Before I rant about the events that brought me to this place, let me repeat my warning. Do not, under any circumstances, search for answers in your dreams. Trust me, ignorance and doubt will always be the better option. It does not matter how pressing your questions might be. Sometimes, we’re simply not meant to learn them. We’re only human, after all. I’m only here to document my story to ensure I won’t go mad, although I probably already have. Anyway, I’m rambling. Please note that I will change the names and paraphrase some things I fail to remember correctly.
It all started a few days ago. I kept waking up every night due to these nightmares. I don’t know how to describe them other than just pure malevolence clawing at me from every angle and tearing at me in an attempt to grasp me. I managed to avoid them for several nights, sometimes barely avoiding the long shadowy nails, leaving shallow scratches on my ankles. When I woke up, however, these marks were nowhere to be seen. That led me to believe that the nightmares were harmless. However, those beliefs shattered quickly when one of the creatures finally managed to get a hold of me. I jolted up as I felt the scorching flesh of that thing’s palm clutching my ankle. I believed it to be just another nightmare at first. That was until I realized that my body was unmoving. I tried my hardest to control my limbs, but none of them responded.
“You know, Eric, you’re not a bad runner. But everyone gets caught eventually. Some just take a bit longer to catch.” A deep, malicious voice boomed through my head. It was as if it came from inside my mind. I tried to respond, but my mouth didn’t move. “Oh, that just won’t do. You shouldn’t try to talk back to me, human,” it continued, mocking me with roaring laughter. A dark shape entered my field of view, appearing beside my nightstand before sitting on my bed. “You see, Eric, I’ve been watching you for a while now. Your dreams were so interesting. I truly loved observing them.” The giant shape spoke slowly as its empty sockets peered into my soul. “It’s a shame they stopped when your wife passed away, don’t you agree?” The creature took on the voice and shape of Emily, my wife. At least, she was before that drunk driver collided with her. Now she’s nothing more than an urn of ash beside my bed. I was enraged by his mockery of the woman I loved, but I couldn’t do anything to stop him. No matter how hard I ordered it to punch the thing in the face, my body didn’t react.
“I can always come back, dear,” the shape of Emily spoke in a soft tone. It sounded exactly like her. “Not in the flesh, of course. Your dreams are a different story, though.” My wife smiled, revealing sharp teeth, the only sign it was still the creature. “I ask of you that you find a way to restore your dreams to the beautiful stories I’ve grown to adore. If you don’t, I’ll have to find my amusement in different ways.” The creature lifted itself and walked toward my bedroom door. “You wouldn’t want that now, would you?” it added morbidly, causing a shiver to break my paralysis. “Wait, what are you?” I called out, but the creature merely walked through the closed door without looking back at me.
The burning heat that clenched my ankle remained, even after waking up. “What the fuck,” I mumbled as I caressed it. The meeting with the entity shook me to my core. It got to the point I couldn’t pay attention at work. I was restless the entire time, to the annoyance of my employer. The grumpy balding man finally sent me home after I kept messing up the customers’ orders. “Go get some rest before you drag the reputation of this restaurant through the mud,” he scoffed at me. It was not like the restaurant had any reputation I could ruin. It was a run-down establishment at the edge of town, barely getting any customers.
I visited a local pharmacy on my way back home. “Do you have anything that helps with sleep problems?” I inquired, hoping the woman behind the counter could provide me with a way out from the nightmares. The employee suggested various products to me, all while holding her plastic smile. All the products were outrageously pricey. I considered knocking myself out with a baseball bat instead of using the pills but decided to take the wiser option that would not leave me with a concussion. I reluctantly gave her almost all the money in my wallet before returning home.
I read the prescription once I got home. Take two pills thirty minutes before going to bed. I did as told. It didn’t work. “Hello again, Eric,” the dark voice greeted me. It didn’t go through the same theatrics as earlier but merely stood beside my bed. Tap. Tap. The creature’s long bony fingers tapped against the wood of the nightstand. “Did you honestly think these sleeping pills would help you?” It asked mockingly before picking them up and studying the text. “This is the same garbage the other guy used. I’ll dispose of them before you make the same mistake as him.” The bottle lit up in flames before disappearing completely. “Final warning, Eric. I’m getting bored,” the shadow said before leaving me alone, still unable to move.
I lay in my bed for what felt like ages, paralyzed. Out of nowhere, several arms clawed up, trying to grasp at my body. I immediately recognized them. They were from my nightmares. The vile shadowy creatures got up and surrounded my bedside, staring deep into my soul. I couldn’t do anything as they slowly crept in, intently staring at me. It felt like a pride of lions was watching me, waiting for the right moment to strike. My heart started pounding louder, filling the room. I wanted to beg for mercy. Ask why the creature chose to toy with me. Nothing came out of my mouth. I was helpless as the shadows slowly moved in.
One of the creatures standing at the edge of my bed crawled up on the bed, gradually approaching me. It stopped mere moments before me. The stench of its breath was unbearable. Imagine the smell of a corpse left in the sun for a few weeks. That’s the only thing I can compare it to. The charcoal-colored freak observed me momentarily before unhinging its jaw and opening its mouth to an impossible angle. A dark and thick substance streamed out of it, drenching the covers of my bed. When I woke up shortly afterward, the stains remained there. In the light of the morning sun, I recognized it as blood. Even today, a dark blot remains, reminding me of the nightmares I faced.
