Are you a heavy sleeper? You know what I’m talking about, right? Ones who sleep so soundly that they don’t feel or even hear the things happening around them. People who can fall asleep in a concert if they wanted to. People you can toss around and slap around and won’t even wake up. Well, I am one of those kinds of people. Well, I used to be anyway. But what happened to me a few months ago has turned me sleepless and anxious. I…I nevr thought I would really be afraid of sleep.
I rent an apartment near the BPO office I work at. It’s this three story, creaky old apartment that was so rundown you’d think it’s abandoned. On the inside though, it’s rather clean and well maintained. I really didn’t have complaints, but I gotta admit, being a middle aged man living in a creepy apartment really doesn’t help me in the socialization department. Nonetheless, I chose this apartment because it was the nearest and cheapest I could get near my office.
to give context to the story I’m about to tell, let me lay down the architecture of my apartment and the room I am staying at. My room is the 13th, on the top floor. conveniently, my front door is just beside the rickety old stairs that lead to the top floor, so I can literally hear every step that anyone will take on those stairs. I will add that this apartment barely had windows on it. In my room, in particular, There is only the bathrrom window, and one near my kitchen sink. Other than that, it’s pretty much closed off. If the days got hot, I’d be forced to use the old-ass airconditioning unit in the room.
This happened to me on the month of March. Here where I live, it gets really reaaly hot during the months of February to April. I just got home from work that night, and really felt fatigued and drained. So I got ready to go to bed. I did my usual routine, made microwave dinner, sat down on my small couch, watched some TV, and cleaned myself. It was incredibly hot that night, and I was sweating profusely. I attempted to turn on the AC unit in my room, but, just my luck, it failed to even start. Pissed, I opted to try opening up all my wondows and blasting my fan into my bedroom.
For a few hours, I tossed and turned around in my bed. Then I finally fell asleep. Being an admitted heavy sleeper, I usually don’t realize what’s happening around me while I am asleep. But that night, I felt something that made me almost jolt up from my sheets. A sudden breeze came into my room. It wasn’t just a “cool” breeze, no. It felt as if someone was running ice through my skin. It felt really, reaaly strange. The hairs on the back of my neck and on my arms raised. I have to make my self clear here, it became really frigid all of a sudden. I lay there, motionless, mind racing as I tried to figure out what the hell could be happening.
Then a familiar sound came. It was familiar, but it also felt ominous. From my front door, I could hear footsteps. Slow, heavy footsteps. Each step sounded closer and closer to my front door. Then it stopped. And I knew exactly where it stopped. Right at my front door. then the steps continued once again. and each step came closer and closer, until it was at the end of my bed. At this point, the air was colder than ever. It felt heavy and damp.
That’s when I realized something; I can’t move my legs, or my arms, even my head. I was stuck in place. I could only move my eyes. I tried looking around the room. My initial thoughts were that there could be someone who tried to break in my apartment. But I couldn’t really see anyone or anything around me. then from the corner of my eye, I something. Long, inhuman fingers, with dirty sharp fingers protruding from each finger, slowly crawling up my sheets. It moved closer and closer to my feet, then suddenly backed away as I tried to take a closer look, as if whatever that was, knew that I was aware of it. I waited, thinking it’ll come back again. But it didn’t for a while. Then, I heard faint, long breaths, near my ear.
I tried to look at my right side, trying to figure out what the hell was there, but I couldn’t move a muscle. The cold, harsh, and heavy breathing came closer, almost up to my ear. Then I felt the most bone-chilling thing I could’ve possibly felt; long, rough, cold fingers, ran from my feet up to my stomach. It didn’t feel like scratches, but more like caresses. That feeling repeated three to four times. Then I felt the spindly appendages crawl all the way to my neck. At this point, I tried everything, I tried moving any part of my body that I could. Nothing. I tried to scream, but as I did, It felt as if there was tension on the sides of my neck, like something was stopping me from trying to scream.
Sweat ran through my body. No matter how cold it become my body kept on sweating. The breathing I heard was now at its nearest. Now, I could almost hear what resembled a laugh. It wasn’t child-like though. It sounded raspy, and visceral. Like whatever was laughing, struggled through every syllable of their own laughter. Then suddenly, nothing. the cold feeling just left. And whatever was around me, wasn’t there anymore, or at least that was what I thought at that moment. Then suddenly, I felt a violent yank on my left leg. it was so forceful that I was almost pulled down from my bed. I quickly got up and turned on every light I had in my room. Ic hecked every corner of my apartment. Every cupboard, every cabinet, and every door. Nothing was there. Then as I sat down on my couch, I heard footsteps once again, now seeming as if it was running, through the halls and down the stairs.
The quick footsteps became fainter and fainter as it sounded as if it was running away. Needless to say, I didn’t get any more sleep that night. The next day, I asked my neighbouring apartment if they had heard any footsteps or shuffling the prior night. To my shock, my neighbour told me that they had heard loud running from the outside that night, and they had also heard it descend the stairs. I….I really thought I was dreaming.
Then, terrible news came. The old landlady of the apartment, who lived in the furthest room, had died in her sleep. I considered myself a heavy sleeper that time, but she was an even heavier sleeper. But what was strange is that she didn’t seem like she died from natural causes. She ws a spry and healthy elderly woman. And the state that they found her in. It still sends shivers down my spine, every time I remember the ghastly sight of her.
Her eyes were bloodshot, and they almost seemed drained of color. As they lifted her sheetes, a horrific sight came upon them. Her cody seemed to be drained, her ribs broken in places that were seemingly impossible. Her blood was flowing from every openign from her body, including her eyes. Her stomach was near flat, and later autopsy showed that her organs were squished, some punctured by something. Her limbs were twisted in ways that were rather inhuman. Later police reposrts would tell us that the old lady has only suffered some bleeding internally. She had no external wounds or bruises of any kind.
I can only iamagine what could happen to me if I was the one who ended up being mutilated by whatever attacked this old lady. One strange thing that I remebered the police told me after they took her body away is that it seemed that she was sound asleep as these things happened to her. I then remembered what happened to me that same night. What if I had fallen asleep soundly that night? It terrifies me that now, I could barely doze off. I became afraid of sleep.
To the person reading this, do not sleep so tightly at night. You never know when that crooked thing will take advantage of your slumber. It might become your last, sound sleep.