face in its way as they look through the small glass panel on my door, eyes so narrow, dark and disgraced by my very existence.

"Help me?" I plead, knowing already my voice wasn't heard, or just, wasn't cared for.

The face turns in disgust as he sees I'm awake, just like every night, he moves away from my door, his heavy steps could be heard walking down the hall again, stopping every few steps for a moment before again, thud thud thud...

The familiar creak of the large doors at the end ignites my fear, watching that light desperately, hoping, wishing so much that they might be left on tonight but much as my hope for help, even these are killed as the light vanishes once more.

My sobs fight along the back of my throat, burning, violently struggling as I try to keep them hidden.

The restraint wasn't easy and with regret, my cries break free as a voice breaks the silence, a warmth teases along my earlobe as the guttural tones enter my mind.

"Help you? But you're worthless"

"No, no, you don't exist, you're not there" I argue with tears threatening to escape my eyes.

"we're always here, always with you" a tender tone, feminine but, crass, void of emotion this time, once more teasing my other ear.

My eyes close tight, my head begins to rock slowly as another attempt to ignore the voices is made.

"Does that ever work? Foolish bastard" The first voice sneers, louder this time as it fights back laughter.

"No, no no no" I plead

My heart jumps up into my throat though, a tingle along my arm as a cold hand tenderly caresses my skin, causing my hair to stand on end, a breath caught, held tightly in my lungs as everything tenses.

The slow, careful fingers run along my forearm causing a soft, scared whimper to push through my lips before the touch turns hostile, nails claw down my arm.

It stings and lingers, a warmth begins to spread along where the scratch was, I can feel my blood pooling, staining the covers below.

"Please... stop" my voice choked, the air finally exhaling from my lungs.

"Stop? That doesn't seem fair now does it?" The woman says, definite boredom still lingering in her tone but, a subtle hint of something tells me she's enjoying this.

Again, the same slow and gentle caress begins, this time coming down from my shoulder before her nails dug in again, a light chuckle accompanying it.

"You're not here, you're not" I lie to myself desperately. Trying to move onto my side but the deep nails keep me pinned as they push themselves harder into my flesh.

"It does look fun," the other says, a sickening sense of joy plays along his lips but his touch, his fingers aren't so gentle as my eyes open.

Thick digits push themselves around my throat, I can feel his breath on my face as his hold tightens, his thumbs pushing hard, crushing my air pipe as my heart races, my lungs fight for air, terrified whimpers try to break free but I cannot move, cannot fight or struggle as fear flitters into my eyes, trying to see the man torturing me but I see nothing and feel only the pain, their tormenting hands and his breath.

The darkness had already taken the room but now it seeps into my mind, I feel my brain attempt a feeble fight through a deep fog, my eyes closing, breath struggling, my one free hand grasping the edge of my mattress. I'm losing consciousness...

It was with that final thought though, that their hold loosened, their hands moved from my body, air once again could reach my lungs and with every hungry breath, I took as much in as I possibly could, feeling the pain of my starved lungs expand once more.

"Too easy, scum like you deserves worse."

It was too much to understand, too much to even try and make sense of, the voices would always say different things, but their attempts were always the same. Choke, scratch and torment.

My sobs broke free and as panic began to rush through every fibre of my existence, I couldn't help but sit up, still gasping, so scared that I would be pushed down and endure the pain again.

The fear boiling in my blood, turning to anger as I groaned in one last attempt to gain control of the voices.

Everything turned silent in the room, I could feel my chest heaving but could no longer hear the exhales, the echoes of my heart stopped filling my ears as my eyes fell onto the two figures stood at the end of my bed, the source of the voices looking down at me in distaste.

Their eyes were as lifeless as I remembered, the way their blue lips refused to part.

I could see the red marks that would forever remain around my father's throat, knowing my hands would fit them perfectly, my mother, her body cut and sliced along her arms, leading up to the perfect slit along her throat.

"I... I'm..."

"Sorry?" She said with disbelief

"Scum?" He growled bitterly

"I'm not afraid of you" I finished, fighting back the last of my hatred, swallowing the remains of my guilt. "You're not here, I made sure of that!" My words coming to a shout as my hands curl into a tight fist.

"And yet... We're all here"

All? My legs tense to the point it hurts, stomach hurting, chest tightening, "All?"

"All" mother answers, finally, some emotion in her tone as the pain rings through her voice.

The looks shared between us all could fill a thousand years of pain, the one voice I had always been thankful to not hear lingered in my memories but, they had never said this before, never hinted at another present until tonight.

I want to sleep, to close my eyes and never wake into this nightmare, the silent tears dropped from my cheeks to the duvet below, my hands begin to clutch at my legs, adding to their pain before I look down to the tear-stained covers.

"Daddy?"

A child's voice, one I cherished and hadn't heard for many years now echoed from behind.

A shift of weight on the bed before cold, small hands pressed against my back.

Too afraid to cry, to beg or plead for it to stop, I felt an icy cold shiver emit from his hands, coursing down my spine like a shard of ice.

"I missed you daddy" His hands moved around me as far as they could reach, the cold spreading as he hugged me from behind.

"I missed you too" I whimper, my eyes closing as the tears turn hot in their course now.

"I'm sorry daddy"

Sorry? Those words haunted me, remembering our last day together as he whispered these final words.

Tormented by the memories of their deaths, of my actions. Tormented day after day, night after night by these images.

I break, my screams echoing through the room around me as the forms vanish, the voices die down and a slow tapping comes from the door.

My screams continue as I ignore that same familiar face in the doors glass pane, his sadistic smirk, cruel eyes as he relishes in my torment, watching me for decades as I wait for it to start again, a constant loop,

A pill a day would keep the demons away, but a bottle of pills brought me down here into their domain, my constant hell.