Shadows Of The Night January 25th, 2020, 4:25am. I’ve been plagued with nightmares my entire life. Recently they’ve turned into what my doctor calls “sleep paralysis”, but I beg to differ. Over the last month, the shadows that haunt me in the nights have started to interact in ways that cannot be explained away with just scientific reason. There is more out there than we know, and can be explained. Last night was the worst episode of this “sleep paralysis” yet, and that’s what made me consider composing this. Hopefully this won’t be lost in the ether of the internet threads and someone will know how to help me. I am terrified. I will try to transmit this mortifying encounter without embellishing any details. I have a vivid recolection of this night, as I am composing this directly after the terror.
I woke up, and I did not need to look at the time. I knew it would say 3:03 am, as it had for the last month. This has been my life. I feel paralyzed with fear. I am laying on my back face up like a body in a casket. My arms are crossed, the way that the body is placed in for a viewing. Frozen in this state all I can do is move my eyes. I can not move my head whatsoever, so my vision is limited. I live alone with no animals, there should be absolutely nothing in my apartment with me. But there is. I can feel it. I am not alone, nor have I been for the last month. Maybe even my whole life, now it has just decided to start toying with its prey.
I shifted my gaze to the corner of my room. My living quarters was unnaturally dark. I could faintly but clearly hear animalistic breathing emanating from the corner in which I was fixated on. The darkness from that particular corner in my room waxed and waned with every slow breath, as if whatever the black void is was breathing. Then a darker, more solid figure materialized in the depths of that black oily abyss. The humanistic shape was on all fours. It was only human-ish, the skin was wrinkly with a gray color. Inside the predatory grin was a black spiraling oblivion to fear. The ears were non-existent, just hollowed holes for ears, and it had a completely bald head. It was naked, and the skin hung off the skeletal frame from being on all fours. The eyes were pitch black, and it stood out from the color of the skin. Even in their obsidian state, I could feel them boreing into my own; its head cocked up unnaturally at me.
The darkness that emanated from that corner now resided, and behind the humanistic shape was a black hooded shadow. I could now make out the claws the thing on the floor possessed. They were black and at least 2 inches long. They looked pointed like claws from a demon. They clicked on the floor as the thing shifted its weight from foot to foot on my cheap hardwood flooring.
Usually in my state of “sleep paralysis” my mouth would also be frozen like the rest of my body was, with the exception of my eyes. But not today. I heard myself whimper in fear as the demon on the floor breathed its wet, mucusy breath. With tremendous effort to sound not afraid, in which I failed greatly, I squeaked out, “N-n-nooo, no… not real. You’re not real. Get the f-fucking hell out of my h-house.”
The shadow entity in the black hooded cloak stood as still as a statue. The thing on the ground cocked its head unnaturally from side to side slowly, as to size me up. Then it gave me a devilish open mouth smile, mouth corners reaching its pitted holes for ears. Its eyes were completely void of color, black orbs staring right into my soul. Click! Clack clack clack. Click! Clack, clack clack. He shifted around on the floor sniffing the air, its long blackened fingernails clicking on the phony hardwood. After sniffing the air, it regained focus and bored its eyes directly into mine. I shouted again trying not to portray the fear in my voice, “I said, GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! I know you are not real, s-so just…. Just fucking leave! Fucking leaveee!”
The hooded shadow pointed its arm at me. A hand materialized and a long hooked finger with gray skin pointed directly at me, its nails matched the crawling entities. I heard a freakishly fast, Clack! Click click click click click click click click. Clack! Click click click click click click click click. CLACK! The four extremities all ceased movement. From how I was laying, all I could see was the cloaked shadow and that disembodied claw like hand pointing right at me. Then I heard the bed frame creakkkk next to me, and I felt the mattress dip down from unseen weight. Horrified, I stared at the black hooded entity and repeated over and over, “You’re not real. You’re not real. You’re not real, you’re not-” My retaliation was cut off from a claw compressing itself to my lips in a “shhhh” gesture.
I felt a cold wet claw caress me under my chin, lovingly. I heard raspy, mucusy, breathing next in my ear. I could feel warm wet breath on my neck. Then with the feeling of the other clawed hands still on me, I felt a third parties clawed hand slowllly stroking my hair. The crawling entity breathing on me whispered coarsely, “We are real. And you ARE ours, soooooon… sooo ssoooooonnnnn.” As its voice trailed off I felt the claws leave my mouth, and then my hair. The one under my chin slowly fell, and then gave a long slowww stroke down my chest to my waste. Thank god it then lifted. The pressure on my bed released and I heard the creaking of my bed frame as the weight exonerated.
RINGGGGG!! RINGGGGG!! RINGGGGG!!!
My cellphone was going off and my eyes were already opened from that horrible episode of sleep paralysis. The unnatural darkness was gone now. I glanced at the clock, 3:50am. Huh, there must be some bad news I pondered, but at least it woke me out of that terrible nightmare. The caller I.D. said “Unknown Number” and I felt my heart drop into my guts. I answered it shakily. “Uhm-m-m.. Hello?”
Silence for at least 2 seconds. Then a whisper came through that has me still shaking as I write this. “We. Are… Reeallllll…” Beeeep. The other end hung up.