The Night Visitor

<Muffled speech; outside building>

[light humming]

1:30 again...Darling, if you keep staying up late working, you'll never get your beauty sleep...

Though I suppose you made it back to your bed this time. Did you underfill your nightcap again? Or is the pull of my love starting to become familiar to you?

[sigh] You fell either way. You'll always fall for me. One way or the other...

<Glass tapping, as though against window>

Surely you've noticed by now that you can't live without your little nightcap, dearest. Just like you can't live without my love.

<Window sliding open; end muffle>

That's because I add my love to your drink. Can you taste it? Have you even noticed?

Falling right for me...Down to where I can see you. Feel you. Touch you. That's all that really matters, darling. It's just you experiencing my love.

Tch. Your slumber makes it so easy to come inside, dear. That, and your willing ignorance towards the window latch being broken. I never have to worry about a struggle from you. No complaints...no pushback...just love. My love. The only kind of love you deserve.

You're too addicted to the restfulness you're getting now to stop drinking my gift, aren't you my dear?

I think you've only missed it twice. Two times you neglected my love, and two times you spent awake in bed. Unrested. Agonizing over your sleeplessness. Agonizing being without me. Tossing and turning, begging for some kind of savior to rescue you.

I'm your savior, love.

I will free you from that pain when you finally open up to my attempts to meet your conscious half. When it's not so...complicated. Your conscious half thinks it knows better. Better than fate. Better than me. That's okay, though...we all make mistakes. 

And because I love you so, I shall be patient with you. No hand will be laid on you before you are ready, no matter how deeply I crave to do so now. I will not force you to remain with me in your daily life.

This would all be so much easier if you'd just give in to me. Give in to my love. My charms. My yearning desire to protect and nurture you. To watch you grow into something incredible. You'll bloom ever so beautifully...

[Elongated pause; let this moment sink in]

I hope your vines grow towards me like sunlight. Your roots like water. Growing towards me out of need, and not just want. Make no mistake, your only true way forward is to let me in. I will make sure of it.

Not into your home. Not into your sight. I've already made my way there. I mean for you to let me into your heart. Your routine. Your soul. Every fiber of your being, carefully unwoven and strung back together with mine. We really could mesh that well together, you know. 

I would be your sunlight. Your oxygen. Whatever metaphor you need to hear that will make you mine. 

But you're not mine. Not yet, anyway. That stubborn conscious half of you still believes that I don't serve your best interests. "Creepy", I think you called it. "Perverted", another time. Despite your hurtful words, you still curl closer to me when I watch over you at night. One time, you even reached out...right to where I was standing. You reached out to me. Your subconscious knows you need me. Your body aches to be held by me, too.

Even when you're awake, your soul seeks me out. A change in the routine walk home that brings you right to where I am watching you is no coincidence. Deciding to try a new café in town which so happens to be where I work? Switching up your wardrobe to add my favorite color? 

[Deep inhale; sniffing] Even your new perfume has my captivation. The scent of peach and petrichor is simply too unique to be a random assortment. I think your soul has tried to learn the things that make me happy...just as I have learned yours. I always wonder what details it retains from my nightly visits.

These aren't just the works of spontaneity, my love. This is the work of fate. Something you seem to deny at every turn. If even fate knows we are slated to be together, one way or another, then it is simply foolish to reject its frequent message. Your soul desires me. Your unconscious mind desires me. Why can't you admit that to yourself?

You've always been so good about trusting your gut. Last year, when you quit your job? You felt like you had to leave, but couldn't tell why...now you make more money under less stress, for a company that isn't being sued to oblivion. Or when you went to see your parents for their birthday, which just so happened to be the final weekend before they moved to another country for retirement. Do you know that I watched these things too? I wish we could share these warm moments together. Share in the good fortune that follows your every footstep.

Even meeting me the first time was trusting your soul's judgment. A stranger asks if they can sit at your table in a crowded café, which turns into a date? That is better than I ever could have planned for.

All the more frustrating, then, that you refuse to follow up on it.

[Elongated pause, let the moment shift directions]

I know there's not anybody else you yearn for. I see your friends, scarce as they are and the less you choose to see them. No secret chain of letters or text to a lover in secret. You've dated in the past...it's not like it's a concept that's off the table for you. So why, darling, must you so carefully and decisively flee from me when I get anywhere close to you?

Do you perhaps fear that I'll be too controlling? My dear, my dear...I wouldn't dream of it. I won't stop you from living your life. You will still have your job, your friends, your family, your everything. I love all the things you've built up in your life. That's part of who you are. I just want to partake in a little part of each of those places, just as I hope you partake in a little bit of each part of my life. That said, it will be oh so clear that you're mine~!

Do you worry about me watching over you? In the past, you've used such mean words like "stalking". I would prefer to call it...observing. But that's neither here nor there. Surely you realize that when you let me in that I no longer need to watch you so closely. No longer need to have these nightly chats. No longer need to work in the shadows. Because I'll be right here in front of you! Right in your worldview, with nothing to hide.

Your unconscious mind is so calm when I ask questions. What a curse it is that only your conscious mind can answer them, but refuses to do it.

<Wind blowing sound, possibly a window rattle; You left the window open!>

{The listener begins to move in their sleep}

It seems you are beginning to stir. Leaving the window open...my greatest vice. My hubris has cut our time short.

[From further away; as the speaker begins to leave]

Mark my words, love. You will be mine soon enough. You will let me in one day. I hope your soul is strong enough to make your mind understand that.

May you sleep oh so soundly tonight without me, dear.

[Steps to leave; window to close]

END.