Day 1.
Hi, my name is Daren Redd. And over the past couple of months, I haven’t been able to hold a normal sleep schedule. No matter how much I try, I just can’t seem to get a hang of it. It’s..Frustrating. I’ve tried most everything. Energy drinks, forcing myself asleep, everything you can think of, I’ve done. And I’ve always fallen asleep and woken up well after the day is over. I need a better sleep schedule, as my roommate, Nick Robin, is kicking me out if I don’t get a job and start paying my share of rent. So, I’ve come up with an idea. I’m going to scare myself awake.
You might think I’m stupid, or crazy, but this is my last option. Either this, or homelessness. And I prefer having a house. I don’t know how I’m gonna do it, since I’m not spooked all too easy, but, for now, I’ll try looking at some spooky images and hoping it works. Maybe I’ll be too paranoid to go to sleep? Who knows.
Day 2.
Daren here. So, yesterday, I decided to look at some spooky-scary images to see what would happen. And, it worked! ..Kinda. I woke up around 8 PM and conked out at my desk around 10 AM. I admit, there was improvement there! Usually I get in my bed to sleep, but I had been a bit spooked. So I didn’t move to my bed, for fear of something being behind me. Though I knew it couldn’t have been. The only 2 people in the house were me and Nick.
The dream I had was the weird bit, though.
I was in a large, empty room, with faint and muffled orchestra music in the background. The floors were wood, and the wallpaper was mostly barren, with a painted horizontal strip that had some sort of eye-like pattern on it. As I moved, I noticed the eyes would follow me. I didn’t question this, since, get this, I knew I was dreaming. Yeah, somehow, I knew. I tried to do something with my new Lucid Powers^(tm), but alas, I wasn’t able to do much. But, hey! Cool! I can Lucid Dream when I look at spooky images. Bet none of you can do that!
Day 3.
Heyo, Daren here. I had another lucid dream again last night after checking if I could do it again. Well, now we know it works! I ended up just flying around in dream-world for a while, before eventually, I ran into a tree and woke up. As I blinked my eyes open and started to look around, I began to realize something.
I couldn’t move.
I began to panic, but calmed down once I remembered something. Sleep paralysis. That exists. This was just a normal night, still. And I’d be able to get up any moment. Though, as I looked around, and my eyes adjusted to the dark, I noticed something in the corner of my room. A pitch-black, humanoid-looking figure, just..Standing there. Looming tall, almost to the ceiling. I tried to stay calm. This was just..A normal side-effect of sleep paralysis. Any second now, I’d fall back asleep.
And I did. Nothing really happened after that. Just regular-ol’ sleep paralysis. Nothing I should’ve been so panicked over. Right?
Day 4.
Wazzup, Daren here. I decided to increase the spook-factor of the images I was looking at. Maybe think up some scenarios on the side to really keep me on-edge, keep me from going to sleep before a normal time. And it..Didn’t work.
Well, kind of.
Instead, when I fell asleep, I had another dream. Not a lucid one, but it was interesting. I remember sitting in a dark and empty room. The same room that I had been in during my first lucid dream. The eyes on the walls were the same, from what I could tell. Always following me. Always watching.
I remember that during the dream, I had felt a looming, large presence behind me. But my body wouldn’t let me turn around. The thing was just inches behind me, and I could feel it, but I couldn’t do anything about it.
All of a sudden, I felt hands wrap around my neck, and I jolted back into consciousness, only to still be in my room, laying in bed. And, yet again, unable to move. Well, at first this was cool, but by now, I was getting over it. As I glanced to the corner, I saw, yet again, the black figure looming in the corner. I wasn’t worried. After all, it’s just a hallucination. What’s it gonna do, stab me or something? Hah! I rolled my eyes just thinking about it.
After a bit of trying to fall asleep again, I opened my eyes to see that the hallucination in the corner had opened it’s eyes, to reveal large semicircles of white on it’s pitch-black face. Huh. Weird. Wonder why it never did that before?
Anyway, then I went back to sleep. No more dreams, but I am a little more spooked now. So let’s see what happens.
Day 4 6 5
Hi. Daren here. Sleep paralysis has been getting to me, recently. So has the spooky images. Sometimes, I’ll see things out of the corner of my eye that aren’t there, or hear something that isn’t there. It’s mainly just whispering, or little ringing noises that keep me on my toes. I’m grateful for it, in a way. That way it’s easier to stay awake when I need to. Hah! Me, 1. Ominous whispering, 0.
Today I had to take Nick to the E.R. Something to do with his dairy allergy. So I woke up a little earlier than usual. Which is good! Now I can start easing into sleeping earlier.
