POV: Kenny

“I was not brave, I was afraid.”

That was the first thing I remembered saying, though I did not know who I said it to.

My eyes were closed, but I could still see. The dark around me was not empty, It moved, breathed, listened. Every time I tried to drift away, something nudged me back, as if the darkness itself did not want me to sleep.

“Open them,” a voice said.

It did not sound like mama or papa, It did not sound like anyone.

“I do not want to,” I whispered.

“You ...