I awoke in a panic once again. Unable to move a muscle. Not even the slightest of twitch. My vocal cords felt like they were snipped in half. The panic rose. It was dark in my room, and I was under my covers. It felt like a dream state, like I was floating. But I was awake, very much awake. I tried to scream but my voice failed me. My muscles surged to break me free from the paralysis, but I was defeated. Shadows danced around me as something lingered in the darkness of my room. A sense of urgency was there that I needed to get away from here or something bad will happen. The impending feeling of doom. This is my weekly routine that plagues my sleep consistently. I knew it was coming, like it did since the very first time a few weeks ago.
A thin, electric blue line of flames ripped through the darkness of my bedroom. The sleep paralysis froze me in place. Only the sounds of my muffled screams echoed in my head. The flames drew from ceiling to floor, pulling itself apart at its width. It was a portal; and it was opening before me.
The celestial colors illuminated my room as the portal opened wider. Panic coursed through my body, soaking my sheets in sweat as the blue and purples burned my eyes. But I could not look away. I was drawn to the other side. I could feel my eyes being pulled towards the portal, as if they were going to be ripped out of my head. But it felt ok, I felt euphoria as the fear subsided. Time seemed to stand still, and I accepted my fate.
My semi trance was snapped when a pale white arm protruded from the portal. Its fingers curled with sharp red nails. Veins traced its bulging arm as more of the entity emerged. It stood before me, tall and radiating with light. The fear returned tenfold. This was death I imagined.
Its jaw hung loose, dripping with saliva. Eyes like I had never seen on a creature before, as if it had multiple pupils all capable of looking in different directions, all different colors. The figure stepped closer to me, it burst with heat as I felt my skin scorching. Blisters bubbled along my arms and face, bursting with fluid as the creature met his eyes to mine. As his jaw unhinged further, revealing countless rows of swirling teeth. It sank its jaws into my neck.
I jolted from bed drenched in sweat. My heart nearly beating out of my chest. There was no portal, my room was empty, and I was alone. My sheets were soaked, and I came to realization that it was just another dream. Another dream where the entity from the portal takes me. The fifth time this month. But this time, it left something behind.
On my arm was the tiniest of blisters. Strange to have a blister in autumn. I had barely been outside, and I had worn coats most of the time. My mind flashed back to my dream, praying not to make a connection but it was a struggle not too.
School was uneventful that day. I had slept through nearly all my morning period classes, slept through study hall, and casually went through gym. All that was left was lunch and three more annoying classes. All through the day my mind couldn’t get away from the entity in my dreams. I had tried drawing it, researching dream analysis online but I was not able to come to any conclusions. I chalked it up to having cut back on smoking weed, I heard that you have more vivid dreams after quitting. But that blister on my arm kept bugging me and causing doubts. It rubbed against my long sleeve, irritating it till it was tender and hot. Painful.
At the start of seventh period I excused myself to the bathroom. The halls were quiet as everyone was white knuckling their way to the end of the day at this point. I took a casual stroll to the farthest bathroom to kill more time. This bathroom was near the gym and did not get much use. For me, it was perfect to get away from everyone. I closed the stall door and began scrolling on my phone, I had at least ten minutes before someone came looking for me. To my disappointment, the bathroom door opened.
The light flicked and struggled to stay on as it buzzed it life. The blister on my arm began to pulse. The person did not move, the door kept swinging open and then closing. Rickety as can be the door swung before I heard their footsteps. It sounded like they had walked in a puddle and their shoe filled with water. Strange since it was bright sunny day out there. They moved till they were standing in front of my stall. They were barefoot, pale and had long toenails. They tried to open the stall door. I yelled out that it was taken but they kept trying to open. I held the door closed as hard as I could, the lights flickered on and off and that same feeling of panic washed over me.
The blisters on my skin began to pop up as if they were multiplying. My eye caught something between the space of the doors, a similar face I had been seeing all month. It was the same entity from my dreams. That feverish heat washed over me. I could hear it in my head. Calling for me. Bright blues and purples flashed before my eyes. I was seeing something not of this world. Some thing else was out there. But it was coming for me, and dread and fear latched onto my soul ready to consume me. I cried, begged, and prayed for it to end as the entity violently rocked the door. Debris from the ceiling rained down on me and a thunderous boom of drums filled my head. A voice inside me questioned “Am I going crazy”.
And in a flash, just when I thought the pounding on the door would snap the hinges and the entity would consume me like in the dreams. I was alone in the smelly bathroom screaming to myself. Teachers were starting to come in, asking if I was alright. I must have been loud I figured. Still drenched in sweat with more blisters on my arm, my fears were shaken to life. This is real, very real. And it’s after me.
The rest of the weeks after that bathroom incident felt like a blur of paranoia. It has been following me. I can see its eyes in inside the lockers I pass. The lunch lady serving sloppy joes has its same mouth. The voices in my head calling for me. Its out there looking for me, I feel like I am going crazy. The portal opened itself to me time and time again, there must be a way for me to open it again. Maybe this time I would step inside on my own. But something was different this past week. A new sense overtook me. One of obedience. I think the entity wants someone, maybe not just me? Why would I be the only one when there are plenty of people for it to take.
I waited outside her house, perched behind a large bush. Like I had done day after day now. That same feeling of being watched loomed over me. A passenger in a car driving by looked eerily familiar to it. The old woman across the street seemed to be watching me, is that it? I thought. But I continued. The voices grew louder each day. I finally have the courage tonight. She is home alone as usual. I knew her schedule decently, I felt confident. I knew I could get her. If I can, maybe the entity will be pleased, maybe the portal will be revealed to me. If you are reading this now, I hope that I am no longer on this plane of existence. I have seen with my eyes what lies behind the portal. And I can take her there with me.