By Nainika Das
A few days ago, I figured that I had nyctophobia and phasmophobia (fear of darkness and ghosts respectively). How? Well, this came about after I had experienced my first sleep paralysis, which might be the most horrific one I have experienced yet. Yes, you read it right! I would not call that a nightmare as it was not even close to what I saw and experienced that day.
I saw myself stranded in a dark hallway that seemed endless, pacing about, and tossing things all over the place as I went in search of help. ‘Hello,’ I shouted into the void. All I heard was my worried and tensed voice echoing through the hallway. I could barely see what was around me! So, I considered using my sense of touch and see if I could find something useful. Nothing; there was nothing useful. There was a newspaper, an empty bottle, some other useless stuff and oh! My dinosaur! It was the toy that I had made a few days back!
My dinosaur, however, felt disgusting like, someone had spilt all their guts on the poor thing. ‘Ugh,’ I exclaimed and threw it to the side. I sat there blankly for a good thirty minutes, wondering what was next. I felt helpless as I just sat there, looking in the dark and scared for my life.
I got up from where I was sitting because I knew that sulking about whatever was happening right then would not help. I paced here, there, and everywhere just so that I could free myself of this mess. Suddenly, a bright beam of light shot directly into my eyes. I winced in pain as my eyes tried to adjust to the light. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me towards the light was coming but, suddenly, the ray of light changed colour. It went from being the usual yellow-white to a deep, bloody red.
Not only that but, there was this weird structure coming out, slowly, from the red light and oh! That horrible sight! It was an 8-foot-tall creature that looked hideous, gruesome, and deformed. It was as thin as a dried stick and looked like it was ready to gobble up anything that would come in its way. I froze as if something about that creature had stopped me in my tracks.
Was it because of its Brobdingnagian figure or how it looked? No. It was not about its looks or anything but about how it walked! It twisted its body and started crawling. I felt as if it had looked right through my soul. I turned back to see if there was anything and saw my bed! Without thinking twice, I started running towards it.
As I was sprinting towards my bed, I heard a sound like the cracking of bones. I looked back to see the beast eating a hand! Then it hit me. While I was looking for “useful things,” I felt something soft, reeking with the smell of meat against my hand. I ignored it because it felt weird. ‘Does that mean- ‘I stuttered, ‘D-Does that mean t-that, that soft thing I felt, was the hand that this weirdo was eating!’ I caught on to what was going on and in a state of panic, I kept running towards my bed.
Suddenly, I tripped over something. I turned back to see that it was my dinosaur! I picked it up and continued running. While I was doing so, I felt something trickling down my hands. I pulled my dinosaur away from me and saw blood. ‘What- ‘, I looked at it to see, that it was not covered in guts but blood! I chucked it off right to my side and continued scampering.
After running for some time, I was still not close to my bed. I had been trying to cover up that distance since God knows when. Then I noticed that the bed was moving away from me! That is why I had still not reached my bed and that I will never be able to. I looked back to see that the creature was just inches away from me. That was when I knew that there was no way out of this.
There was a hideous monster, a beam of red light and my bed that was moving away from me. At this point, the more I ran, the weaker I got. I wanted to give up and let my fate decide what wanted best for me, but I still ran. But eventually, I grew so weak that I collapsed.
I felt a gush of memories through my mind as I sobbed bitterly. Guilt was all I felt for not being able to save myself.
I could hear the beast, slowly approaching me. ‘Finish me,’ I muttered to myself. Gack-gack-gack was all I heard from the beast as I lay down, waiting for death to approach me. The beast did this for about three minutes straight.
“Gack-gack-“ and it stopped. There was silence; only silence.
I was surprised by the sudden stillness. It was like there was no one in the hall except me. All I could hear was my heavy, tear-filled breath moving in and out. I slowly raised my tear-stained face to see the beast bent over and looking right at me! I froze and forced myself to keep quiet though the beast’s face was just inches away from me. We looked straight into each other’s eyes. I could not see its face because it faced me opposite to the red light but, what I could see was the pupil of its eye that shone as bright as a flashlight. My eyes started hurting as I tried to maintain eye contact with it.
From the corner of my eye, I could see it raise its long and bony fingers with sharp fingernails. I was scared to death. I could not move, speak, or blink. The beast raised its index finger and left a small scratch on my nose that caused it to bleed.
Then, it said, in a deep, cracked voice, ‘YOU ARE NOT SLEEPING, YOU WERE AWAKE THIS WHOLE TIME.’ ‘What- ‘and before I could say anything, I woke up with a start.
I looked around my room and saw my dinosaur in perfect condition, placed on a table. It had no blood on it. I looked down at my hands and body but, there was no blood. ‘Stupid paralysis.’ I muttered to myself as I got down from the bed.
Suddenly, I remembered the beast’s words and ran to the mirror. I was horrified.
There was a long scratch from the very start of my nose to the very tip of it, covered with dried blood. All I could say was, “Oh my god!”
And thus, here I am today, writing about my paralysis with everyone telling me that it was fake and that I am lying.
So, here is a question I leave for all my readers, “Do you believe me?”
By Nainika Das
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