One, the first three stories from Darby.

My family and I lived in a house that was whispered to have been bad luck for all the

people who lived in the house before us.

While I was too young to really pay too much attention to what adults were saying, I did

have one experience.

When I was very small, maybe somewhere around five years old, I became terrified of sleeping.

No joke, utterly full on panic attack, the thought of falling asleep.

The second I could tell it was starting to get to be around bedtime, I would be an anxious

mess, wanting to cry and panicking, but unable to articulate to the adults around me why I was

so terrified.

It was the act of knowing I would have to fall asleep that was terrifying.

Even stranger was it although I was afraid to fall asleep, I could only actually fall asleep

if I was the first person sleeping.

I had to be the first person to sleep in my house to even remotely have a chance of

actually calming my fear.

I would almost become hysterical if I was still awake when others were going to bed.

If I were to wake up in the middle of the night to find everyone else to sleep, I would

freak out then too.

It didn't happen every night, but when it did, it was horrible.

I would beg my oftentimes exhausted parents to wake up because I was terrified of being

up in the dark by myself.

My parents tried everything to help me with this.

...