Laying on the couch in my living room was just the start of it. I looked around and observed the room as if I never saw this room before. All the lights were off, even the light above the stove. It’s usually on. The TV was off too; someone must have turned it off when they noticed that I wasn’t really watching it. The only light source was my mom’s artificial candle. The little bulb inside was bright and looked like an actual candle lit from a distance, making a corner of the room seem to be on fire. I could tell it was still night time because no sunlight was coming in through the window, and how it was oddly quiet. I would still be able to hear the cars pass by even if the windows were closed during the day. But I could only hear silence. I started to get uncomfortable, I could hear my heart beating and hear the blood flow through my body. Yet it felt like I wasn’t breathing; I couldn’t even hear air escape my nose when I exhaled. And that’s when I started freaking out. I tried to get up from the couch by moving my left leg first. Nothing happened. I tried to move it again with more force, and nothing happened. It only caused me to breathe more heavily, even though it felt like I wasn’t breathing at all, almost like I was suffocating. Is this just sleep paralysis? In the past, I had experiences of the simple form of sleep paralysis, which is the temporary inability to move or speak while falling asleep or upon waking. But this was different, I have never been “dreaming” during one. This was all new to me and I wasn’t sure what to do next. And that’s when someone appeared next to me, right next to the side of my head.

Am I hallucinating? I had read extreme cases of sleep paralysis where the subject could hallucinate during the experience. Some people would see paranormal or unknown creatures in their room sitting or walking around. Some of them even had experiences of these creatures sitting on their chest, which would explain the difficulty breathing. And there are other cases where people believed they were being abducted by aliens. At least mine is a person. He started to walk slowly forward as if he was pondering what to do. The man was very tall and slim wearing a red hooded robe lined with silk and a crimson rope tied around his waist. When he reached the end of the other side of the couch next to the fake candle, he swiveled around to continue his movement. I tried to look at his face but it was just a dark blur; his body was blocking the light and had his hood on his head. He continued walking back and forth for quite awhile and never once looked in my direction. He kept sending me a weird vibe, like he was warning me that he was dangerous. Don’t trust him. I began to ignore him and closed my eyes, focusing on trying to move my legs to get off the couch. But the presence of him became stronger; the sensation started tearing through my mind telling me to acknowledge this stranger, do not ignore him, look at him and listen. Since my method of getting up wasn’t working and it was only making me exhausted and breathless, I opened my eyes to study the stranger once again.

He had the remote in hand while he stood there surfing the channels. I couldn’t make out the pictures on the screen, it only looked like different colors of dancing light. What is he watching? The fake candle was off now so the only thing giving off light was the TV. The light of the TV was hitting against him, creating the outline of his face, lips, and nose. Other than that his face was still a dark blur from the shadow of the hood. Fixed on the TV, the man hanged on the edge of the couch near my knees. I could feel the couch sink in a little as if a child had just sat down. He started laughing at the show he was watching. It must of been a comedy because I could faintly hear the fake laughter of the audience every time he laughed. His laughter was intense making it seem he was trying to prove to himself that he was watching something seriously funny. But then I noticed him looking at me. The outline of his mouth looked like a smile-maybe smirk-but I wasn’t sure. He then glanced back at the TV briefly and then turned back to me. The audience started their fake laughing again, and so did he. But the this time it seemed like he was trying to prove to me that this was a funny show. I really wish I knew what the show was about, but I still couldn’t make out what was happening on screen. His laugh was getting louder and louder and to the point where he sounded like he was hysterically crying. Then all of a sudden, he stopped and just stared at me. This was when I became fully aware of the situation I was in. There is a stranger in my house and he only seemed to be concerned with me now. What does he want from me?

He continued to stare at me, at least I think that’s what he did, since I couldn’t see his eyes from the shadow on his face. He said something under his breath and looked at the TV for a while. Then he looked back at me and something again but I still couldn’t hear him. Oh my god he is talking to me.

“What did you say? I didn’t hear you,” I muttered, yet nothing came out of my mouth. I  don’t even think my mouth opened to speak. He spat  something out again at me. I could tell he said it louder by how he straightened his posture and how his mouth moved with more exaggeration. But no audible sound came out of his mouth. I tried to explain again that I couldn’t hear him, but by the look of his tensing face, he didn’t hear a signal word I said. Why can’t we hear each other? I then realized that I couldn’t speak because of sleep paralysis; not being able to talk, or scream, is also one of the symptoms. His lips started to move faster after every pause he took to breathe. He was getting frustrated, his face was showing more features and structure when he talked. He skin was tight on his face making his jaw line and eye sockets more defined. He looked like he was in his late twenties or early thirties. His eyes appeared from the shadow of his face subtly. They were definitely looking right at me with full focus on mine. They were a dark brown color like walnut wood, almost like mine except his had a fresh coat of gloss that made his eyes seem new and crisp. They never fidgeted back and forth; they never searched for what my face expression was trying to say. It was just straight eye to eye contact. I couldn’t look away from his eyes; they were quite fascinating. But the longer I gazed them, they appeared to be uncanny and eerie. He stopped talking now and only stared at me. I was terrified what was going to happen. What is he going to do? He slowly put his right hand on my shoulder. He then slid both of his hands onto my neck and started pushing his weight on top of me. He was trying to choke me but he was doing it wrong; I mainly felt his thumbs and index fingers pressing against my neck. The rest of his fingers were stretched out, putting no effort into squeezing my neck. Thank God. The look on my face must have made him feel remorseful for what he was doing, he kept shifting his weight that was forced upon my neck, letting me gasp for air every so often. I looked at his eyes again to hopefully see them filled with guilt, but I only found eyes completely filled with a dark grey color like the color of smoke you would see from a house fire. They weren’t staring at me anymore. There was no reason for him to stare at anything now. Whatever they were looking at didn’t change the idea of him choking me; there was no way to change his mind.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus. Even though he was choking me, I tried to stay calm and maintain my breathing. This is the only way I know how to wake up from this. I started thinking about how to move myself into a sit up position and then I held my breath and tried to force myself up. I didn’t move. I did the same process a few more times until I found myself sitting up on my couch. Yes, it worked. The first thing I noticed was the light coming from the window. It must be morning. I tried to take in my surroundings again until I felt awfully tired. What’s happening? It didn’t make sense for me to be tired now since I’m pretty sure I had just awoken. But my eyes felt heavy and I couldn’t fight off the feeling. The next thing I knew my eyes shut and my head hit back against the couch. It was happening again...