The shambling darkness

My eyes closed slowly and I drifted off to sleep.

"Richard..."

I opened my eyes slowly.

"Richard..." I heard again from countless voices.

In the far end of my room laid an inky darkness, not the usual canopy of night but something that fed from light itself; consumed everything around it, creating an hazy grayish halo around itself. And yet, out of that pulsating miasma of shadows, many a creature walked out slowly. Things I recognized from childhood but now altogether different. Whereas they were distant before, now they were close, whereas before I could not quite gaze at them, now they were all too clear. Gleaming teeth and pale eyes that stared at me, beckoning me. Shapes I could not make out, as if their angles belonged to another world possessing different laws of geometry. All of them somewhat recognizable yet far too alien too fully comprehend.

"Richard..." The sound came from many a chattering mouth.

Out of the corner of my eyes I saw a light and as I turned, I realized that the sun was rising and that the light pouring in was pushing away the darkness. I cannot remember what happened afterward, I fell unconscious and woke up later in the afternoon.

I partake of my tale now, as a warning. They are coming back, I am only one of the first to be taken. I urge you to heed my warning. As for me, I fear it is too late; they have my smell and sooner or later I'll slip and they will be back.

God, why is it that they make no noise when they move?