[thisislife]

His eyes snapped open, heart racing, panic quivering in his eyes, fear trembling through his flesh, flickering, flitting through him. The night swept in hurricane circles, the black gyre swirling as a maelstrom all caught up with doubt and dread and demons, a swirling panic churned from some sea floor. But wait – hold – for a finger reassured him, pressed gently across his lips, the stirring thing drawing close, close, closer ever still – hush, it bade him – he could make it out now: those snake-eyes, the sharp teeth, that twisted tongue winding constantly amidst the jowls. His brother’s spit was black as ink, his jaws wide and wanting, his words spilling thick as honey across the man’s still-waking skin. “Be calm, my brother; we have nothing to fear but the work of Man.”