Free My Daylight Monsters by Sarah Dalton

in Mo’s story, there is malevolence lurking in the hospital. Maybe it’s in the walls. Freezing molasses spread through my veins.
    “Truth or dare, Mary?” Lacey asks. She sloshes more drink into our cups. “Your turn!”
    My heart still hasn’t settled from the story and I really don’t want to do either. But there’s no way in hell I’m letting Lacey quiz me about the reason I’m at Magdelena, so I say, “Dare.”
    Lacey rubs her hands together. “I have an awesome idea. Seeing as we’ve had Mo tell a scary story, I think we should make Mary spend fifteen minutes in the dark room on her own.”
    “No,” Mo says. “Absolutely not.”
    It’s only then I realise he hasn’t had a single sip of his vodka. He’s the onl y one who doesn’t slur when he speaks.
    “Oh, come on, we’ve all done it,” Lacey says. “It’s an initiation.”
    “But Mary has issues,” he continues.
    “I have my own opinion , thank you.” I flash him a glare. The group break out into a high-pitched chorus of ‘ ooooooh’ s.
    “Lover’s tiff,” Anka says, snorting into her cup.
    Mo turns away from me and shrugs. My eyes stay on the back of his head for a few moments, but he doesn’t look back at me. He’s clearly pissed off.
    “So , are you gonna do it or what?” asks Lacey. “We’ve not got all night.”
    “All right,” I say. I have to clear my throat for a minute. Adrenaline courses through my body at the thought of doing something so risky. After weeks of being in a fog, I’m finally alive. “I’ll do it.”
    Lacey jumps to her feet and claps her hands together. “Then follow me.” She grabs the torch and we follow her into the darkness.

Chapter Nine
     
    The door drags a gainst the floorboards. Over the years it has sagged on its hinges. There are no windows. It’s simply a square room with the remains of padding on the walls.
    “It used to be a white room,” I say.
    “Yeah, probably,” Lacey says. “Get comfy. You’ve got fifteen minutes.” Lacey turns to leave with the others. “Watch out for the bodies in the walls.”
    Marcus makes ghost noises and dances in front of my face. I push him out the way and move towards Lacey. “Wait, don’t I get a torch?”
    She laughs. “It wouldn’t be much of a dare with a torch!”
    The others leave the room, each making scary noises, the kind you get on really old horror movies: a slow laugh, the woo-ooo-ooo of a ghost, the screeching of a cat. The door slams shut. I’m in complete darkness.
    Mo didn’t come with the others. He’s definitely mad at me. I shouldn’t have snapped at him like that, not when he’s trying to look out for me. It’s just that he’s such a fixer . He wants to make you better. He’s like the male equivalent of a girl who loves bad boys. It’s pretty cute, when you think about it.
    I make myself comfortable by sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall. It’s not so bad. It’s a bit cold; the floor is dusty and I can’t see a thing, but I’m okay, I can keep it together, if I keep reminding myself that there’s nothing in the dark that isn’t in the daylight. I see monsters everywhere, anyway. What could possibly scare me? I’ve seen skull-men and zombie things. They help me. I don’t know why, but they do.
    I lean my head back against the wall. Why did Johnny say I was afraid of the darkness? It was the way he said it: afraid of the dark ness . Like it wasn’t the dark, it was something else. Where had he gone?
    When I rest my head against the wall and close my eyes , I hear a scratching sound coming from the walls. It’s like fingernails running against a door.
    “Ha, ha, very funny,” I call out. “You’ll have to do better than that if you want to freak me out.”
    I expect sniggers on the other side of the door but there’s nothing. The scratching stops, though. Maybe they got bored. It’s probably Lacey.
    I settle back and s hut my eyes again. If I can make myself relax, the fifteen minutes