It has been seven days since my world was shattered. Seven days since I have had the luxury of a worldly view beyond my window. Seven days with Him. He still has not told me his name.

The initial shock of the happening has passed, and yet my world still feels upside down and shaken up. The fear of what is to come is no longer as jarring, it’s now a low frequency hum; always present in my core, vibrating just beneath my skin. I know now that I do not possess a single private thought, not as long as He is in my home. Maybe even if, or when, He’s gone too. 

I have spent the past three days mapping my surroundings, testing the limits of the null outside of my home. My invader never stops me, but observes quietly- even when I don’t realize it. Yet, His voice always finds its way into my mind- interjecting itself into my deepest contemplation with condescending, half threats. So far He has not been outwardly violent or harmful to me, though I’m not sure if He’s just toying with me until the right moment comes about. Instead, at least for now, the cruelty is intellectual and intimate. He makes me review my own notes- the very books I used to summon him that night- and forces me to read them aloud to him as he stares intently from the blue velvet sofa in my living room. His form, a disturbing inky presence, almost too large for the sofa- contrasts the furniture impeccably. Each time I cite my peers, he dismisses them with a single, devastating remark. Revealing their petty motivations or flaws, that I myself could have never known. 

“Your peers,” he looked upon me yesterday as he spoke with the inflection of blue hot rollers over mewling infants, tapping his claws against the coffee table, “their concern was with trivialities, boredom was their only ceiling.” 

I looked from the text to meet His gaze, and He paused, reading my inquiring mind- reading every ambition etched into my very bones. A primordial feeling of not fear, but cold stillness welled inside of me until he spoke once more,

“But you,” his voice dropped to a warm, resonant rumble, “You pursued the forbidden with vigor, you sought out truth where others did not dare- and now that you have my attention, I assure you that the only currency that matters in your changing world, is my approval.”

Tonight, I have plans to overthrow my invader.