“Wake up” he demanded sternly, but his words did not incite haste, nor fear. In fact the only thing she felt was the cold darkness churning around them, threatening to consume them both. His stoic gaze focused on hers, but she said nothing. There they lingered in the shadows, accompanied only by the soft humming of machine parts and sharp nervous breaths.  

She felt his hold on her tighten as her eyes dropped to the abyss trembling beneath them-His bony mechanical claws sinking effortlessly into her pale flesh. She felt no pain or fear, only the cold.  “It’ll take us both, wont it..?” she questioned softly. He could feel her heart beat becoming more and more erratic with each passing moment.

His voice then resonated through the darkness-Its tone dark and wanting. The words he murmured were otherworldly and haunting, but she understood without knowing. His hands moved with silent purpose, urging her to see him. Truly see him. And around them bloomed thousands of tiny glimmering stars and bands of distant nebulae.

“I am the waking nightmare

The hypnagogic jerk

The voice that stirs your sleep

But please do not be mistaken-

I do not weave dreams

Only take them”

Then came the fear, the panic in heavy crashing waves against her sternum. The fear that one day the void threatening to assimilate them both would take him far from her. She’d sooner be taken by the darkness than let him return to the stars.