Sleep Paralysis Demon or Religious Trauma?
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I awoke in the middle of the night to darkness and this eerie feeling that something was in the room with me, something inhuman, something supernatural. I covered myself with a blanket.
My heart thudded in my chest, not knowing what this presence was, or what it wanted. I could feel it in the corner, the spot in the darkest dark of the room. It radiated energy, calling to me.
I wondered what it wanted. Was it the judgment for me sharing a bed before marriage with my boyfriend? Was it an evil spirit here to leap into me?
I quivered under the bed sheets, transfixed on that corner. I wanted something, anything to break through the darkness. If I could only hear the voice of my lover or have the light turned on, I felt that I would be safe. I couldn’t move my body, but I struggled within myself until I found my voice.
“Babe… Something’s in the room with us. I’m scared.”
I managed to wake my boyfriend. He rolled over, unfazed by the thing I sensed. He whispered something dismissive and told me to go back to sleep. With his voice, I was able to move again.
And I held onto him, my fears naively falling away, as I fell into a peaceful sleep, my body turned away from the darkness of the corner.
Whatever lingered in the dark festered, silently watching.
Need more? Check out these pieces from the MockingOwl Roost contributors and staff.
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- Transcendence
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- Faith and Dandelion Seeds
- Chorus of the Waiting
Ammanda Selethia Moore
Ammanda Selethia Moore (they/elle) is a non-binary poet and writer who also teaches English at Norco College. Their poetry has been published in Synchronized Chaos, Literary Yard, and The Journal of Radical Wonder. They live with their partner in sunny southern California.
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