Summary - It's after midnight. You should be asleep, but your bladder woke you up. You'd been warned not to get up after dark, but your body doesn't care about the warnings
Content/Warnings - horror | ghosts | paranormal entities
Word Count - 933
A/N - This is the first memory I have of encountering the paranormal. My mother says I had been interacting with them long before but I have no memory of them before this
A/N 2 - The land that my childhood home was located on was located on 150 acres of woodland. Only about 5 five acres was cleared off for the 3 family houses that sat close to each other
Series Masterlist
The light twist in your bladder made you roll over in bed. A whimper escaping as the urge grew stronger the more you woke up. You forced your sleepy eyes open and looked around. The room was completely dark except for the small amount of moonlight that crept in through the cracked curtain.
You listened hard. There was the soft tick of your mother's clock, the sound of someone snoring, and the barely audible sound of a breeze. But the house was practically silent. Which was going to make your late night trip even more difficult. Your stepdad was a light sleeper and would be furious if he found you out of bed.
Carefully, you sat up in bed, still listening to the house. When no new sounds came you slid off the mattress. The humidity of the night air had settled on the hardwood, making it wet and a little slick.
"Do not get out of bed after dark." your mother's words echoed in your head.
You thought of just getting back in bed. But your bladder screamed at the thought so you took a couple careful steps. Doing your best to avoid the floorboards that creaked even under your small frame. Away from the flow of your fan the humidity also clung to your skin making your steps a little sloppy.
You paused in front of the window, looking out into the dark yard. The trees that decorated it kept the moonlight from piercing most of the blackness.
"Don't stare into the dark unless you want it to stare back." this time it was your grandpa's voice.
You quickly adverted your eyes to the floor. Your heart picking up it's pace at the thought of something outside looking back in. Your grandpa had told you stories. Some his own, others that had been passed down or shared by people he'd met. Stories of things that go bump in the night.
Reminded of your goal by a twinge in your bladder, you took several quick, soft step around the foot of your bed. The hallway was small but looked massive in the moment. The only light was the light from the bathroom spilling out from behind the mostly closed door. One that was left on by your mother at the request of your little sister. And you were thankful for it as you'd been to afraid to admit that you were also afraid of the dark.
You took the 8 short steps down the hallway to the bathroom door. Reaching your hand up to push the door open before freezing. There was a new sound in the darkness. On your right in the direction of the kitchen. A low, raspy, wet sound of breathing. As if who ever it was was trying to breathe while their lungs were full of water. Every other breath was slightly choked and seemed to echo through the empty space.
Suddenly the whole house felt wrong. The hair on your arms stood up and goosebumps flooded your skin. The hot summer air was now bone chilling cold. You could see your shaky breath in the cool air. But you didn't move. You kept your eyes locked on the door in front of you.
The unsettling breathing drew closer and closer. From the corner of your eye you could see feet appear in the light. The toes were too long, the skin too pale. The breathing now sounded as if it were right in your ear. You could feel it brush your face. Tears stung in your eyes, your breathing uneven as sobs threatened to rip free. You didn't know what to do. You couldn't scream, even if you could physically manage it, you weren't supposed to be up. The fear of the thing beside you and the fear of getting in trouble started an emotional war inside. Making the tears slide down your cheeks.
A long gangly finger appeared in your peripheral. Like the toes, it was far too long, and the skin was far too tight. It looked as if the skin lay directly on the bone. It twitched as it reached out and touched your cheek. Sliding up and collecting one of your tears as it slid down. The finger lifted from your face rotating slightly as if they were studying it. The breathing changed slightly, dropping in pitch and picking up in choke. A laugh, it was laughing at your fear.
From somewhere deep inside a surge of bravery came over you. You shoved your hand forward pushing the bathroom door open. Light flooded the hallway and everything vanished. The breathing, the finger, the air was hot and sticky again. A sob finally slipped free as you jumped into the bathroom and shut the door behind you. On the other side you heard shuffling and then a giggle that sounded as if it had come from a small girl.
You sat there in the floor sobbing, the urge that had led you here long forgotten. Too afraid to go back out into the hallway, back into the dark. After a while you heard movement in the hallway again and something pushed against the door. You jumped away from the door and it pushed open. On the other side was your mother. She frowned when she saw you clearly disappointed that you were in there. But her face softened when she saw your state.
"Don't get out of bed after dark." she said as she wrapped you in a hug. And in that moment you swore to yourself that you'd never ignore that warning again.
Drop it in the comments: What was the encounter that shifted your entire practice?
We all have that moment. That one experience with a deity, spirit, ancestor, or other being that completely changed the trajectory of our path.
Maybe it was:
A deity showing up uninvited and refusing to leave
An ancestor making their presence undeniably known
A spirit encounter that proved this was all real
A sign so specific it couldn't be coincidence
A dream that felt more real than waking life
A moment of communication that changed everything you believed
An entity claiming you when you weren't even looking
I want to hear yours.
