My friend and I both work as nurses at the same hospital, it kind of makes the insane hours bearable. We generally don’t have much time to hang out, but whenever we run into each other we crack a joke or two unless we really don’t have time.About two months ago, I ran into him on my way to the break room, we joked around for a little bit, and he seemed to have some time on his hands, I asked him if he didn’t have anything to do. He told me about a new patient that had just come in, a young man, maybe early 20’s. Nothing seemed wrong with the man, but he was completely unable to move. After some tests, the doctors were left clueless, but were sure the man was stable, so they left him for the time being. My friend however was asked to stay close, to observe and make notes if anything unusual happened.
My friend told me he just briefly left the room because he felt a bit uneasy. I laughed at him and jokingly started making fun of him. “Scared of a paralysed man.” “Be careful now, maybe he’ll turn into a sleep paralysis demon.” He chuckled, but he didn’t bite back like he usually would. He seemed nervous and told me to come into the room with him.
When we got close to the bed, I understood what freaked him out so much. The man, while lying completely still, barely even breathing had his eyes open and they were staring straight at me, following me through the room. As we slowly approached, I got nervous too, this wasn’t very common. I greeted him and asked to blink if he could hear me. He didn’t. His eyes remained open for an unnaturally long time. “See, freaky, isn’t it?” My friend whispered, but as soon as he did the man’s eyes rolled back into his head and after what seemed like an eternity, when they eventually rolled back, his piercing eyes were now focused on my friend.
I told my friend that that’s definitely not normal and we should inform a doctor, but he didn’t respond. He was staring right back at the man, eyes wide open. I thought he was joking at first, so I laughed nervously and hesitantly punched him on the shoulder, but he didn’t respond at all, his body didn’t even move on the impact. My break was halfway over at that point, and I really didn’t feel like staying in there any longer, so I left, looking for a doctor.
I didn’t want to be embarrassed, so I didn’t really tell her any details, just that there was something she should see and that my friend was too busy making notes to leave. Luckily, she followed me, but when we got to the room, everything had changed. My friend was just sitting on a chair, notepad in hand. The room looked brighter than before somehow, and when I approached my friend, he seemed surprised to see me there. “Haven’t seen you in a minute.” He said with a big smile. “Was it last week?” It had been about a week ago before I ran into him that day, but I left him in that room not even 5 minutes prior.
I, for good reason, was very confused. When I left the room, it seemed like he was possessed by some sort of demon, but now he was completely fine, smiling, laughing like always. I asked him if he was okay, and he said that of course he was. I didn’t really know how to react, so I said that my lunch time was running out and left to get a coffee. The rest of my shift was like a normal shift: long and exhausting. I kind of managed to forget about what had happened and made myself believe that he was probably pranking me, or I had somehow imagined it, I don’t sleep a lot, so it added up.
I work late shifts, so when I finished it was dark outside and the hospital was a lot of quitter. Weekdays are usually not too bad, less drunk idiots falling on their heads. On my way out however, I had to go past the room with the paralysed patient unless I wanted to double the length of my walk. I didn’t. I decided I would just quickly walk through the corridor and ignore the room; it couldn’t hurt me anyways. Right? It was dark. It’s not like that never happened, but it definitely wasn’t common. All I could really see was the emergency exit sign at the other side of the corridor. I pulled out my phone, turned on my torch and started walking. The room was ever approaching, but I had decided to go, so I had to commit now. When I got close, I slowed down a little, keeping my eyes on the door, making sure it stayed shut. But then suddenly it burst open, and my friend came stumbling out; eyes red like he had been crying and there were suddenly bald spots on his head. He crawled over to me and clung onto my leg. “Please, get me out.” I didn’t know what to do so yelled for help. No one came and he kept repeating the same phrase over and over, louder every time. It turned to screaming, more and more powerful until he started coughing up blood.
I grabbed him by the shoulders and asked him what was wrong and then I realised that he hadn’t blinked a single time. “Let’s get out of here, okay?” I tried to sound confident and brave, but I’m not sure I hid my fear well. I tried to pull him up, but it was like his legs had stopped working. His screaming stopped and he looked me straight in the eyes. “Protect me.” He said. “Protect me from him when I go.” His entire body went weak, and he fell to the floor.
I heard a laugh from inside the room with the paralysed patient. I rushed in but there was no one there. Just an open window. I looked outside but didn’t see anyone.
My friend ended up in the same bed, completely paralysed, but his eyes always open, staring at anyone that dares enter his room. I haven’t gone to see him since the incident, and I don’t wish to.