The days are long and dark, the nights even darker. I sleep in the day and eat at night. When I hear the noise settle in the house, when the long, triangular slash of yellow light runs up the far corner of the room like an abandoned Lightsaber, that’s when I know everyone’s gone to bed. That’s when I sigh, think of my mates Slomo, Shelley and Gary fast asleep beneath the soil.
And that’s when I try not to feel too lonely.
BAM! It hits me! I am King of the Mountain! I am Bigfoot trudging through darkness, soil soft under my foot! I am out to conquer the world! That’s how I’ll do it … get through this cold, dark spell. I’ll use my imagination, my only friend who’s not hibernating and I’ll become anything I want. I can be anybody.
Can you hear me?
Silence yawns. Nobody is listening. There’s nobody to josh with, not the black blob outside my tank, not the thing in the wall.
My heartbeat slows. Do – I – give – into – temp – ta – tion?
Sh – ou -ld – I – f – all – in – to – a – win-ter – s-l-e-e-p?
The scratch begins in the wall. I am awake. I am suddenly ready.