“I can sleep. I love sleep, it’s my favorite.”-Kanye West

Sleeping. Dreaming. For some, a way to rest their weary bodies, and dream of a better life. To see loved ones, lost long ago. A place to do and see fantastical new sites, sounds, and sensations. For me… It’s never came easy. I’ve never had those fanciful, asinine dreams where I’m a hero, saving Lois in her damsel in distress moments, being someone different, carrying a world on his shoulders. No. Never that. The Chase. It was always The Chase. Like some poor rabbit, the hounds on his tail, nipping at his heels. that was me. Who am I? Just a guy. Nobody. just like everybody else. Boy, was that about to change.

“Good night, Hun”, the last words. God they could have been much cooler. but those were the last that I uttered before things got…weird. Before tonight, I never had a bout with sleep paralysis, had honestly never even heard of it. The dreams had started like normal, The Chase. She was back, whip in hand, eye patch covering a scarred portion of her face leading to where you could see her eye if it wasnt for that eye patch. Wearing the Officers uniform of some neo fascist faction. The Hound. I woke in a cold sweat, as I so often did. “Katie?!” I asked in a confused, hoarse whisper. This was different than the norm, though. I didn’t jump forward, like a runner off the blocks after the starting shot. No, as a matter of fact, I didn’t… No, that wasn’t right, I COULDN’T move. The only thing I could move, to my rising panic, was my eyes. which I realized, I had yet to fully open. through blurry eyes I caught the glimpse of a shape. “What the fuck?!”, I exclaimed, or at least tried to exclaim. I realized with a choking horror that I couldn’t speak, so on top of being completely immobilized, I was pretty sure I was, how they say in the business, completely fucked.

This… thing. This misshaped, pale white thing, with it’s lips pulled back in a hideous, mocking smile, sat atop my chest. Despite what appeared to be a miniscule frame, I felt the most crushing weight I had ever felt in my life. I looked up into that jagged, pointed tooth filled grin, so big that you couldn’t even see it’s eyes. trying to crane my head to get a better look. Of course this was all to no avail. I couldn’t lift a goddamn finger, or wriggle a toe. I had resigned myself to my fate. Screaming from within my head, I heard a faint sound, like a chuckling, or a light cackling. “That’s not coming from outside,” my mind frantically told me. I was hearing this from within my own head.