Hello there. My name is Oliver Twitch. I am 25 years old, and I am not able to sleep on my own, due to a traumatic experience that I went through two years ago. I will pay you very well, and don't worry about other daytime jobs. It would be enough that you could do it full time. You just need to adhere to the rules of being a sleepwatcher, and guidelines can be found in the job description on their website. I hope to see you soon!

This was the message that I received when I signed up to be a sleepwatcher. My sister, Elena, thought that I was insane at the time: stay awake all night and get paid to watch someone sleep? She told me that I'd lost my mind. But we were young, only in our mid-twenties, (Around the same age as Oliver) and we needed some easy money. Elena had a part-time-job as a therapist, but it wasn't enough to support both of us. This opportunity was just too good to pass up. And who doesn't want a job where you get to stay awake all night and catch up on Netflix specials or YouTube videos in between checking up on a random person?

I'd found Sleep-Watchers.net like how anyone finds a job these days: through the internet. It had been the third or fourth icon that popped up when I typed "easy money job" into the search bar, so I'd clicked on it, hoping that it was what I was looking for. And boy, was it ever. I instantly signed up that very day, becoming a "Watcher," who, as mentioned earlier, was tasked with staying awake all night and watching your assigned "sleeper," under strict rules to not fall asleep or wake up the sleeper. The site did a VERY thorough background check on me; I had to fill out a document of information that I'd never posted on any website before, but this was a paying job. They couldn't have criminals logging on and stealing critical information about random insomniacs. I now had a small tab open on my computer screen that read: You are a Watcher, which I felt immensely proud of.

The job started promptly the next day, immediately after I had gotten the notice from my sleeper. I had agreed to start the video call with Oliver Twitch at about 8:30 that night, so I had plenty of time to get ready. Elena was still dubious of my decision, but still went out and bought me a six-pack of energy drinks to help me prepare. I slept hard throughout the day, and when I woke up around three in the afternoon, I was convinced that my first night would go well.

Time: 8:25 P.M.

By the time we were supposed to start the call, I had consumed enough caffeine to make a mouse go insane, but at least I wasn't sleepy in the least. Elena had told me that if the first night was a success, then she'd try to stay up with me as well, just to keep me company, which I appreciated. Oliver called me through the website, and suddenly, his face popped up on a webcam as I accepted the call. He smiled when he saw me, immediately introducing himself.

"Hi! I'm Oliver, but you can call me Olle. How was your day?" His sentence was rushed, forced, and his gray eyes were constantly moving, twitching left, right, left, right. I'd been around my sister long enough to know when someone was on an extreme caffeine high. I felt a pang of pity for this man, and I started to wonder what kind of terrible thing had happened to him that wouldn't allow him to sleep.

I tried to be as cheerful as possible in order to not make him uncomfortable, which wasn't hard. He was instantly trusting and seemed to perk up as soon as I spoke.

"Hello, Olle," I said nonchalantly. "My day was good, how was yours?"

"Great! I was so happy when I saw your application to be a Watcher, you know. I haven't gotten real sleep in months," Oliver told me, pupils flitting around like a nervous animal. He kept looking at the corner of his room, quickly turning around and checking behind him, as if out of suspicion. There was nothing to see, though. The only thing in his room was his unmade bed and a simple beige lamp on a nightstand.

"Well, I hope that I can change that," I said carefully, fully aware that this person had a lot of paranoia.

"Thank you so much. I am very grateful for that," He sighed happily, leaning even closer to the webcam with wide, glassy eyes.

I was starting to get uncomfortable, but I still forced a smile and resisted the urge to disconnect the call immediately.

"Why aren't you able to sleep?" I asked quickly, changing the subject. "All it said on your bio was 'a traumatic experience.' Do you want to tell me? It's okay if you don't."

Olle's rheumy eyes darkened and he backed away, looking down at his keyboard with a solemn expression. "I couldn't tell you. Even if I did, you wouldn't believe me. Maybe someday."

"Someday what?"

"Someday I'd tell you. Just...." His voice trailed off into a whisper, muttering and looking quickly around his room again.

"What did you say?" I asked, alarmed.

"Ah, nothing," Olle quickly dismissed, shaking his head as if to get rid of bad thoughts. "Well, would it be alright if I went to sleep now?"

"Oh! Yes, of course!" I rushed, forcing a smile. "I'll be here all night if you need anything. Don't worry."

