Allan was a 12-year-old boy who had suffered from sleep paralysis since he was young. He was afraid to sleep because he never knew when he would wake up unable to move or speak, feeling a malevolent presence in the room. He tried to avoid the episodes by sleeping on his side, avoiding alcoholic beverages, and maintaining a regular sleep routine, but it didn’t always work.
One night, he had a terrible nightmare in which he was being chased by a horrendous creature with claws, sharp teeth, and red eyes. He ran desperately, but the creature was faster and caught up with him. He felt the claws tearing his flesh, the teeth biting his neck, the blood flowing down his body. He screamed, but no one heard him.
He woke up frightened, but soon realized he couldn’t move. He was lying on his back, his eyes open, but paralyzed. He tried to speak, but no sound came from his mouth. He looked to the side and saw the same creature from the nightmare, standing beside his bed, looking at him with a macabre smile. He felt a shiver down his spine, a cold sensation in his stomach, an endless fear. He thought it was a hallucination, just an effect of the sleep paralysis, that it would soon pass. But the creature approached him, placed one of its claws on his chest, and said in a hoarse, hissing voice:
- I’ve been waiting for you, Allan. You are mine now. You will never escape me. I will torture you every night until you beg for death. And then I will kill you, slowly and painfully. And you will know that all of this is real. Very real.
Allan felt a sharp pain in his chest, as if the claw was piercing his heart. He tried to scream but could only emit a muffled groan. He saw the creature lean over him, opening its mouth to bite his face. He closed his eyes, expecting the end. But the end did not come. He continued to feel the pain, the fear, the anguish. He opened his eyes again and saw the creature still there, laughing at his agony. He realized he wasn’t dreaming, he wasn’t hallucinating, he wasn’t paralyzed. He was awake, he was conscious, he was alive. And he was in hell.
Gabriel Martins