I decided to ask the webs for help, fed up with the assaults of the creature I jokingly call the ‘charcoal fuck face.’ The people on another forum like this one told me it was sleep paralysis. I don’t get it, though. There are no accounts of lasting physical effects due to sleep paralysis, but I have some blood-soaked bedsheets and a pile of ash that once was my bottle of sleep medication. I would have tried to get them back in my final confrontation with the thing if I wasn’t scared that it would do the same to me. Luckily it didn’t, as I wouldn’t be sitting here at my laptop if it did. Anyway, I’m rambling again. I checked several forums and even touched the second page of Google, but I found nothing similar to my experience.
Ping. A high-pitched noise erupted from my laptop. It was the sound of a notification. “If something in your dreams is worrying you, you should consider lucid dreaming,” it read, followed by a link. I thanked the stranger for his help before searching up the topic myself. I never click internet links, especially after that virus the last one gave me. I watched a few dingy YouTube videos from self-proclaimed experts in the field. Everything about it seemed idiotic, but I had no better choice. I’ll leave out the details about lucid dreaming here, as I don’t want any of you to make the same mistake as me. I know some of you will still try, but at least I managed to stop the people too lazy to do a quick Google search.
I made quick notes of the steps in the video and laid them on my pillow to ensure I wouldn’t forget about them later. I tried to spend the rest of my day in peace, without thinking about the sleep paralysis, which failed miserably. When the time came for me to sleep, I carefully read through the instructions before closing my eyes. To my surprise, it worked. The first thing I remembered after falling asleep was the same hellscape filled with the endless parade of shadow figures lining the ground. I ordered my mind to turn them away and bring me into an open field. The landscape shifted around, and before I knew it, I was in a meadow with flowers as far as the eye could see. I imagined a cozy cottage with smoke rising from the chimney before entering the wooden structure of my imagination.
“Good evening, Eric. It’s good to see that you figured out how to seize control of your dreams.” Emily sat in a chair by the fireplace, a glass of red wine between her fingers. I rushed to her and kissed her before I could think. I was exhilarated to see her again. I could finally have my Emily back. “Calm down. What’s gotten into you?” she chuckled, caressing my face. I told her about everything that happened, praying Emily would believe me. “Well, that’s rude. No need to call me ‘charcoal fuck-face’, Eric. I have feelings, too, you know?” The words came out as cold as the winter air. The form of Emily changed to the shadowy figure in an instant.
“Is my acting really that good? In that case, I might pick up acting if being a watcher gets boring. The master will probably not like that, though. Oh well, who knows?” The creature burst into malicious laughter before chugging down the liquid in his bottle. “What are you?” I blurted out without thinking. The being twitched before the thing shook its head. “I suggest you don’t pry. Some things are best left unknown to the feeble human mind.” It poked at my chest with a sharp digit, scolding my torso. I should have listened. I should have just heeded the warning of that monster. Instead, I used my mind to force an answer out of the shadow. “What are you?” I demanded to know. “I’m a watcher. I look into the human mind when your kind is asleep, try to come up with new ideas for the master and all that,” it answered plainly, without a sense of emotion. The shadow looked shocked as the words left its mouth. It tried to stop me from acting my next question, but I didn’t listen. I wish I had.
“Who is your master?” The words reverberated through the wooden building. The fire crackled for a moment before the shadow answered. “Their name is Mila’chtesur. They’re an outer god who takes a vast interest in the human mind. They created beings like me to observe your kind while they sleep. When your dreams get boring, we’re supposed to help you bring more light to them. I believe you call the dreams we cause nightmares.” I continued questioning the creature some more. I will leave out the details because it’s better if you don’t know them. I thanked the watcher for his help, albeit under the force of lucid dreams. The thing shrugged its shoulders. “Don’t thank me. You just got yourself into a bigger mess than you could imagine.”
Those are the last words I remembered before I woke up this morning. I didn’t understand what the watcher meant until I had to go out to the grocery store. Something wasn’t right. The streets were usually filled with people at that hour but were entirely vacant. I shook away the feeling of unease, not thinking anything of it. When I entered a store I frequented, the hairs on my neck stood up. It was empty too. There was no sign of life. Against my better judgment, I quickly grabbed the things I needed and left the cash on the checkout desk. When I returned outside, a shade greeted me. I stared at it while walking past it. It looked like a watcher. I bumped into something on the sidewalk as I kept my eyes on the creature. I instinctively apologized, recognizing the collision as one with another person. However, there was nobody. I looked around, perplexed, before turning to the watcher.
“What’s going on?” I asked it with a shaking voice. It turned to me, seemingly surprised that I could see it. “Nothing” Its voice was monotonous. It was as if spoken by some computer. I asked it what it meant, but it simply repeated its answer. Believing I was still dreaming, I tried to change the landscape. It didn’t work. “Where is everyone?” I finally asked the creature. “Look around you, Eric. Just because you’re no longer on their wavelength doesn’t mean they’re gone.” “What do you mean? Wavelength? What are you even talking about?” I blurted out. It calmly held up his hands, signaling it meant no harm. “You’re simply on a different wavelength. The veil can get awfully thin while you’re asleep, so you probably slipped through it.”
The words made no sense to me. I decided to ignore the being and returned home in defeat. That’s when I saw myself. I saw my own body walking around. “Oh, hello, Eric. I decided to borrow your body for a moment. I’m guessing you don’t mind, right?” The question hung in the air for a moment. My shadowy double didn’t respond but merely looked dumbfounded while holding his arms in a motion like he was carrying something. “Don’t worry. You just slipped away in your sleep. It’ll get back soon enough. Probably. For now, I will use your laptop to warn other idiots not to mingle with my business,” I continued, smiling contently. “Well, excuse me, I have a story to write,” I added before grabbing my laptop.
So, please. Do not, under any circumstances, ask questions regarding me in your sleep. I am always listening, always watching. And I do not like it when I’m disturbed. Sweet dreams, dear people of Reddit. I hope they’re as creative as always.