"Thank you," he yawned, blinking tiredly, as if the two years of insomnia had all of a sudden caught up with him. "Just remember," he added, backing away from the webcam and sliding onto his bed. "Don't fall asleep." He warned, a layer of threat and fear creeping into his soft voice. Lying down, Olle cast one last glance at me before closing his eyes.

In minutes, he was snoring softly. I'd never seen anyone go into deep sleep in that fast, but who knows how long he'd been awake. I watched him sleep for a few minutes, feeling like the biggest creep in the universe, before clicking off the webcam and going onto the internet, ready to start the ten hour night shift.

Time: 12:15 A.M.

After a couple hours on the job, I started to get uneasy. I clicked off of the YouTube video I was watching and checked up on Olle again. He was still sleeping peacefully, but I thought that I had heard something from the video feed. It sounded like quiet, heavy breathing, but it was two far away from the camera to be Olle's.

His room was dark. The only light that was visible filtered through the shuttered windows, casting thin, barred patches of darkness on the ground. The back corner of the room that Olle had been so fascinated with while he was awake was now drenched in shadow. Anything could be hiding there. I thought nervously, before smiling and shaking my head. Girl, you've read too many horror stories. It's going to become a problem someday. I nearly laughed out loud, tempted to break the silence, but I was under strict rules to not wake up the sleeper per the watcher-code.

However, that didn't change the fact that I knew I'd heard something. I turned up the volume on my monitor, subconsciously leaning closer to the screen. Nothing. There was no movement from his room, and the heavy exhalations had stopped.

Maybe I imagined it? I thought tentatively, silently praying for that to be true. It was the middle of the night, and it couldn't be that hard to see or hear things that weren't there. I sighed in relief and watched Olle's sleeping form rise and fall as he breathed quietly. I was just about to click off of the video feed before something caught my eye.

It only lasted a second, but I could have sworn that I saw a person standing in the dark corner of Olle's room. Just barely muffling a yelp, I clicked off the feed and jerked my hands away from the mouse and keyboard as if they were poison. I blinked frantically and rubbed my eyes. My heart pounded, and I felt a chill run down my spine, my hands tingling. I took a deep breath and told myself to calm down. You are fine, there was nothing there, there was no reason for me to freak out.

"I'm fine," I whispered to myself, looking at the ceiling of my dark room.

When my heartbeat had returned to normal and I'd thoroughly convinced myself that nothing was going to come out of my computer to get me, Grudge-style, I quickly resumed watching YouTube, trying to put that experience to the back of my mind, which was easier said than done. My mind kept circling back to the event, preventing me from focusing on "Funny Cat Videos," and instead keeping me wide eyed and paranoid. I snorted.

"If I was trying to fall asleep, this would be the worst night ever," I muttered to myself. "But, lucky me, I'm getting PAID to survive a night of horror. Yay..."

Time: 2:59 A.M.

It was one minute until 3:00 A.M, and I couldn't have been more on edge. I was jumping at the slightest of noises, so the strange sound the air vent in my room was making was not helping whatsoever. I checked up on Olle again, but still, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

I yawned. Maybe I wouldn't invite my sister to stay up with me after all...

Time: 3:24 A.M.

My eyelids were finally starting to get heavy as the caffeine and the terror finally wore off. My hand was pressed into my cheek, supporting my head as I blinked frantically, my eyes rolling around in their sockets as I struggled to stay awake.

I yawned again, jaws stretching wide in defiance. I slowly slipped closer and closer to the desktop. Ten minutes wouldn't hurt. I thought sleepily.

I knew, deep down, that I was going to pay for this. The instructions on the website had specifically told me that falling asleep was a bad idea.

But I was too far gone, and my head hit the desk. I was out.

Time: ?????

"THUMP!"

I bolted awake, blinking frantically as I struggled to remember what I was doing. My heart sunk to the floor as it hit me. I'd fallen asleep, and I'd been woken up by a loud sound, which had obviously come from the video feed in Olle's room. Fumbling with my mouse for a couple seconds before dropping it on the floor, I silently cursed and bent down to pick it up, my pulse racing at a million miles a minute. Clicking onto the feed, the first thing I saw was his window.

It was open. The curtains were fluttering in a slight wind, sending drafts of night air into Olle's room. I could nearly feel the breeze myself. It was crawling down my spine like a demonic entity, red eyed and spider-legged. I suddenly dreaded what I was going to see when I looked at Olle.

