SHORTS

SLEEP PARALYSIS

SLEEP PARALYSIS

            I like sleep. I especially like dreaming. It’s when I get to be in a world entirely my own, but it’s also the time my worst nightmares’ come out to play. Terrible,hideous looking things. Only there to taunt and torture me till consciousness takes me again.

            I stumbled into the door, laughing about some joke my friend told me that probably wouldn’t be funny if I wasn’t so drunk, but I guess drunk is the only option when your reality sucks. I’m single. I have been for quite some time. Who would want to date a minimum wage, college drop out? Hell, I wouldn’t date me. I guess that’s okay though, Alcohol will always be there for me to drown my sorrows in. Never forget to drink water though, I wouldn’t want to have any consequences to my guilty pleasure.

            I take one last sloppy swig of my beer and throw it at my friend as he walks back to his car. He probably shouldn’t be driving right now but hey, he’s only buzzed. I laugh once more as he twirls around shakily, trying to figure out what hit him. Okay, maybe a little more than buzzed.

            I slam the door a little harder than I had wanted and waddled to my bathroom to relieve myself but not before almost tripping over all the dirty clothes and trash in the living room and hallway. The bathroom light flickers on and I head towards the toilet. I glance in the mirror but look again and notice the black circles around my eyes. My face looked wasted and my scruffy facial hair didn’t help the fact that I could pass as a hobo right now.  I turn on the sink and splash some in my face before heading to my unmade bed. I face plant onto my bed and welcome sleep.

I was in darkness, total, complete darkness. ‘Crap’ was all I could think as I heard the familiar demonic laughter surrounding me. My body immediately began to tremble, I knew what was coming and I wasn’t particularly excited about it. Of course, my first instinct is to run even though I’ve had this dream a million times before and running was never the answer. Still, I ran for my life. As I ran and ran the laughter became louder and more taunting as if it was expecting that.

            I still kept running, my body still trembling and losing strength as I continued on. Within a blink of an eye, I was in a hallway. An eerie hallway, to say the least. It seemed to never end and have minimal light coverage but just enough to let you feel a spark of hope. Like every dream, I ran down it, looking for the exit I so desperately yearned for. Finally, when I thought I could see the end. A small figure was at the end too, waiting for me. I stopped dead in my tracks. I was close enough that I could see the outline of a girl, maybe my age but she looked...dead, to put it nicely, wearing a blood soaked, white gown.

            I swear I was about to pee myself but I would take any help I could get. I ran towards her and as I got closer, I noticed she was swaying back and forth and I couldn’t see her face with all the long, stringy black hair in the way.  “Hello?” I called out. No response. ”Please, I need to find a way out of here!” I half yell to make sure she heard me this time. I’m about two feet away from her and start to feel like maybe asking her wasn’t the best idea. I can still hear the demonic laughter in the distance. “Please” I whimper. “Please, help me.”

            The swaying stops and now I could hear her crying as if she were scared too. “Are you okay?” I ask and reach out my hand to touch her shoulder. Once my hand makes contact, the sobbing stops and her head shoots up at me. Her eyes are pure black but I knew she was looking at me. She smiles and blood drips from her mouth and now the demonic laugh was coming from her. I pull my hand away from her and B line it back down the hallway, still she laughed. I look back and see her  standing there looking at me, laughing. All of a sudden, I swear if I hand blinked I would’ve missed it but she was disappearing and reappearing about ten feet closer to me, over and over again. As she got closer the lights behind her began to break, making it look like the darkness was after me too.