Midnight Puppet

Main Story

The first time I saw the creature, it was just sitting on the corner of my bed watching me. At first, all I saw was an humanoid shape crouched and hunched over a bit. I was panicking but I couldn't do anything. I couldn't move, couldn't scream—nothing. I could only look at it and hope it wouldn't come closer.

As my eyes adjusted I started noticing some details about the creature. It seemed naked save for a cloth sack wrapped tight around its head. There was a fraying slash though it where a mouth would be. It's body was as dark as shadows, yet oddly had a subtle glow to it. No—that wasn't quite right. I focused on one spot and realized it wasn't glowing; it was slightly transparent and the ambient light was filtering through it.

It tilted its head to the side like an inquisitive animal.

My eyes went wide as my breath and heartbeat jumped into a dead sprint. Go away, go away go away, I chanted in my mind since my voice was trapped inside my throat. It sat up straight and looked down at me. I squeezed my eyes shut. This is a dream. Just wake up. It can't hurt you, just wake up.

I counted to five then opened my eyes.

It was gone.

Slowly, my heart calmed. I could move now too. I grabbed for my phone, turned on the flashlight and looked around my room. There were no traces of the thing that had been perched on the edge of my bed. It was just a dream. Just a hallucination. Switching the light back off, I sighed and rubbed at my eyes. I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep anytime soon.

"Wow you look like shit. Didn't sleep well?" Jesse, my roommate, poured me a cup of coffee after I trudge into the kitchen and slumped down at the table. I told them about last night, about the thing. When I finished, they let out a low whistle. "Damn. That's some crazy sleep paralysis shit."

"I wonder what the hell caused it. Like, I've never had sleep paralysis before. Why now?"

"Stress? Lack of vitamins? Lack of sex?"

I kicked them as I took a sip of coffee. "Oh shut up."

"I'm not wrong."

"Or maybe you summoned a demon because you're such a nosey roommate and a voyeur and wanna hear me get laid."

"Pssh, I wish I had thought of that," they laughed then flashed a smug smirk.

"You're incorrigible."

"I love you too."

Throughout the rest of the day, I spent some time researching sleep paralysis. I got a lot of useless information about studies and statistics. I did find that it wasn't uncommon for adults my age to suddenly have an incident. And it looked like it should be a one-time thing.

Looking into lore led me nowhere. There was quite a list of various specters associated with the condition, but none of the descriptions seemed to fit the thing I saw. That was a good sign, right? It definitely was all my imagination then.

With all that flushed from my mind, I slept much easier that night.

Five nights later I saw it again.

I woke up to the things right in my face. It was straddled over me on hands and knees. A feint hiss of breath escaped when it opened its mouth. It had human looking teeth, the canines maybe a bit sharper than normal.

No. I wouldn't let this happen again. I shut my eyes, told myself this was a dream, and waited a few seconds before opening my eyes. But it didn't work this time. That thing still loomed above me.

I stared the monster down. It wasn't real; it had no power over me. This was a waking dream—or nightmare, really—and I'd be perfectly fine. As I stared at it, its eyes started to glow. Truly glow, unlike how its skin had filtered light the last time. It was unnerving looking at it now.