Stephen King, "'Salem's Lot"
"At three in the morning the blood runs slow and thick, and slumber is heavy. The soul either sleeps in blessed ignorance of such an hour or gazes about itself in utter despair. There is no middle ground. At three in the morning the gaudy paint is off that old whore, the world, and it has no nose and a glass eye. Gaiety becomes hollow and brittle, as in Poe's castle surrounded by Red Death. Horror is destroyed by boredom. Love is a dream."