Picture this, you are lying in bed asleep and all of a sudden you are awakened by an unidentifiable noise. You look around the room to see where it came from, but only your eyes can move. Paralyzed, you just lie there and let the darkness seep into your soul. Not knowing what the cause was, you begin to wonder and ask yourself, “is that black shape over there my jacket or a person?” Just that one simple thought sparked an ongoing series of dark shapes moving across the room. A feeling begins to arise within you and you cannot quite identify what it is, panic? Anxiety? Terror? Or all of the above? One black shape begins to come toward you from the closet, something you haven’t been afraid of since you were very little. It creeps toward you and all of a sudden there is pressure on your chest holding you down. You want to shout for someone but you simply cannot move your lips to make the words out. Trying to gasp for air while this weight on your chest stays, the shadow is now at the foot of the bed. You are not sure what to do so you just relax and accept your fate. That is all a true sequence of events that did indeed happen in my very own bedroom. However, it turns out it was just sleep paralysis.
This happened around Halloween two years ago and has made me very curious. Post sleep paralysis Emma took to the internet and did some research on what caused everything. In this search for more knowledge, I came across a very interesting fact,maybe theory…I’m not sure. The people that you see in your dreams are all people that you know. Even though I wasn’t dreaming, do I know this shadow person? Have I seen it before? That shadow person I saw is actually quite common. This figure is known by the many who have experienced what I have. I Still sometimes see it in my dreams and then wake up and immediately turn the lights on, checking my room for any suspicious objects or more shadows. I may not be afraid of the dark or spiders or some of the more common phobias, but I am afraid of how my brain can control my own body and what I see without my own consent.
I
know this isn’t much of a spooky story or an average ghost tale, but it is what
comes to mind when I think of Halloween. I think of the time I actually came
face to face with the shadow creature in my bedroom and how that creature was
probably just an image that my panicked half asleep brain created. I learned to
enjoy the feeling of scared which actually changed the whole meaning of scary
in my eyes and brain. Hopefully, when the shadow person comes back, I am ready
and not just let the darkness seep in, but embrace it.
