[ WP ] `` Do not go to sleep . That is where it lives . You should be able to sleep in three days or so . I 'm going to kill it . ''

`` Listen. Do not go to sleep. That is where it is. Give me about three days, I know that will be hard for you, but try to stay awake! Make sure that Mommy does too!'' I turned toward the door and wrenched it open with more force than I meant to. 
 
 
 `` But daddy... where are you going?'' The beautiful little girl rubbed sleep from her eyes, sitting up on the bed where my wife wrapped her in her arms. 
 
 I froze in my tracks. `` I'm going to kill it.'' 
 
 
 *** 
 
 I did n't go far, of course. Why should I, when it was right there beside me wherever I went? A quick stop by the bathroom for a few sleeping pills was the only detour I needed. Then it was to the master bedroom. I would need somewhere comfortable after all, if I was going to be out for half as long as I thought I would. 
 
 
 `` Down the hatch.'' I threw back my head, swallowing three or four of the little white capsules without water. Then all I needed to do... was wait. 
 
 
 It was agony. Images of my family ran through my head like a video set of fast forward. What if I did n't make it in time? What if it got here first? 
 
 
 `` Faster, faster... no!'' 
 
 
 I shook myself mentally. No point in worrying about what might happen. Just got ta do what can be done and hope for the best. 
 
 I concentrated through my mounting panic. *Easy... easy. * I thought. I could feel the medicine kicking in, forcing my eyelids to droop despite the adrenaline coursing through my veins. In my mind, I held the image of a place that had often appeared behind my eyes unbidden in the past: The Island of Lost Dreams. 
 
 
 And then, with a feeling like the bottom had fallen out of my stomach, I was there. 
 
 
 *** 
 
 
 *Self-promotion time! Check out /r/TimeSyncs for more of my work! *
