Draw Me In

ZARA Sleep paralysis… That has to be what this is. I’m deathly aware of my body but have no control over it. It feels like being in two different places at once. Having knowledge of both, yet having no real footing in either. I’m watching myself in my minds eye. The panic is seeping into every cell in my being. Choosing flight because my instincts tell me that fighting is not an option. Yet, is either really an option? I don’t have the time to really contemplate the answer as I feel whatever threat is coming for me move closer. There’s movement in my peripheral vision but I can’t pinpoint anything in particular. I take stalk in my surroundings. I’m in a building with low lighting. I can just make out the walls on either side of me. I see columns, maybe out lining room doors. I can’t tell. I’m in a hallway at minimum. For the life of me I can’t get my vision to adjust well enough. “Well s**t” I say to myself. “ I know you wear glasses Zara, but now is not the time to be a blind bat!” I swear I hear a dark chuckle while simultaneously seeing the whisper of a shadow move past me. That’s it, I’m really losing it now. I try again to get my limbs to cooperate. I’m clumsy on a good day, but this, this is total loss of coordination. No part of me will move. My breathing grows frantic as I fight to get going. I’m not quite sure where I would go, but I get the innate feeling that standing here is not in my best interest. Again the shadow slinks past me. I whip my head in its direction. “Oh but your head can turn!” I yell in my head. That’s a not so helpful development in this situation. Because what in the actual f**k. I need to be able to run. Not spin my head like a damn owl. My frustration only slightly dampens my panic. Slightly. Certainly not enough to calm my nerves. I try looking around again. Did the hallway get longer? My brain and eyes are clearly playing tricks on me at this point. Deciding I don’t really care about the answer, I put my all into moving again. Nothing. Absolutely f*****g nothing. Moisture begins to build in the corners of my eyes. I’m not sure if it’s from fear or frustration. Possibly a combination of both. Something moves behind me. I say something because I can feel its presence but it hasn’t materialized. “Am I being stalked by a ghost?” I ask myself. As if to answer my question, I hear a distinct “No” answer my unvoiced question. “Show yourself!” I yell out into the hall. Great, I sound like every victim in a horror movie that doesn’t make it to the end. “Only if you close your eyes first” I hear, but the voice is in my head. Or so I think it is. I would really hate to think I’m talking to myself and answering as something else. Regardless, I will definitely not be closing my eyes. That’s stay alive 101. Don’t close your damn eyes. Nothing good ever appears after you open them. I defiantly keep them open. “Smart girl” I hear in my head. “Hey! If you’re going to talk to me, do it out loud and in my face! Don’t be a creep!” I shout at nothing in particular. “Fine” a smooth deep male voice says in my ear. “But I will only show myself if you close your eyes first” “Not going to happen sir” I respond. I could swear I hear a sort of growl. Did this thing just growl in my ear? “Call me that again” he says. “No!” My answer is immediate. How dare this, this thing order me around. “I’m not a thing” he says with slight irritation. “Ok you’re an it” I fire back. I’m not exactly sure where this bravery is coming from because I’m certainly in no position to be mouthing off. But that’s me, always having to volley back. My mother always told me my mouth would get me in trouble. I have a feeling I’m proving her right in this very moment. “Such a smart mouth for someone who doesn’t have the advantage in this scenario” he replies. “Don’t you worry about my mouth sir!” I snark. There it is again. That low rumble to close to a growl. I should not like the vibration it sends down my spine. “I wonder what else it’s capable of” he responds. “It bites” I retort. A small chuckle comes from him. It irritates me. “Do you promise? He asks. “Show yourself and we’ll see” I challenge. My panic has started to recede and annoyance has set it in. I don’t like being taunted nor toyed with. And I clearly don’t like self preservation, because what am I doing? I don’t even know what this thing is and here I am going back and forth with him. “Don’t call me a thing again” he says with an almost snarl. “As long as I can’t see you, you’re an it thing” I tell him. As quickly as the words are out of my mouth, a set of deep emerald eyes begin to appear ten feet in front of me. I’m guessing it’s ten feet. I’ve never been good with measurements. Either way, I’m beginning to realize the error in my words. Slowly a form begins to appear around the eyes. But it’s not a body. At least not in the human sense of the word. I begin making out ears, and a muzzle. I’ve decided that I’ve officially lost my mind. Because is this an animal appearing before me? I just know I haven’t been talking to a dog this whole time. A very big dog if I might add. The rest of his body has formed and I can clearly make out four legs and very deep black fur. He stand a good five feet on all fours. The biggest dog I’ve ever seen in my life. “Calling me a dog is quite insulting” I hear in my head as the beast stalks closer to me. “You’re in my head again” I say out loud as the fear inside me fires back to life. Ah there it is. The proper feeling I should have been feeling this entire time. I somehow forgot be fearful in the course of our banter. But I definitely feel it now. “I can’t speak out loud in this form” his voice says in my head “you wanted to see me, this is me” At this point he is standing close enough for me to reach out and touch him. Not that could sense my body won’t listen to me. But if it did I could touch him. I stare into those emerald eyes as he communicates to me in my head. It’s as if he simultaneously talking to me with them, as well as in my head. Now that he’s closer, I can see how his fur has a shine to it. It’s honestly beautiful the way the low light reflects off of it. He begins to stalk around me as he continues to speak. I’m hyper aware of his every movement. Slow and methodical. Like a pure hunter. My breath hitches.