[ CW ] Write a horror story with no gore or death , not even implied .

I felt I was slowly spiraling down. It was the presence. It was within my home and within me. I could not see it, but when I would awake in the night to the feeling of being watched I would picture it as a man. A man wearing a mask. I know him but I am sure I don ’ t. I lie awake at night knowing he is watching me. When I leave the house he settles himself behind my brain spiraling down my vertebrae. 
 
 
 I feel I am not myself when I leave my home. At home we live as two separate beings. There he can torment but at least he is not living inside me. When I go out I am never sure what will happen. Will he cause me to do something? Is he making me into a person I am not? 
 
 
 I tried to go to the doctor, I remember because I wrote it in my calendar. On my way to the appointment, I felt a tingling on the back of my neck. It was like a severe itch. As I began to scratch it I realized I was heading to the theatre. I ordered bottomless popcorn and watched a movie that I can ’ t remember. 
 
 
 I think He was happy I didn ’ t go to the doctor. That night i actually slept. He hid himself in another area of the house and did not wake me with his presence next to my bed. He did not reach out to my feet and try to pull me from my bed. He did not lean over me and scream in my face. He did not wake me with pure fear so I could see him standing in the corner watching me. 
 
 My name is Jennifer Law and this is the 3rd week of my torment. I refuse to call Him a demon and I refuse to call this possession. For my mental health, I can not face putting this situation into those terms. Speaking of that part of my health though, it is rapidly deteriorating. I leave the house as little as possible. I took all of my Family Medical Leave and my fairly healthy social life has faded to nothing. 
 
 The last friend that tried to visit me got in a car crash on the way here. She has been in the hospital ever since. I tried to visit her, every time I struck out of the house I would end up mindlessly shopping; wandering the isles buying anything in a flashy package. Every time I would scratch that itch at the base of my neck I would be back at the theatre watching a movie I had never heard of or at a bar having a drink by myself. I wanted to stop scratching it but I couldn ’ t. He was slowly lulling me into passive existence; eyes half open and running on autopilot. 
 
 
 I am sitting at home trying to decide if I am finally accepting possession as a possibility. I got on the internet to look for some symptoms. As soon as the page loaded, my laptop went blank. I felt him stand over me on the couch. I could just make out the transparent outline of his body. It was writhing like a hologram. I wanted to cower and scratch that itch. Instead of reaching up to the back of my neck I tried to reboot my computer. He leaned over and screamed in my face. It was the sound of a thousand voices and the air passed over my face. I saw the writhing hologram of his mask with an open mouth to nowhere. The laptop slammed down on my fingers crushing them and breaking the screen. 
 
 
 The TV popped on and my favorite movie was playing. My hand slowly raised to the back of my neck. I felt his breath in my ear and his voice of a thousand souls said “ Go To Sleep. ” I forced my hand back down as if it was not under my control to begin with. I jumped from the couch and started to run towards the door. As I was reaching out my hand to the handle, I felt I had just run into a solid wall. I fell backwards. I saw the shimmering outline of him standing over me. The walls echoed around me with “ Go To Sleep, Go To Sleep, Go To SLEEP. ” My hand was at my neck again. The itch was burning inside me. I used my other hand to push it down and I ran for the door again. 
 
 As I was going over the threshold I felt him constrict around my spine tickling the back of my neck. What I thought was impossible not to scratch inside my house became unbearable outside. There was a church 3 blocks from my house. I decided if I could make it there, I would be safe or I would at least find someone that could help me. I made it to my car somehow, the itch at the back of my neck had become a searing white hot pain. I knew I only had to reach up and caress it to make it all fade away. As I was driving, the constriction around my spine made me feel like I could not breathe. The burning seared deeper and deeper, I thought my hair must be on fire back there already. There was a white flash blinding me momentarily and i pulled over less than half a block from the church. 
 
 
 I woke up to someone knocking on the car window. I could not remember what had happened. As I rolled down the window I realized it was a police officer. I wanted to scream for help but as I started to open my mouth I realized I was already scratching the back of my neck. It felt like I had a sunburn back there. 
 
 “ Is everything okay ma ’ am? ” He was looking around the car for anything he could arrest me for I am sure. 
 
 “ Oh yes sir, ” I heard myself saying it but my mind was screaming for help. “ I was just getting sleepy on the road so I thought I would pull over and nap for a bit. ” 
 
 “ Sounds good ma ’ am, stay safe out there. ” He strode away. 
 
 I was no longer in control. My own mind was in there somewhere but I could not access it. I could hear its tiny voice being drowned out by His thousands. I scratched one last time. I felt myself driving but He was the one who knew where we were going. I found myself in front of a pawnshop. He walked me inside and picked out a gun. I think it was a shotgun. He placed my hand on the paper and signed the paperwork for me. For a brief second I saw his hand over mine. The wavy outline of his hand guiding mine. I thought about fighting briefly but my strength was gone. The pawnbroker was balding man with a sagging belly, his big glasses were resting on his sweaty nose. He smiled a sneering smile and waved the background check. I walked out with the giant gun. I hid it well in the trunk of my car. 
 
 Under the cover of nightfall, I brought the gun inside my house wrapped in a blanket. I closed the door and laid the gun on the ground. I just leaned against the door totally exhausted, I wanted to go to sleep. A flicker of my own mind turned on. “ Go to Sleep. ” He didn ’ t want me to actually go to sleep. He wanted my own mind turned off so He could be in control. I whispered, “ Go to sleep, ” as I put my head down in exhaustion. Just before I dropped off the TV popped on blaring loud. It was “ The Price Is Right. ” The clapping and the screaming was so loud but I couldn ’ t turn it off. I could only sit and watch. After hours of game show bliss I heard a knock at the door. My eyes flicked to the gun. My own mind turned on briefly because I knew it was wrong. I tried to open the door but He wouldn ’ t let me. He held the door closed against my strength. After awhile the knocking stopped and I heard footfalls subsiding down the hall. 
 
 I looked at the gun. I was not sure what I was supposed to do with it. I knew the itching in my neck would come when He was ready though. 
 
 
 With him in the driver ’ s seat I am not sure what might happen. I am already a person I never thought I could become. My moments of clarity are brief and terrifying but they dwindling. I know I only have a short time before they are gone completely. I grab the gun and head to the bathroom. I know what will happen if I kill myself. The torment, the itch at the back of my neck, and all the things I have become will end. If I let Him keep driving though… I will just end up asleep. I pointed the gun at my neck, hoping to rip through that itch that can never be scratched and when I pulled the trigger he was there beside me. 
 
 
 I did not die. The gun did not even go off but I know I am asleep and I am no longer trying to wake up. My voice simply joined the thousands of His.
