The dark shadow loomed over her still body. She couldn’t make out if it was moving closer to her or not. Either way, that thing made her want to run away and never look back. Except she couldn’t. It was impossible for her to move, her body decided to have a mind of its own. The bed she laid in was suddenly a prison rather than a place to relax. The windows in her room seemed barricaded, as if there’s no escape. She felt trapped. She wanted to scream, but nothing would come out and that made her want to scream even more. Suddenly, several other shadows surrounded the first and they all began to transform into creatures. Their mouths were hung open, revealing rows of sharp teeth. She couldn’t close her eyes, no matter how badly she wanted to.

The creatures walked towards her and began holding out their hands. Their sharp claws were inches away from her face, black goop was dripping down their hands. She felt the slimy tar hit her face, leaving a sticky residue behind. Her eyes shifted nervously around the room, looking for anything else that may be approaching her. Her head couldn’t move, which made it harder to look. She felt her hands being pinned down by another creature. It’s claws dug into her wrists before cold blood fell onto the bedsheet.

At first, she would freeze up and be taunted by these creatures. But little by little they started physically hurting her. They used to only stay towards the back wall, now they were comfortable right in front of her bed. Every night she hopes it doesn’t get worse. And every night she’s faced with something worse than before. Sometimes the creatures will bring friends. One night, they showed up with another creature that appeared to be a human-sized insect. It had countless legs running down it’s millipede-shaped body. At the top of its body there were crab legs that extended past the other legs. It blinked at her several times before slithering onto her bed and biting her. She woke up the next morning with a red mark on her arm. And the doctors still say it’s all in her head.

She began to count down in her head from 100. That usually calmed her down, but it was hard to stay calm while being tortured by otherworldly creatures. There was something pushing down on her feet, and she felt those long sharp claws make its way into her ankles. Blood began pooling underneath her legs. She didn’t know she could bleed this much.

One of the creatures came up towards her head and made a hissing sound. It’s teeth were the only thing she could focus on, unsure of where they were about to be. Maybe it’s her neck this time. She’d be better off gone, anyways. No more dealing with ‘sleep paralysis’, as they like to call it. And on top of that she wouldn’t have to deal with people accusing her of lying. She closed her eyes, or at least pretended to, and surrendered herself. She couldn’t wait for this to be over.

She saw the creature by her head lean in closer. It’s huffing breath was louder than before, and she could sense that something was about to happen. Finally, she would be free of this. Just when she thought it was all about to be over, the creatures disintegrated into the air. Her eyes closed involuntarily and everything turned to darkness. In what felt like seconds, she opened her eyes and was greeted by the bright sun shining through her window. They couldn’t let her get away that easily.