The Effects of Sleep Paralysis

Chapter Two

he next morning, I woke, feeling completely exhausted, unable to fall asleep after my nightly visitor. No matter how many times I had told myself it wasn't real, I couldn't find it in me to let my guard down. I'd lain awake, jumping at every crack in the house.

Trying to forget the night before, I busied myself with some yard work. It looked as if nobody had mowed the grass in months. Around midday, I noticed a trio of people standing at the end of our driveway, staring at me. Thinking that they were just friendly neighbors coming over to say hello, I walked over to greet them. I waved and said, "Hello, how are you doing?".

The group looked eerily similar, aside from their age. It seemed to be a little girl with her mother and grandmother. They all had the same pale blond hair, cut in the same way, very long and lanky.

"Thank you for coming.", the little girl said calmly, holding a toy ball tightly in her small hands.

A chill spread through me. That wasn't exactly the response I was looking for. "Uh, sure. No problem. Thanks for coming to greet me."

The ball slipped from the girl's hands, rolling across the dirt, and coming to a stop at my feet. She made a move to retrieve it, but her grandmother shot out her hand, gripping her shoulder, and hissing something at her. Her eyes widened as she stumbled back a step.

This is getting weird.

Clearing my throat, I kicked the ball back towards the girl. As she picked it up, I spoke, "Well, I have a lot of work to do, but it was nice meeting you."

Instead of being normal people and walking away at my subtle hint, they only stood there, staring at me as I walked away. I shuddered. Of course, we had to get stuck with creepy neighbors.

When night fell, I was feeling a bit better about the house. Over the course of the day, I'd convinced myself that last night was just a strange anxiety-caused nightmare. After we crawled into our bed, I kissed Emily good night and relaxed. I was ready for a full night's rest.

3:00am. My eyes shot open. I tried to move, and once again found myself unable to manage a twitch.

Tap, tap, tap.

Immediately, my gaze went to the foot of my bed. A shadow shifted in front of the bedroom door, stretching as high as the ceiling. A warbling sound started, growing louder and louder as the shadow grew closer. It felt like my eardrums were about to explode. I could feel them vibrating. Whatever was coming, it was breaking the sound barrier.

I tried to yell, I tried to thrash. All I could manage was to become more panicked, locked in place by a spiritual force.

A grotesque hand gripped the sheets near my feet, the whites of it's bones shining in the moonlight. Claws replaced fingernails, razor-edged and threatening.

Two glowing eyes peeked out over the edge of my bed. Hollow, yet conveying the depths of abyss. It felt like only making eye contact would suck my soul out.

Clack-clack-clack.

The creature came to it's full height, it's jaw snapping furiously. Slowly, it climbed onto the bed.

This could be the moment I die. My breaths came out in short rasps as I tried to fight the terror crashing over me. It's claws looked as if they could easily slice through me.

I prepared for it to pounce, but it didn't.

Instead, it became motionless, remaining in place at the foot of my bed like some sinister mannequin. It stared back at me.

And that's the way we stayed, until I was finally released from my paralysis as the first light of day shone through my room. In a fraction of a second, the demon slid of my bed and retreated out the door.

I switched on my bedside lamp, this time leaving it on, trying to control my breathing. I knew I wouldn't be getting any more sleep that night.