Perception

4 . Paralyzed

"Shh, don't lift your head up. If you move an inch, I'll stab you." I heard behind me.

"Who's there?" I asked. "Who's behind me?"

I felt a folded piece of paper being placed on my hand behind me, while I was lying down facing the other side, and his other hand holding down my head.

"Who is it?" I asked. And I wondered why no one around me was waking up.

"Quiet!" The guy hissed, and placed one more paper on my palm. My whole body went cold. A shiver ran down my spine. I wanted to cry.

"Shhh!" The guy kept hissing. I somehow felt it was a fancy knife the guy was holding up my head. Despite him telling me to not call out for anyone, I reached and called my mama.

"Mama, there's... somebody behind me." I cried out softly. She sat up, staring at me, and then the guy behind me.

"Not one word. I'll finish her off right now."

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD YOU BASTARD! "

4th October, 2017

-3:30 am

I wake up, screaming, and falling off my bed. I get up, run, and turn on all the lights, looked under my bed, closet, and everywhere else. I've never had such a scare in a long time. I walk to the bathroom, wash my face gently, wiped it off with the tee I was wearing, and walked back slowly.

I go back to my bed, sat, and stared at the streetlights gleaming through my window. It was silent like the stars when I woke up. So quiet. I couldn't even hear myself scream.

I try to untie my bun and fix my curls, but my hands aren't responsive. They're shaky. My feet, trembling in fear, and watery eyes.

***

-4:00 pm

"Look Sophie, I took the whole day to not think of this. It just keeps coming back to me. I cannot unsee it. It's there, in the back of my head. More like my recent memories. I'm not able to forget it." I described, impatiently.

"Abigail, look at you. You're sleep deprived. You haven't slept after that. Your face looks really dull. Your eyes watery, dark circles, clearly you're not improving." She said. "I cannot assure you a complete riddance of this, but I can guarantee you, it can get better."

"Tell me, what should I do?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"The thing about sleep paralysis is that, you cannot wake up from it on your own, very easily. Maybe until some damage is done, you'll eventually wake up. But you can wake up from it, before you start seeing a lot more worse things." She explained.

"What do you mean?" I asked, sniffing.

"Get someone to sleep with you." She suggested. "A room mate."

"No. Way. Not happening. I do not encourage anyone staying with me. You know that." I protested.

"This is the best thing you can do. Trust me." She said. "It will really prove effective."

"Help me out right now." I said. "Tell me things I can do on my own."

"Well. It was good you washed your face before going back to bed. The chances of you sitting there even after you woke up from it, and getting scared or terrified a lot more, are high." She said. "So that's one good thing you did."

"I did that because I'd stay awake. I was afraid of sleeping again." I said, whimpering.

"Calm down." She said. "Okay. The next time this happens, try calling up someone, your friend from work or elsewhere, neighbor, maybe Mrs. Munez, and talk to them. Get yourself distracted. Even now, like right now. Just thinking about this isn't going to help."