The Girl Who Stopped Time

Sweet dreams

When I was younger, I suffered from two types of sleeping disorders, Insomnia and sleep paralysis. Which meant that I was either restless and unable to sleep or I would be in a state between wakefulness and sleep.

I remember the nights when restlessness became dominant, I would lie in bed for hours just staring at the ceiling. Picking out shapes that protruded from the walls and naming them one by one: George the hippo, Penelope the three-legged frog, even a flea named Robert. This was the way I would entertain myself for hours on end.

I would occasionally sleep, only ever to wake up in perfectly illustrated paralysis. Demented demons would surround the edge of my bed, tickling the tips of my toes and whispering strange words into my ears. I could never move, scream or do anything to get away from the terrifying creatures. Some nights I couldn't even breath, the pressure of the entities became too much for me and causing me to choke on anything that tried to enter my lungs. Even if the substances weren't real.

Each night would be a different feeling. Drowning. Burning. Freezing. Choking. It was different each night but they would always have the same outcome. When the pain would finally subside or my breathing would become even everything would become still. The demons would no longer whisper and scorch me with their burning touch. They would just stare at me with their charcoal eyes for what seemed like hours but must have only been minutes. Then a light would appear from all around my bed, almost as if to warn the demons off. Yet each time it only seemed to make it worse. The demons would screech in terror and for the first time since the dreams had started, I could move. I would quickly bring my hands to my ears, trying to rid the terrible noise from entering my ears.

This would always be the unbearable noise that marked the end of my dream. Only once I had regained the feeling in my body had I realized that the noise was not coming from the demons... but it was coming from me.

Each and every night I would actually sleep-without fail- I would wake up screaming. The first few times it happened my parents were home and about tore my bedroom door down; they believed I was being murdered just by how loud I was screaming.

For an entire week my parents did not work late and came home early to help me through the night. That week was the most quality time I'd spent with my parents since I was, well, born. Although soon they realized I could not be helped and went back to their regularly scheduled programming.

The next week was the beginning of the insomnia. All because I would wait for them, but of course they never came.

The dreams always seemed so real. I sometimes had trouble differing my dreams from reality. Which isn't the best of things when you find yourself in an unbelievable situation. For instance, the one I'm in now.

The last thing I remember was the face of a man as he carried me away from my so-called mother. The clock had stopped, and it apparently had something to do with me? My mind is still fuzzy, and remembering previous details is a much more difficult task then I would have expected. I still have yet to open my heavy eyes, I am hoping to soon change that.

I feel cool sheets beneath my body, they are soft and from the texture I am guessing they are silk. I stretch my legs out and feel the coldness of the material envelop me. I expect to feel friction from my pants but there is none... as I am no longer wearing pants. In fact, my body is no longer surrounded by anything other than the thin sheets. At the thought of my nude body, my eyes open and I shoot up to a sitting position.

My head is dizzy and my vision is less then comprehensible. I bring my right hand up to my head while my left stays glued to my chest, keeping the flimsy sheet on my uncovered body. Once my sight is clear of all dots, I find that I am in a very large bedroom. The walls are a light gray with a line of purple sliced through the middle, giving a dark yet cozy feeling to the room. A gray tall dresser sits on the left side of the room. Nothing is on top of it although the very top cupboard is slightly open, revealing a few pairs of what I suppose are black socks. At least that tells me that someone is staying here.