The Collector

It all started about a year ago; it was a normal day. I woke up and went to class which was its normal boring activity then later I went to work at the local burger joint. All in all is was just a typical day that is until that night; around one in the morning I was woken up by police cars driving by my apartment complex. I tried going back to sleep, but I kept hearing strange noises in my apartment; I got out of bed and checked my whole place but couldn't find anything wrong. I laid back in bed but as soon as I did the noises came back, I sat up in bed and that's when I noticed something standing in the corner of my room. I turned on the light and looked back to the corner, but nothing was there; when I turned off the light the dark figure reappeared. I looked around to see what could be causing it but couldn't find anything; after a couple more minutes I shrugged it off and went back to sleep.

For the next two weeks every night I would look to that corner to see if the shadow was still there but it wasn't; eventually I forgot about it and everything went back to normal. Another week goes by and by now I had stopped checking that corner, but as soon as I turned off the lights and laid down in bed I heard the noise again. I sat up and looked towards the corner and there it was again, this time I could see these two red glowing eyes. At first I thought it was just lack of sleep and I was just imagining it but as I reached over to turn on the light the noise started to get louder and it changed from a soft humming noise to almost a growl. I put my hand down and the growling stopped, but the humming came back, after a couple long seconds I quickly reached back for the light and right before I turned it on the shadow came towards me almost as if were flying and then it disappeared. 

For the next week I didn't turn the lights off when I went to sleep, I was too scared of whatever it was that came at me that night. After a few more weeks, I started seeing this girl I had psychology with; things were going great until she stayed the night at my place one night. When we finally decided to go to bed I left the light on like I had been doing for the past few weeks and this caused her to ask me if I was going to turn them off. I told her that I sleep with the light on, I could tell she found this weird but instead of asking any questions she just put her head down and fell asleep soon after I followed. At some point during the night, she must have turned off the light because I woke up to the humming noise again. I didn't sit up when I heard the noise I just reached for the light and turned it on and just like the other night the figure came towards me and then vanished by the time the light was on.

Even though I didnt look up at the figure as it came towards me I could feel its presents which caused me to jump as I turned on the light. I must have shook the bed because she woke up soon after and asked what was going on. I told her I had a bad dream and everything was okay she just nodded and fell back asleep. After a few more weeks of this I started to become a little bit distant and she began to notice. She finally confronted me about it and that's when I finally told her. As I was telling her about the figure and what had been going on I could see in her facial expressions that she thought I was crazy. After I finished explaining she began to yell at me and told me if I wanted to break up with her I should have just said so instead of coming up with such a ridiculous story.

She grabbed all of her belongings from my apartment the next day and told me if I ever decide to grow up I should call her. A few months go by and I ran into her again; she was dating someone new and told me she was really happy. That night I was so upset over running into her that I completely forgot about the figure and turned out my lights when I went to sleep that night. And just like all the other nights the figure came back except this time I was still mad about earlier that day so instead of quickly turning on the light I sat up in bed and began yelling at the figure. After a couple minutes of this I finally stopped talking and just looked at the corner a few seconds pass and all of a sudden the figure started making a new noise that it hadn't made before, it started laughing as if this was some kind of joke. I was so angry I yelled at it asking what was so funny and that's when it began to talk to me. It told me it had been watching me for awhile now and that it was here to take me away somewhere.

Our conversation lasted for a few more minutes and then it just dissappeared but not before telling me that it will not stop harrassing me until I decide to leave with it. After it left I knew this was more then just like of sleep I started to feel like I was going crazy. Every night for the next few months it came back, at first I wouldnt talk to it and tried to ignore it even when it kept talking. Eventually I couldnt ignore it anymore and began talking to it; I tried asking it questions but all it would tell me is that he is the collector and that he was there to take me with him. I could feel myself slowly losing my sanity every night that I sat up and talked to it. I tried getting help but all they did was label me as crazy and try and give me pills which didnt help.

Eventually, even my boss at work took notice and told me that I had to take some time off. which didn't help my mental state at all. After a week of not working my boss called me and told me that they had replaced me already and that I needed to return my uniform. A few weeks past and since my grades had started slipping in my classes and since I was already on academic probation I ended up getting kicked out of school. This drove me into a deep depression with no one to talk to but the figure in my room. One night it told me that I have nothing keeping me here anymore and that it would be better if I just took him up on his offer and went with him.

For the next month I thought about it, thought about what was keeping me in this world and after weeks of coming up with nothing I decided to take him up on his offer. The next night that he came to my room I told him that I made my decision and that I will go with him. He started laughing and thats when this reddish light began to glow around him and I could finally see the figure in the corner. And thats when I realized that this whole time I finally knew who I was talking to. Before I could say anything a big gust of wind started blowing in my room and this light appeared next to him which got bigger and bigger until it turned into what I could only assume was a portal or doorway.

He extended his hand and told me it was time to go; I was filled with so much fear that all I could do was follow his demand. As we walked closer to the doorway I could feel the heat coming from it that was so hot I could feel my skin start to boil. Right, before we entered I changed my mind and tried to get away, I tripped and fell to the floor and that's when he grabbed me by the ankle and began dragging me towards the open portal. I struggled to try to grabbing anything I could to keep me from going but there was nothing and it was too late. We made it through the portal and I watched it slowly close trapping me inside forever.