Lost deep in the land of slumber, Darla feels something is off.

Something is telling her that she has to wake up. That her life depends on it.

Yet her eyes refuse to open. It's as if they are glued together, like the heaviness of dreams keeps them firmly shut. Still, Darla does her best to rouse herself to consciousness as her instincts are screaming at her that something is horribly wrong, and they have never failed her before.

"Come on, come on," she thinks as she tries all her usual tricks for waking up.

Darla focuses all her attention on digging her fingernail into her cuticle, trying to use the pain to wake up. Still, she worries that even if she does wake up, she wouldn't be able to do much. After all, she is home alone without any means of self-defense at her disposal.

Even worse, she can tell someone or something is in her room. It is with her.

Watching.

Waiting.

The first thing Darla notices is that she can hear sounds from her waking world leaking through the veil between the land of dreams and the real world. However, the first sounds she hears cause her to panic even more than she already is, knowing that something is way off.

"Ring around the rosie

A pocketful of posies

Ashes, ashes

We all fall down," a creepy elderly voice sings quietly.

The song itself wouldn't have been something that Darla found spooky. However, it is the middle of the night, and someone is in her room, singing that song in a rather creepy voice frightens her.

With utmost effort, Darla manages to pry her eyes open, but her body seems frozen in place. She can't move even her fingers.

It is the most horrifying realization.

There is someone in her room, sitting in her chair and watching her. Always watching. And there is nothing she can do about it.

The woman is dressed in black, and her eyes never leave Darla even as she sways back and forth, singing her little eerie songs. The feeling of those invisible eyes lurking in the shadows makes Darla want to scream, even though she knows it won't help. There is no one there to hear her screams. Besides, her voice hasn't yet returned to her, and all she can do is look at the intruder with her eyes wide open and fear permanently etched on her face.

"Darla, Darla, fly away home," the voice continues singing.

The usage of her name by the apparition makes everything so much more terrifying to Darla. Whatever the creature is, it's there for her, her specifically.

The woman stands over Darla's prone figure and extends her long hands towards her paralyzed body. Fingers stop inches away from Darla's face as if they are coxing something out of her. Something that she knows they shouldn't get.

"Ninna nanna, ninna oh

To whom shall I give this baby?" the woman continues with her random rumblings that get creepier with each second that those beady eyes stare into the depths of Darla's soul.

Then a swirl of something starts moving slowly from Darla into the woman's hands. The bright white light contrasts the woman's utter darkness, and Darla knows she needs to do something, or else it will be too late for her.

"Stop!" Darla manages to scream out, barely able to control her own voice.

"Oh, a brave little dearie, it will make my job cheery," the woman says.

"What are you?" Darla manages to ask.

"I am the dark that you fear. I am the monster under your bed. I am the one hiding in your closet," the old woman says, cackling in Darla's face.

Only then does Darla notice that not only is something leaving her body, but something is filling it up, too. It is something that feels utterly unfamiliar and wrong. It is slowly taking over parts of her body, controlling them.

She knows the fight she needs to win is not the one with her own body. She must battle the invading presence permeating her mind, trying to gain complete control. Its claws are digging deep into her thoughts, trying to take over, doing their best to erase her.

That's when she realizes that what the monster is doing is taking out her soul, her essence, and putting in its own dark presence. It is trying to take over her body, something Darla isn't ready to allow.

No matter how terrified or weak she feels, she knows that evil can't be allowed to win.

Ever.

"You can't have this body," Darla says through gritted teeth.

She tries to focus on fighting the disgusting presence that crawls all over her body, like a worm trying to eat the apple to the core.

"I have already won. The future has begun," the presence says.

The next thing Darla knows, she is back in the land of slumber, surrounded by people who aren't really people. They seem to be ghosts. Evil ones at that.

They surround Darla.

Sneer at her.

Snap at her.

However, she knows that these particular monsters can't hurt her. They are a distraction for the one bleeding her dry, trying to take over her body. To do who knows what with it.

Thus, she reopens her eyes only to flinch back in horror as she looks directly into the endless depth of evil in the woman's eyes. It becomes clear that she isn't a monster per se. She is a manifestation of all evil there is, was, and could be.

"You will not win!" Darla says, pushing away the encroaching darkness from her mind.

"Why fight me, little one, when you can join me?" the voice says.

"Evil never dies. It lives forever," it says with an alluring voice that promises not only a future but a forever that Darla has often dreamed about.

For a split second, she can't help but contemplate the idea of living forever, not worrying that someone will break your heart, that pain will consume you. However, she soon chases those thoughts away because she knows better.

She knows that being evil is easier. However, it's not as fulfilling as being good can be. Evil might live forever, but the goodness of one's heart can't be surpassed by anything evil can come up with. It shines the light on everyone and everything that comes into its reach and burns brighter than thousand stars.

"Forever is overrated," Darla says as she shoves at the presence even harder.

This time, she not only manages to expel it, but as her hands finally raise up from her bed, she manages to push away the lady. At that moment, the woman, the monster, becomes just a cloud of darkness lurking in the corner of her room.

"You humans have always been foolish, but you'll regret this. You don't want to be in evil's bad books, and you are definitely there now. Believe me," it says as it slowly dissolves into the floor.

Darla finally manages to get up, covered in sweat and shaking more than she ever has in her entire life. However, the moment light blesses her room with its presence, she knows everything will be okay. Evil will never win, and she is strong enough to fight, even something as scary as evil wrapped up into an eerie old lady.

"I have to get a dog," Darla mumbles, remembering that she has read somewhere that animals can sense an evil presence.

Falling asleep is not something Darla believes she can do after everything that has happened. So, she decides to check the time to see how long she will need to suffer before daylight finally comes.

"3:05," she mumbles in shock.

The blaring light of her cellphone hurts her eyes as much as the realization that comes with it.

She has heard stories that if you wake up at three in the morning, there is a possibility that someone is watching you. It's clear to her now that the stories were true, but she wonders if her whole duel with evil could have lasted only five minutes, as it felt like an eternity to her.

"I am sorry I didn't believe you, grandma," Darla says, remembering she was the one who warned her about it.

She proceeds to brew some coffee. She hopes its familiar bitterness can chase away the residual unease and fear that almost being possessed by evil leaves her with.