On a side-note, I didn’t have any dreams last night, nor sleep paralysis. Which, is good. I didn’t miss that freaky pitch-black thing. I guess this is mostly a filler update, heh. Not like you guys need to know about Nick going to the hospital.
day 6
Sup, Daren here. Can’t exactly remember my dream from last night, but I do know that, whatever’s been happening to my brain since yesterday, it’s getting worse.
I know that none of it can be real, but I’ve been hearing more things. The whispers are becoming clearer, but the only things I’ve been able to recognize are absolute gibberish. And I’m seeing things more often. Eyes, pitch-black hands just out of my field of view, that same wide-eyed and inky black figure peering at me from inside my closet, all sorts of things like that. And I know that none of them can be real, since these kinds of pitch-black beings don’t exist. There’s no way they can exist. None of this is real.
But I can’t help but wonder.
What if it is?
7
Daren here. My strategy is working! I’ve been falling asleep earlier and earlier every day. And, get this, I managed to wake up at 5 PM today! Improvement, people! Seems like I won’t have to do this for much longer. Which is good, cuz I think this spooky images thing is driving me insane.
The whispers, from what I can tell, are nothing more than just gibberish, no matter how clear they get. It’s always just random mumblings of a crazy man or something. And the seeing things part of it. It’s only getting worse, too. I’ve started noticing random, unexplainable things. Seeing bruises on my arms that just can’t be actual ones, seeing more eyes, more of the same goddamned shadow monster dude.
And you know what solidified that I’m going insane?
I had sleep paralysis again last night. As I blinked my eyes open and checked my surroundings, I saw the shadow-monster-dude in the corner again, eyes wide and glaring down at me. I sighed, looking the monster directly in the eyes. As I looked at it, it began to stretch it’s mouth into a wide grin, showing off it’s shiny teeth in the pitch-black of the rest of it’s body.
As I scanned the face of the creature, I felt the urge to move my fingers, and though I knew that I wouldn’t be able to, I tried anyway.
And it worked.
This isn’t just some sleep paralysis thing. This is-..Something else. It can’t be real. Nothing like this exists in nature- In ANYWHERE, really. It HAS to be something else. I have to be going insane.
God, please, never try this.
8
Daren here. Today I woke up at 3 PM. Improvement, eh? Nice. As I went to the kitchen to get myself something to eat, I saw Nick, grabbing the jug of milk from the fridge. Here- I roughly transcribed the convo from what I can remember.
“Whoah, dude, don’t you have a dairy allergy??” (me)
”..What??” (Nick)
“Yeah. I had to take you to the E.R. over it like..A couple days ago.” (me)
“Oh, uh, I know. I’m just..Making something for you.” (Nick)
“If you say so, bud.” (me)
Needless to say, that was..Strange. Nick is deathly allergic to dairy. And plus, he never does anything for me. I had to practically beg him to be roommates with him in the first place! So why’s he all of a sudden making something for me? I don’t buy it. I feel like there’s something weird going on here. This isn’t normal.
9???
Had another night of sleep paralysis last night.
As I blinked my eyes open and took in my surroundings, I saw the shadow monster dude, standing ever-so-silent in the corner as his gazed stayed fixated on me, his grin never faltering. Eyes never moving.
After a while of looking at him, my spot on the bed was getting uncomfortable, so I rolled over.
As I noticed what I had just done, I heard something from the corner where the creature was.
“You look comfortable.” It said, it’s voice sounding whisper-y and distorted, and definitely inhuman. Like some kind of AI-generated thing.
“W..What??” I asked, sitting up on my bed to look at the thing before me. My mind was racing with a million questions, but I had to stay calm. This wasn’t real, I was sure of it. This. Wasn’t. Real.
“You look comfortable in your bed.” It whispered back, pausing for a while before speaking again. “Why don’t you come closer?”
“I-..I don’t-..” I sputtered out, glancing away from the creature in front of me.
“Come closer.” The being spoke, it’s voice more demanding.
“I-..” I paused. My mind was so clouded with the thought that this was just a dream or a hallucination, that I obliged, getting up from my bed and walking closer to the being despite my fear.
“Good.” It’s grin widened as it spoke. “You have little time left, Daren Redd.”
“I..I’m sorry, what?” I asked, having to look up at the tall monster.
And then, the thing that proved that I wasn’t insane, despite all my thoughts,
The creature grabbed my shoulder.
My breath hitched as I felt the long claws digging into my skin through my hoodie, most definitely leaving cuts.
“Pay attention to Nick Robin.” The thing spoke. “You two are bound to the chains of fate. For He has chosen this for you.”
And before I could respond, the creature was gone. Disappeared. I was just facing a corner. And I was left with the realization that what I had seen was real. All of it was real.
I still felt the pain in my shoulder, from where it’s claws had dug into my skin and cut me. And my hoodie was ripped.
This all was real. And I have to face it.
If anyone has experienced anything like this and you live near [XXXX] Lane, please contact me at [XXXXXX]@gmail.com, thanks.