Sleep Paralysis
I lay down and closed my eyes to sleep, awakening in a strange, dream-like state. My chest feels heavy; my limbs are lifeless.
Heavy feeling on my chest as if something is perched atop my chest, yet no one or nothing is there. As I bear witness and as I try to stir, to wake up from this dream, this odd paralysis that I feel, yet my body betrays me as I lie there still as stone.
As I try to open my eyes, it feels shut and numb. This tormentor thrives on my helplessness, a specter of my own mind's cruel jest. Hearing and aware of everything around me while I lay there numb and paralyzed.
When I finally opened my eyes to wake up to reality, my heart racing as my chest lightens as if the thing that was there before stepped off. My limbs obey; my chest feels light, and as I rise, shaken from the shadow of the night.
