The year, 2006. Central Florida.
My time in Florida feels like another life, another me, and that is why I have not returned to the Sunshine State in over 15 years. I was a loner, constantly judged for listening to System of a Down or Evanescence loudly over headphones, and hardly got into the type of music my sister listened to when we were growing up. Our home life was a hard one, ranging from an absent father to abuse that no one should endure. It was around this time that I met some people at school who were a bit older than I was. During this time, I was sixteen and they were seniors on their way to graduation. They were 18. I still recall how against the grain they were, hardly attending school but always around when crowds were assured. They invited me one night to go to the club with them. Though now closed, Central Florida had a club called “Parliament House,” which first started as a hotel and was later purchased by Michael Hodge and Bill Miller and turned into a very successful venue. The trick was this: they would go in one entrance, bring out a wristband for me, and then go back into the club through a different entrance. I recall being at home when I received their call on my mother’s cellphone. It was after 9pm, so the minutes wouldn’t be consumed. One of my friends told me to get ready and that they were going to pick me up. I got ready just like any other time, but felt some impulse to go that was unlike any other day, so I did.
We got into the club with no problem and then my friends introduced me to someone at the club. They wanted to go back to this person’s house and hang out. My friends and I drove back to this stranger’s house and we all went up to this person’s apartment. While there, we started watching funny YouTube videos, but I can tell from the look my friend were giving each other that they had a plan. I was not included in the plan, as per usual. They wanted to spend the night so that they can prolong the hang out. My mother didn’t know I was out, but rebellious me, I decided to stay with them. I am not sure why or how I ended up in this stranger’s bed.
He was sleeping and nothing happened that was strange, but I remember slowly drifting to sleep. It felt like only seconds passed. I woke up. My eyes scanned the room. I noticed he had closed the bedroom door and went to move my legs to stand up but they were not moving. The instant I realized I was paralyzed, an immense, deep-rooted fear and anxiety took hold of me. I could hear my heartbeat beating rapidly, pounding. I could hear my breathing, almost to the point of hyperventilating. The more I tried to move, the more the bed would hold me. And then I saw it. It felt like someone had taken an invisible hand and had motioned my hands and feet to be still. After feeling the grasp, I stopped trying to move. The door opened slowly and a man with no visible face is standing in the opening. A darkness that seemed to be swallowing us both whole.
He opened the door and walked step by step toward the bed. When he got to the edge of the bed, he stood there without moving. On his head, there was a fedora hat. I can’t tell if it was a black hat or if it was just his aura I was seeing, but after what seemed hours, this entity slowly backed away and closed the door. The gentle slam of the door against the frame snapped me out of the paralysis and I let out the loudest scream that as I am letting out, it was scaring me further, making my scream grow in volume and shock. I do not know if this entity was a friend or foe, and frankly I do not want to find out. Shortly after seeing this entity, I moved out of my mom’s house and began dating this person. The “relationship” was pure hell, both emotionally and physically. We bled out our trauma onto each other and now that I think about it, it was the perfect breeding ground for whatever entity had latched itself onto us all that night.