The Dimmers are thieves of energy, love and light. Particular addicts with definite preferences. They always return to the same rivers, lakes and streams. You are the water. Some dimmers are people, some are not. Some dimmers are created by people, through misery, fear and self doubt. Some are not. Some are definitely not.

Some pose as friends. Some pose as family. Some pose as shadows on the wall. They come from all realms and in many forms. They have a thirst that cannot be quenched from cups.

The dimmers that are born from people are dependent and attached to them. Misery loves company is no myth. Some that created a dimmer are aware of it, even love it. Protect it. Feed it. A symbiotic relationship with a dark magnificence and an insatiable appetite.

Dimmers that are people are eternal victims without accountability, only blame, only excuses. They refuse to accept the possibility of being happy. A particular addict that requires misery. A particular addict with a preference, an acquired taste for the light of others. Most people do not think they are Dimmers.

Dimmers use nostalgia and obligation to be near you. Thoughts are lights and love. It takes light to feel sorry, reverse engineered these thoughts become another source of nourishment. While you are occupied in mind, they give you more burdens and more worry. These gifts occupy your thoughts. Tools, perfectly adapted to drain. Your love carries weight for them. This weight weakens you, tires you.

When you carry a Dimmers burden, they take from you. Dimmers want to keep you and never let you go. You are water. You are wine. You are consistently delicious. You are obligated, perhaps by family, perhaps by suggestion, perhaps by guilt. You are forbidden from leaving, forbidden to grow beyond them.

They are friends with the box and have many secrets with your name on them. They have expectations. They feel entitled to what they do in the dark. These Dimmers hide things that are yours with smiles and greed. When you smile at a dimmer in possession of your secrets they catch the light. They absorb it, rub it everywhere, savor it. Some are even aroused by it. Your authenticity is a delicacy that they know can go nowhere in lies and in bad faith.

Dimmers relish in the thought of your failure. They hope for it, even pray for it. These thoughts have wings and wind and exist only to find you. Sometimes you can even feel them on your shoulders or in your hair. They have weight and intent.

You know a dimmer, but you never had a name for them until today. They are the people that you stopped asking “how are you today?” because you know what the answer is. You expect misery from them and you are not wrong. A Dimmer can toss worry at you by any means. If it occupies your thoughts with negativity it is a meal.

If you choose to leave a Dimmer they will resent you, even hate you. They are particular addicts who will shake and starve. They will fire wings and wind at you constantly, they will stomp on your name. Tell lies about you and beg your energy to return. They want their wine. They want their water.

All Dimmers regardless of realm are cowards. Their power was secrecy and without the light of others they are weak and fearful. Awareness is a powerful weapon.

Until today, I only reacted when a Dimmer tried to drink my water. I can hear them coming and see them everywhere with blind eyes. They are nothing to me now and are brushed off like flies regardless of form or realm of origin.

My Dimmers, listen well.

As of this moment I am done simply reacting. I now hunt you deliberately and with calculation. I am the shadows on your wall, the whispers in your wind and in your ear. I am that thing that touches you in the night. I am under your bed and behind your curtains. I am the cold when you flip your pillow. I am that smell. I am that fear. I am your unease. I am your uncertainty. I am your shame. I am your guilt. I am that one who waits in the hall between bathroom and bed.

All realms are known to me and you cannot hide. You will know it is me. You will feel me and you will shiver. You will hear my many voices and see my many faces. Consumption of my Dimmers has begun. I am fearless. I am relentless.

Warren

If you enjoy this short piece you may also like Box Solders or The Persistence of Numbers