Do you ever have a dream so scary and so realistic that you're not even sure if it was a dream at all? You know, the type of dream that makes you nervous to sleep a certain way for fear that's the cause of it? That's what happened to me one night during my sophomore year of college.
In my dream I was sitting at a table in an unknown room. My surroundings were pitch black, so it's impossible to tell where I was. An elderly lady sat across from me. I didn't have to look at her sunken cheeks and deathly pale skin to know she was dying. I could feel it.
"I have a special power," I told her. "I can see ghosts."
I don't know why I told her that because in real life it's not true, but I got this urgent feeling that it was important she knew. Suddenly, the lady smiled, and I was horrified to realize that she seemed to be dying right in front of me. One second, she was a living and breathing person, the next she was a spirit, easily identified by her new wispy appearance and a lack of the sickly characteristics she possessed as a human.
"Don't worry, child," she reassured me. "You're not on our list."
My horror at watching her die gave way to confusion, and I wanted to ask her what she meant. I had no idea what list she was talking about, but before I could even open my mouth to speak, she lunged across the table, grabbing me by the shoulders. I began to scream as my vision shifted, and I jolted awake out of fear. My eyes were closed, but I could tell that I was in my bed. Before I could calm down though, it dawned on me that I couldn't move, I couldn't even open my eyes. It was like my limbs were pinned to my sides as if someone was holding me down. To make matters worse, I could feel their breath on my skin. There was a heavy weight on my chest, and I wanted so desperately to wake up, to open my eyes, but it felt impossible. Terrified, I began to thrash around to no avail. When that didn't seem to work, I began to say the Lord's prayer. My limbs burned with the exhaustion of trying to free myself, but I kept trying to get free. Finally, just as I finished the prayer, I was able to wrench my eyes open.
I stared into the darkness around my room, but no one was there. I was scared to go back to sleep after that. I didn't want whatever happened to me to happen again, but I eventually fell back to sleep. To this day I don't know if what I experienced was just a dream, a real demon, or sleep paralysis, but since then I've always made sure to sleep on my side.
