Then, after a few weeks, something changed. It was the middle of the night, and it was quiet. I don't mean quiet in the sense of I got used to the white noise and tuned it out, which I did. I mean it was dead quiet. Just because you can tune a noise out doesn't mean you don't notice when it stops. For one moment, there was nice and peaceful static, then there was nothing. It just stopped for a moment. A part of me thought that I finally broke it, which I dreaded, but when I went to move, I couldn't.
I opened my eyes, I was in pitch darkness, and I couldn't move. I was stuck, frozen in whatever position I fell asleep in and I could only move my eyes. I couldn't even speak or make a sound. Looking around the room, I spotted It. A silhouette, with piercing pin prick white eyes. It didn't do anything, it was just looking at me. I knew it noticed me looking back, I don't know how but I just knew. It never did anything, it just stared at me and I stared back. There was nothing else I could do aside from stare back.
Eventually, I don't know when, I must have fell asleep. When I woke up, it was morning, and I still felt fine, still awake. However, my eyes took a few seconds to adjust to the morning light. The machine was still silent, but I choked it up to it turning off in the night.
Now, I know what you're gonna say; that what I just described was sleep paralysis. That's what I thought it was too, at first. It would've been harmless. Should've been. But it unnerved the hell out of me, even if it was just supposed to be a hallucination. But I still woke up energised for the day ahead of me so I thought nothing of it, never even brought it up to Joseph.
When it started happening again and again, I still tried to think nothing of it. Even when it became like that every night I went to bed, I tried to not think about it. Every night, I'd wake to silence, be paralysed, and see it. Just in the corner, looking at me. It wasn't in the corner for long, though. Every night it would move, just a little bit, as to not be noticeable. But I noticed. A little bit closer to me every night. What did it want from me? It had to have wanted something from me, right?
I think I got that question answered for me, three days ago. It was the same situation. Silence, and paralysis. The only difference was when I opened my eyes, it was there, next to my bed, staring at my face. Those beady white eyes. Even with it so close, it was still just a silhouette. I was ready to just stare back until I passed out, like every night.
Then, it's hand moved, toward my arm. I know that a symptom of sleep paralysis is feeling like something is pushing down on you, but this was different. When it grabbed my arm, I felt it. I felt everything. The sharp coldness that runs deep into your bones.
I immediately tried to yank my arm away and was met with incredible resistance, it didn't want to let go of me. I was stuck, grappling with this thing, all while that freezing cold feeling was spreading up my arm. Looking down, it looked like some shadowy tendril was consuming it. In a panic, I tried to pull away again and managed to get free of the shadow's grip. It did send me tumbling backwards, off my bed.
I got my bearings quickly and ran to leave my room, I knew it'd follow me, but I was panicking and afraid of what it was going to do to me if it caught me, I wasn't going to think clearly in the moment.
When I got to the door, my hand must've hit against the light switch, as the room suddenly filled with light. I stupidly looked back, but when I did, it was gone. Like it was never there to begin with, except for what it did to my arm. It was still so cold and numb, I could barely feel it, and there was this dark stain over where the tendril had reached over my arm. It didn't come off when I tried to wash it away. It still hasn't.