I couldn’t escape, not this time. She was there, in front of the door, her ethereal form incapable of fully blocking the corridor behind her from view.

She stepped forward, her step silent and unreal.

She stepped forward, the air freezing around me as she got near.

She stepped forward, her white eyes devoid of life just inches away from me.

I woke up.

The nightmare that was in front of my eyes just a moment before was gone, exchanged for the comfort of my room.

In the comfort of that room I soon realised I couldn’t move.

Sleep paralysis is something that is bound to happen to someone with a sleep schedule as messed up as mine, it’s nothing to be afraid of, just your body going full retard for a second or two.

I looked at what I could see of my room in search for everyday, comforting sights. My computer, which the blinking green light told me I had forgotten to turn off again; my wardrobe, the sleeve of a button shirt coming out from its doors; my dog, who had managed to get on my bed without waking me up again; the organic chemistry textbook on the desk, now that was a real nightmare, not some ghost girl in a dream.

Then I saw her, standing against the wall, looking at her own feet, far away from my bed, as if she had followed me from my dream.

I could only think, brain! What the fuck? Do you really have to do this shit when I have to wake up at six? Can’t you, I don’t know, wait for the weekend or something? as I saw what I could only consider the usual hallucination that sometimes accompanied my episodes.

I tried to sigh but all that came out was just a normal breath, which made me try to sigh again and fail again. Those hallucinations are annoying, when they’re present you can almost be certain that it will last longer and no matter how used you are to them you’re going to lose a lot of time trying to go back to sleep afterwards.

No matter how much I wanted to ignore her to make the episode end, now that I had seen her I couldn’t look away from her.

She raised her head and stared back, her face, which could have once been beautiful, was thin, dried up and decaying.

Really, fuck you, brain.

She stepped forward, just like in the dream her steps were silent and surreal.

She stepped forward and just like in the dream I felt the air freeze around me.

She stepped forward, her white eyes, devoid of life, staring at me as she reached my bed.

She leaned forward, reaching towards my face, an evil smile on her cracked lips, as the air froze to the point I started shivering, while my breath condensed.

Wait, cold?

Her hand was now inches away from my face.

My dog barked… at her.