What happened? Who/what was it? How did it change your practice, your beliefs, or your path?
Some questions to get you started:
Were you seeking this encounter or did it ambush you?
How did you know it was real and not just your imagination?
Did you welcome it or freak out?
What did this being want from you?
How did your practice change after?
Are you still working with them?
What would you tell someone who's never had an experience like this?
No experience is too small or too wild.
Maybe your encounter was dramatic—a full manifestation, objects moving, undeniable presence.
Maybe it was subtle—a feeling, a knowing, a series of synchronicities that couldn't be ignored.
Maybe it scared you. Maybe it comforted you. Maybe it demanded things from you. Maybe it gave you gifts.
All of it counts. All of it matters.
For those who haven't had an encounter like this yet: read the comments. See how different everyone's experiences are. Notice how many people thought they were making it up at first. Notice how many were reluctant, scared, or tried to ignore it.
Deity/spirit work isn't always what the books make it sound like. Sometimes it's messy, confusing, and nothing like you expected.
So tell us your story.
Who showed up? What happened? What changed?
Comments are open. No judgment. Just stories.
(And if you've never had an encounter but want to—that's valid too. Drop a comment about who you're hoping to connect with or what you're waiting for. Sometimes putting it into words is the first step.)
I don’t think autism is being seen from all lenses — except when they’re actually mentally or physically affected.
(I’m speaking as someone who has been diagnosed from a young age, so experiences may not be the same as what you see in the media!)
—
Whenever you think about someone with autism, what do you think about? Chances is that you probably have the media depiction of it. However, that’s not how we’re all like — or at least 90% of the time.
If I have to say, I feel like there is a silent majority of us that may never get our voices heard enough to where people can see that autism does not always mean high functioning.
I was diagnosed at just age of 3. As soon as the doctors found that out about me, they immediately took control of my life and shut me out of any school that other kids would go to. I remember from a young age being sad that my older sisters got to go to school whilst I had to stay at home and be homeschooled by a special needs teacher.
Because of that, I never got to experience life outside of my own family and would feel alienated when mixing in with people that do knowing that I’m the only one that doesn’t. It really affected me — even now.
Whenever I tried to call out and complain to a social worker or a teacher, they would always come back to me not answering the question saying “but having autism makes you unique and special” or “but [insert celebrity here] has autism and they’re also smart” and some shit. The constant sugar coating is very prevalent here since it still happens until this day. It always didn’t feel right when they say stuff like that. But little did young 8 year old me knew that they were purposefully infantilising me and keeping me away from the truth — alas, it didn’t stop me from finding out the hard way when my parents told me that the doctors thought that I wasn’t academic enough, despise being self aware on how they were treating me.
I don’t know why this never shows up whenever the topic of autism shows up. It makes me feel alone thinking that only people with autism should accept it as a part of them when really, it was a daunting label that nearly cost my education and it has been such an emotionally alienating experience that I never wish anyone had to go through. And the fact that people are seeing it as a “quirky” thing and even lying about having it is such an embarrassment. Not even just that, but really insulting to people like me who had to go through something like this. Imagine having to go through something like that and not seeing anybody else having to do the same thing. It sure made me feel alone, and I hope you do too because it’s awful.
The UK system is literally fucked up. Apparently my second niece from my sister may have autism too — which isn’t bad by the way, but it’s scary to think that she may have to go through the same thing again. Having to second handedly go through this experience another time is exhausting and I just want it to stop.
Stop infantilising us. Some of us don’t need a lot of support.
Edit: Written something wrong so I changed it to make more sense.
I was at the store today and Britney Spears 'hit me baby one more time' came on and it was so surreal walking through the aisles, hearing customers mumble it under their breaths, every person we passed. We are all always containing urges but something about Britney Spears hit me baby one more time and you know every customer is apart of a nearly silent and invisible flash mob.
Story titles and links below the cut.. because there's a lot of them.. and it's likely that more will be added as I remember them because I know there's some I'm forgetting at this particular moment.
Childhood
These take place in the home I grew up in and in the various houses we moved to (Age 6 - 15)
First Encounter
The One In The Corner
Mother?
It's Not Just A Storm
It Hides In the Dark
Just Outside the Window
When We met
Inside the Bed
It Whispers
Goodbye, Grandma
That's Not My Sister
The Upstairs Bedroom
It Shouldn't Bounce Like That
The Smell of Smoke
Don't Look At It
We Don't Have A Dog
Scratching
I Didn't Touch You
Footprints
Teenage Years
The take place in the house of the friend I moved into after leaving home (Age 16-17)
The Bell
Mirror, Mirror
Lights Out
The Thing In The Kitchen
The Man In The Hat
What Was That?
The Screams
The Storm
It's In The Trees
Don't Open The Door
It's Still Here
Adulthood
These take place in the houses I've lived in as an adult up to the apartment I'm currently in (Age 18-35)
