The Sleepless Night

The darkness lingers just before dawn at Andrew's residence. Jill Andrew, a young woman in her early twenties, sleeps soundly in her bedroom. For months, she has been haunted by disturbing dreams that blur the boundary between fiction and reality. When she awakens, traces of those dreams remain, leaving her bewildered and terrified. Jill Andrew grew up as a lonely child. Her parents were rarely present, as they frequently travelled. In their absence, she was looked after by the housekeeper, Anna Cole, whom she learnt to see as a mother figure. Anna was the only constant in her life while her parents were absent. Her mother, Sharon Andrew, greets her with a warm smile this morning. On a rare day off to honour their long-lost mother-daughter bond, Jill appreciates the comfort and enjoys the normalcy of the situation. But beneath her cheery face lies a deep worry, a secret she can't even confess to herself: she hasn't had her period in months. The next day, Jill confides in her best friend, Alice Thompson, who encourages her to consult a doctor. The truth that follows is more horrifying than either of them could have imagined: Jill is three months pregnant despite having never had a sexual encounter. Medical tests confirm the unbelievable, throwing Jill into a tailspin of disbelief. Even Alice, her ever-rational buddy, finds it difficult to comprehend. As Jill's bewilderment worsens, her dreams become more unsettling. One night, she awakens in her bedroom to discover Larry, a mysterious and frightening being, sitting calmly at the foot of her bed. He claims to be the father of her unborn child, a being stranded between worlds who uses her body as a portal to return to Earth. His terrifying words reverberate in her mind: "I live in you now." Jill is left on the verge of a nightmare, unable to awaken from the horrors unfolding in her life. As she struggles with the reality, she must face the terrifying prospect that her pregnancy is the consequence of something far more sinister and beyond her control. In a world where reality shifts, Jill is forced to examine all she thought she knew, including herself. Can she evade this unseen influence or become a vessel for something unspoken? As the line between dream and reality blurs, the answers lie in the shadows, waiting to be discovered.