Not edited and quite short, but it's a start.

My heart is pounding in my chest, my knee bouncing. My palms are clammy and my eyes are begging me to close. I stare at the research paper due for class tomorrow, looking for any mistakes. I've looked over it three times now, but I would have nothing left to do in order to stay awake. The last thing I want to do is sleep. I've been going strong for two days and I can't give in until tomorrow.

I jump when I hear a soft knock on my bedroom door. My brother's head peeks through and I sigh, turning away. "What do you want?" I mumble, agitated from the lack of sleep. My brother, James, leans over my head, looking at the research paper in my hand. "I just wanted to know what you want for dinner. Angela is coming over, so I thought you probably wanted something for yourself." I nod, my eyes glaring out with exhaustion. Angela is James's girlfriend, his soon-to-be wife. He'll get married and I'll be separated from the picture once Angela realizes that I'm up at night with nightmares when I try to sleep.

Since I was little, I've always had terrible nightmares that would leave me trembling with fear. There have been many nights where my parents and brother had to wake me up and calm me down from a panic attack. Once my parents died in a freak accident, I've had to wake up from the nightmares on my own. Eventually, I restricted my sleeping times. I go a few days without sleep, and then endure a night of nightmares.

James rests his hand on my shoulder, startling me, and spins my chair around. His hazel eyes bore into my blue ones. I try to look away, but he grabs my face and forces me to look at him. His eyes flicker over my features, searching me for something.

"You need to sleep, Echo. Sleep is better than no sleep, you should know that." He says, his voice stern. He reminds me of Dad. I shake my head, pushing away from him and cleaning up my desk. I have to keep my body moving in order to stay awake. "I'm fine James, don't worry about me."

"That's my job. You need to sleep, even if you have nightmares." I protest when he picks me up and lays me in bed, glaring at me. "Sleep, right now. You need it." He demands and I sit up, fuming. "Don't tell me what I need!" I snap and he lays me back down, holding me. "I'm going to have to talk to a doctor if you don't sleep, Echo Marie. This is getting to be too much and too dangerous." He snaps back, backing away from me. I glare daggers into him, but I know he's right. It isn't normal to go days without sleeping on purpose. Nor is it normal to have constant nightmares.

I struggle to ignore the urge to sleep, but my mind shuts down before I can stop it. Not soon after do the nightmares begin.

My body shivers uncontrollably from the cold air. It pierces through my skin and nips at my bones like teeth. I wrap my arms around myself, trying to conserve any body heat left to salvage.

I feel cold fingers brush my shoulders. The shadow eventually presses itself entirely against my back. I can feel the skin and the bones that protrude from its body press against me. I shudder, but I don't care to move. I've had this nightmare a million times.

"I'll find you, Echo." The shadow whispers in my ear. I feel my heart drop to my feet. The shadow never speaks. It only laughs, attracting more shadows and cold hands to claw me into the depth of an unseen chasm. The nightmares never change, they're always the same. I always know what to expect.

I suddenly feel long arms wrap around me, holding me close. I hear a slow heartbeat throbbing in my ear as it's pressed against the shadow's chest. I can hear and feel the other shadows lingering around us, but they're not coming near.

The shadow holding me is...protecting me.

I wake with a start, confusion bouncing around in my mind. What just happened? The nightmare wasn't a nightmare. I was being protected. The shadow protecting me spoke to me. It was intelligent, but how? Those nightmares are only fragments of my imagination, and I didn't ever think of the shadow speaking to me.