It had been almost a year and a half and I’d still never grown used to the darkness. Every once in a while, on what must have been especially sunny days, glimmers of light would come through the miniscule spaces between the boards of the false wall. But most of the time I could barely see my own hand even when it was just a few inches from my face. I didn’t need to see myself to know that I was fading away, that were I to...

The front door slammed jolting me awake. I hated falling asleep while babysitting. The parents always reassured me it was completely fine, but it made me feel like I was letting them down. Quickly, I hopped up from the couch hoping my employer would never suspect what I'd been doing for the past few hours. I heard him pausing to hang his coat in the closet, which gave me a few seconds to fix my disheveled honey blonde hai...