I braced myself for the worst: my stomach was filled with such a sick feeling that I KNEW something would have been wrong, but.... Olle was still there. There wasn't a demon, or a ghost, or a corpse. It was still Olle. His dark figure lay prone on his bed, eerily immobile. I tilted my head in confusion. What was this feeling then, if it wasn't about Olle?

Just then, the little black demon on my spine gave a twitch, sending shivers through my entire body. I broke out into a cold sweat. I turned around frantically, my eyes scanning the room. I stopped dead.

There was someone else here. In my room. I could feel its gaze on my back, no matter where I turned. The air dripped with mockery, as if the unseen entity was laughing. My vision frantically scanned the entirety of my room, trying to find the source.

A white flash caught my eye, so I turned, and then I found it.

The man... well, it looked like a man, was standing in the darkest corner of my room. His clothes and skin seemed to be rippling like water, or oil, in the sense that the color was nearly unidentifiable in the dim light. At one moment, it was every color of the rainbow, but the next, it was as blank as a pane of glass. His arms were relaxed on his sides, revealing his unnaturally large, white hands. The only thing that stayed the same were his eyes. They glared down at me with an expression that revealed nothing. The entire eye: pupil, iris, and all, were a milky white color, but it seemed to not be reflecting any light. They were two black holes, sucking in any light that came close, completely circumventing the laws of physics. That pointed stare pierced my soul and saw all of my mistakes, my flaws, sifting through them like files in a drawer. His face was a blank canvas, but the mocking laughter still echoed in my ears.

I felt almost hypnotized by his gaze. As if in a trance, I lifted my hand up to my arm and pinched myself, hoping that the pinprick of pain could reassure myself that this was just a dream, but nothing happened. I realized that this wasn't some fairytale hallucination brought on by lack of sleep. This was real.

I suddenly got an urge to look at Olle again. The man was still standing there, but it was as if my terror of him had turned into background noise. Slowly spinning in my chair, I glanced at Olle through the feed, and my throat constricted in fear. Olle was no longer facing away from me, and now I was able to see his eyes. His lifeless, empty, dead eyes. I covered my mouth to stifle a scream.

Spinning back around, I saw that the man was still standing there. His colorless head was tilted to the side, white eyes accusing. His pale hands were now clenched, making fists the size of small watermelons.

"WHY!?" I screamed, not caring if I woke up my sister. "WHY DID YOU DO THIS?!"

He never spoke. And that's when the rational part of my brain kicked in and I realized that the answer was there the whole time. I'd fallen asleep. Sleep-Watchers.net had warned me that there would be a penalty for breaking any of the rules. Was this the penalty? I nearly felt my heart stop. I killed Olle.

With tear-blurred vision, I stared at The Watcher's white eyes, wishing that this was all a terrible nightmare.

There was only one thing that those eyes were telling me. This was all your fault.

Time: 9:55 A.M.

The Watcher left my room a little while after that. I kept staring at the corner where he'd stood, casting occasional glances at the video feed, where Olle's corpse lay, hoping that he'd suddenly sit up in bed and smile, telling me that it was just a prank and that I could continue on with life. That never happened.

Eventually, when I wasn't able to bear looking at the darkness any longer, I went into Sleep-Watchers.net. I looked up Olle's name into the site, looking for anything I could have found about his past, or at least a relative I could tell about this.

What I found... I never could have imagined.

Oliver Twitch (Wishbone 43) signed up to be a Watcher on August 27th, 2015 for Viola May Locklear. He was removed from that position because of Code Violation #5, and disobedience of all three rules. FELL ASLEEP. WOKE UP SLEEPER. ACTIVATED THE EMERGENCY PROTOCOL.

I felt my heart stop. Olle had been a Watcher? And he broke the rules too?

I suddenly realized that Olle hadn't been lying when he said "a traumatic experience." He'd watched someone die right in front of him, just like I had. Poor Viola, whoever she was.

"What's going to happen to me now?" I whispered to myself, glancing at the tab that said: You are a Watcher. I slowly dragged my mouse over to the tab and clicked on it. The chill that had been present ever since the Watcher had killed Olle was still there. I could feel it resting there, a constant reminder of what I'd done, no matter how hard I tried to forget. If I fell asleep, the monster would come for me, and even if he didn't, nightmares of Olle's dead face would haunt me. I needed someone to help. Someone needed to HELP ME.

I clicked on the tab again. The words changed suddenly. I sighed and looked around my room in paranoia.

"Please. Be my Watcher. Don't let me die."