It looks dark-so black it makes one feel like it is sucking out all the light around it and drinking in the shadows. It slips and slides and you could catch a glimpse of it-an oozing black thing in the faint moonlight-before it flows away. It’s cruel, intelligent eyes are pitiless, deep-red slits. It pulses and breathes like anyone you know. And if things are just right for you to brush it at just the right moment or see it in just the right brightness, you may feel the smooth, thin skin of any regular human being. See the pale lips and sagging cheeks. Recognize the tiny fleck of sanity buried under the darkness.
And for some people, that is the scariest thing about it.
You may see it at night. Children feel it under their beds. The silence that greets it always send hearts pounding. And although every light is turned on, every candle dripping wax, every lamp shining and glowing and gleaming, you feel that chill. That bare touch of iciness as it slides a cold, slim finger down the curve of your spine.
The day may come. The sun may blaze. The world may be waking up, already losing the lightless touch of the night. You may forget the nightmare-filled, sleepless moments you had as you enjoy the safeness of daylight. But it will always be there. Watching. Waiting.

After all…you only are a shadow away.