The lids of your eyes slowly flutter open and your vision is slightly blurred. You blink rapidly a few times. Finally, your eyes are clear enough to see the ceiling above you. Sweat rolls down your neck and your shirt sticks to your back. The leather couch beneath you stings your warm skin. The couch. Yes, this is where you ended up lying down after work. The exhaustion was overwhelming, and you couldn’t make it upstairs. You thought closing your eyes for just a second wouldn’t do any harm.
You try to lift your head up, but it feels like dead weight. You try raising it again; still no luck. Everything feels stiff from the top of your head to the soles of your feet. Why can’t I move my head? Panic slowly forms in your mind. You try your hardest to move it again, exerting all the energy you have, but it isn’t budging.
You try to raise your arms. They aren’t moving either. The sweat on your body increases and you can feel yourself growing breathless. You want to get up so badly, but it feels like your entire body has been nailed down to the couch. You’re awake. You can see and hear everything, but you just can’t move. Can’t wiggle your fingers or toes, and your legs feel as though they have concrete blocks weighing them down. What the fuck is going on? Why can’t I move?! The thoughts in your mind are spiraling now and you don’t know what to do.
Your wide eyes scan the pitch-black room surrounding you. You can’t see anything but a speck of light peeking through the blinds. The sound of the fan spinning lazily above you brings your attention back to the ceiling. Despite the obscurity of the room, you notice something moving around. It’s a small piece of black mass shifting across the ceiling rapidly. Your mind is in shambles. You don’t know what that figure is, nor do you care to find out. You want to get up from this couch and move, run, anything but this.
The dark figure falls from the ceiling and hits the top of your leg. You hear yourself take a sharp intake of breath. What is that? What the fuck is that? Oh my God! You can feel the creature slowly crawling up your leg with its tiny feet. You feel so dirty, so itchy but you can’t scratch. You can’t do anything because you can’t move. Now it has worked its way up to your stomach and you can feel its feet prickling through the thin fabric of your shirt.
You want to open your mouth to scream, but your lips are sealed tight. You can feel the murmurs vibrating deep in your throat, and you hear a slight groan trying to escape from your mouth. The creature moves its way up to your neck and you shiver. Goosebumps scatter across your arms and legs while blood pumps through your ears. Please, God, help me! Get this thing off me! The silent prayers crowd your thoughts as you feel it starting to move again.
Tears trickle their way down the sides of your face while small legs continue to creep upward. There’s a tingly sensation on your face now. It has made its way to perch itself on top of your cheek. Your chest heaves erratically, and you’re lying in a pool of your own sweat. It’s not moving anymore and the idea of it sitting on your face is torturous. You imagine yourself clawing at it until it’s gone. You squeeze your eyes shut because that’s the only part of your body you can control.
You jerk your eyes back open. There’s another sensation coming from your arm. You can feel another one down on your foot too. Another on your shoulder and some more feet crawling through your scalp. No, no, no. They all continue to creep up your body. No, no, no. They are getting closer and closer to your ear, and you can hear their soft buzzing. No, no, no. One by one they are inching deeper and deeper into your eardrum and there’s nothing you can do about it.Photo Credit: pexels.com