Kabir had never encountered a sleep paralysis episode before. He would often wave off that thought by saying that it sounded utterly stupid. But he knew in the back of his head that it bothered him since one of his cousins kept telling him about what happens and how you feel when your body gets arrested. He had read about it on the internet as well and often wondered about how it might affect the victim in reality.
Until the day came when a sleep paralysis episode happened to him too.
Our Dream Book houses many such strange accounts. Feel free to check them all out.
Here’s a little account of how a sleep paralysis episode stiffened Kabir up, and got the better of him:
Sleep Paralysis Episode
“Why don’t you guys ever clean the spot once you are done eating?”
Geet pointed at the smears on the floor. There were food stains of dal, curry and what not.
The boy next door was disgusted by the ways of his neighbors. But he liked frequenting them because they were cool. Also, they always somehow happened to have sugar every time he came.
He continued,
“I have seen you ignore it as if someone is going to come and do that for you.”
Vansh was quick to retort,
“If it bothers you so much, why don’t you clean it yourself?”
“Here!”
Kabir threw a piece of cloth at Geet.
“I want this room spick and span.”
Vansh chime in almost reflexively,
“Given the amount of things you have taken from us over the past two months, I think you owe us a good cleaning.”
Kabir ordered,
“Chop! Chop!”
Geet was pissed obviously.
“Friggin Psychos!”
Flustered he got up to leave.
“Cleaning, my dear friend, is for weekends. It’s a silent understanding and a sacred truth we roomies have come to terms with.”
Kabir replied calmly after realizing Geet had been insulted enough.
“You guys disgust me!”
Geet replied,
“I am gonna go now.”
Their faces lit up almost immediately.
“Oh! Thank you Lord. Thank you!”
Vansh overacted tossing his hands in the air.
“Please don’t come back!”
Kabir was quick to add before shutting the door on him.
The Apartment
It was a small place where Kabir and Vansh lived. An untidy 1 BHK apartment, they had somehow managed to find right next to their college. They preferred to sleeping in the hall to the one room they had. Primarily because it housed plenty of space for them to play indoor cricket during holidays, leaving out enough space for their two mattresses to crash. They slept on each side of the wall with their mattresses leaving out an apparent passage in between where they used to dine. That’s where the stains were always there and their lazy ass would never clean. And squalid as they were, they never bothered to tidy up until it wasn’t a Sunday.
Vansh was the worst. He would skip three days in a row without taking his bath too.
They were about to lie down on their beds, when there was a knock on the door once again.
“That bastard Geet! Don’t open it. He must have come for the sugar again.”
Vansh replied.
“Yeah! Seriously. We need to hide our stash.”
Kabir reluctantly went to open the door, but found nobody there. He got out to check the corridors. No sign of anybody. Geet lived in the house opposite to theirs. Peeked to check on Geet through his window; he was lying down on his bed inside watching TV.
“What the hell?”
Kabir looked around then came back shutting the door.
“Who was that?”
asked a curious Vansh.
“No one.”
Kabir replied.
“Must be Geet.”
Kabir didn’t know how to respond. He was unsure actually so he simply nodded. Then he went back to his bed.
Body Arrest
The dim light from the window came directly to their room. Lights were out but there was ample radiance inside. It was about 3 AM in the night when Kabir felt he was dreaming. He could hear a slurping noise in the back of his mind as if something was being licked. It brought him back to reality, as he struggled to open his eyes from a deep slumber.
His back was pressed against his mattress. Hands on his chest. His face facing the ceiling. The fan spun slowly. He knew he was awake. He was parched so he thought he would get some water. But to his surprise he couldn’t move. Was he having a sleep paralysis episode? He thought.
In the background that noise of licking continued, coming from his right. Vansh slept towards the right too. He wondered if it was Vansh who was making that noise. Then he felt as if something was moving around, changing the position while licking.
Kabir put all his might into rolling over to see what was towards his right, but he couldn’t. All that power he felt in his daily exercising regime, and yet he felt so powerless as if hitting the gym weren’t enough. He tried lifting his hand, but it seemed to be riveted to his chest. He closed his eyes once again, and waited for his sleep paralysis episode to get over.
The licking grew stronger and stronger sometimes stopping altogether when someone or something moved around, only to return after.
It went on and on, and Kabir didn’t know how to react, primarily because he couldn’t.
Waking Up
After about 10 to 15 minutes when he chose to close his eyes that he felt his nerves relaxing and his body taking back control. He reopened his eyes, and when he felt that twitch in his body signal that he was once again in control, he turned around to check. There was no one there. Towards the right on his own bed, Vansh slept with his back turned towards him. There was no sound of licking. There was no sign of anybody. He thought it must have been a dream. But it felt so real!
Knocking that thought off, he slept comfortably this time turning over and going under the sheets. The next morning Vansh was getting prepared to leave for the college. He shouted like an alarm,
“Wake up sleepy head! You have overslept. Time to go!”
Reeking of lethargy Kabir rolled over in his bed, yawning and stretching. Meanwhile, Vansh moved along in supersonic speed scuttling for things. He stopped to look at Kabir and then pointed at something on the floor with his toothbrush.
“Hey! By the way, weren’t we supposed to clean it during the weekends?”
He was pointing to the floor. When Kabir heard that he sat up in his bed and looked at the spot towards his right. It was all clean. All tidied up, spick and span. There was no sign of any food stains.
Kabir felt a rush of dread charge up in his brain. He had thought he was hallucinating in the night. Clearly he wasn’t.