Sleep Paralysis

My eyes slowly open. The pressure in the room feels increased and thick. Strange yet familiar.

Am I asleep or am I awake?

My eyes feel heavy, and my vision is blurry. I go to lift my head from the pillow beneath it and I am paralyzed in place. Unable to overcome the gravity that holds me down.

I can feel my respirations start to pick up pace and my heart rate increases.

Am I alone in my own bedroom?

Why does it feel darker than usual?

It is so dark I can't see the corner of the room out of the corner of my watering eyes. I try to move them to look around since my head is unwilling. Is that a shadow lurking or the figure of something dark and sinister lingering?

Maybe I should scream for help.

My mouth opens and I push air from my lungs through my vocal cords to formulate a sound, but nothing comes out. Are my ears unhearing or is my voice gone?

Completely detached from the control centers of my brain I feel helpless. My arms and legs are like appendages without bones and muscles to provide movement. Becoming nothing more than sacks of flesh hanging lifelessly at my sides.

I manage to grunt and pull myself up against the weight of the presence that now seems closer than it was before.

Something is behind me.

I feel a warm burst of breath hit my neck and all the little hairs on my body are now standing at attention. My pupils dilate. The sympathetic nervous system responsible for flooding my system with epinephrine to elicit the response to flee fails to free me from this frozen state. I am motionless and silent as my mind screams and my heart races.

I am trapped in this fleshy prison of my own body while a demonic presence moves freely around the room. Taunting my every thought.

I again attempt to yell, and a small groan escapes my lips, but not enough to amount to a cry for help. Every muscle contracted, every nerve twisted with tension. I am exhausted from fighting the force that lies upon me and now without a fight left in me I am the perfect victim.

The prey of a predator I couldn't even see.