TERROR IN THE NIGHT


A roaring sound pierces the silence. You can hear it in your head, and with it, an instantaneous numbness spreads like wildfire through your body. The roaring increases, gets louder. You try to fight it, try to break free... but the paralysis has you in its grip, and there is no escape. It's as if your body is encased in cement, it's as if you are dead and have no physical body. Though you cannot move, indeed you don't even know if you are breathing or not, your senses of vision and hearing still function. As you look around in the darkness, a rumbling sound erupts, everything around you begins to shake, as if the earth itself is moving. Fearing an earthquake you try to move, try to break the invisible binds that are holding you prisoner in this terrifying moment of sheer panic. You try to scream, but no sound escapes your lips, indeed your tongue is also paralyzed. Suddenly appearing from across the room and striding toward you is a demonic figure, or possibly a man but he has his teeth bared in a sinister smile, as if he knows you are helpless. He feels no need to hurry, he can take his time, knowing that you cannot fight. By this time your heart, if you can feel it beating, is slamming inside your chest with the force of a sledgehammer. You know you are done for, that this is it, that there is no hope. A sense of pure, unimaginable evil surrounds you as he approaches closer to the side of your bed. You have never known what evil feels like, have never sensed it before... yet now at this very moment you know for sure that this is what it is... and it is absolutely terrifying. You know you are going to have a heart attack and will die from the horror of it all, indeed dying at least would be an escape. You make one final, desperate effort to break free, try to move any part of your body. The crushing heaviness on your chest is agonizing. Finally your arm moves, there! It moved just a little, but at least it moved. Using what little strength you possess, you struggle to lift up your arm, it weighs a ton. Your body is still being strangled with the paralysis, and you feel it try to pull you back... no! You fight and fight it, and you finally break the spell. You were able to move just enough for the terrible paralysis to release you from its clutches. The rumbling and shaking stops, and the evil looking man disappears. As you lay in bed and look around your room, a lingering fear still grips you... but you are safe. This is sleep paralysis.