Just a Pen & Paper

9. sleep paralysis demon

ftr: 2.17.2021 [9:07 pm, pennsylvania]

9 - SLEEP PARALYSIS DEMON

sleep paralysis • a temporary inability to move or speak while falling asleep or upon waking.

/slēp pəˈraləsəs/ | noun

"It's so quiet, but everyone's screaming. I scratch myself, but think I'm dreaming. I don't feel anything, but I'm bleeding. I'm running, but I'm not leaving." - C.M

━

"Monsters don't sleep under your bed, they sleep inside your head." - Unknown

*

     "Uh. . . why did you write the word 'Tradition' on your nightstand in Sharpie?" Luna was so over everything, she couldn't find any craps to give.

          "That uh━" Ramsha began to explain through chuckles, but was interrupted by Faija ━ owner of the nightstand and home they were currently in.

          "I didn't write that." Faija's face scrunched up, brows furrowed as she pointed at it ━ finishing with a sigh. "My sleep paralysis demon did."

After a group therapy session with Atlas, Ramsha persuaded Luna into going with her to visit Faija ━ Luna wasn't upset as she was curious about her.

Ramsha couldn't hold it in anymore, she sprayed spit on Luna ━ by accident, guffawing into oblivion. "Ahah. Gets me every time!"

               "Yeah, you laugh every time you see it."

Faija rolled her eyes, knowing Ramsha wasn't laughing out of spite. She just wished that Ramsha would take her paralysis demon more serious, though naming it didn't help.

     Luna shook her head before asking in slight interest, to which Faija nodded in response. "Tell me about it?"

               "Well. . .  I named him Rebeccon. His head touches the sealing and he reminds me of slender man a little bit. His arms are branchy and they scrape my feet sometimes when he visits."

     "You sound chill about." Luna was confused, as far as her knowledge went, it was a scary experience. Ramsha had taken a seat on Faija's bed while watching them talk, Luna leaning with her hand on the nightstand, and Faija shifting her weight from foot-to-foot.

          Faija just shrugged. "I mean not everyone has the same experience but I like to delude myself into thinking I'm besties with mine."

          "I thought I was your best friend!" Ramsha faked a shocked and hurt look, paired with a gasp. Faija rolled her eyes and Luna just observed.

               "I can have more than one best friend, Ramsha."

          Ramsha stuck her tongue out, countering in a childish voice. "Nuh-uh. If that's the case, then they would be considered your BEST friend. Best only leaves space for one place."

Ramsha had a point, so everyone had to face their worst nightmare ━ choosing a best friend. Faija scoffed before belly-flopping on her bed, blonde-ends and black-regrowth spread out on her grey floral comforter. Faija patted an empty spot on the bed between her and Ramsha. Luna tentatively walked over before sitting in it.

          "Hey, did you hear about Grayson?" Faija asked Ramsha, her ears perked up in response ━ shaking her head 'no'.

               "He has to go on a business trip this weekend. Made a deal with his parental units."

     Ramsha shook her head, eye slightly twitching in irritation at the mention. "Hopefully he's got good benefits."

           Faija sighed before sitting up properly on her bed. "Yeah, apparently they'll stop trying to control his friend group."

Luna felt slightly out of place, as she wasn't clued in on the action. Ramsha noticed and shifted uncomfortably before speaking. "I can't really share too much, as it isn't my story to tell. But Grayson's parents. . . aren't really the best."

     Luna nodded, feeling grateful that she could at least use that as a bit of context. "Guess we have a bit in common." Faija's shoulders slumped, a look of sympathy setting up camp on her face. 

          Luna was genuinely intrigued by the education on sleep paralysis and their demons, so she switched the topic to that. "Can you share more about your sleep paralysis demons? If you're comfortable, of course."

Luna understood boundaries and was willing to obey them, as she would prefer they do to her. 

     Faija blinked, scratching the back of her neck. "Erm. . . I remember the first time I had sleep paralysis. Rebeccon wasn't there, but this extremely creepy and skinny tree was there. One of its lower branches brushed by my foot and scratched it slightly. I was so confused on whether I was sleeping or awake. I couldn't move and my surroundings looked accurate, but I couldn't scream when I saw the tree wrapping a branch around my ankle. It felt so real, but at the same time it felt like that wasn't my body."

     Luna had been listening attentively the whole time. It interested her, triggering her to make mental note of researching it later.

               "At least she didn't scream. Cause she can scream, LOUD."

          Faija c****d her head, rolling her eyes. "Chile, please."

Ramsha tutted her teeth, getting up from the bed ━ going out of the room and coming back with what looked like a photo-album. "Look, see this picture?" Ramsha slightly shoved the book in Luna's face, pointing to a photo with Ramsha crouched down near a muddy puddle ━ squinting at a scrape on Faija's knee, who appeared to be screaming in pain.

               "In this picture, she screamed so loud that people around that playground were coming out of their house, drawing their curtains, and peeking through their blinds. I could've sworn the ground shook that day."

Faija just sighed, a slight smile on her face while shaking her head in amusement.

                "Liar, I did not."

                "Faija. Look at the picture, that's proof. We have Luna to judge. Your honor, what is your judgement?"

          "I say. . ." Luna decided to play along since she had nothing better to do. "Judgement for the plaintiff. Defendant, your claim is dismissed."

Ramsha's jaw playfully dropped open, which Faija soon closed for her. Faija and Ramsha laughed, Luna's eye glowing in amusement. Then they went through the photo-album, Ramsha being the explainer and Faija giving her two sense or little comments every now and then ━ Luna just listening and looking. Luna did make one observation. . .

They didn't have any photos together younger than 9 years old. Luna asked about why photos weren't taken younger than that, Faija told her that she moved there around 9 or 10. But Ramsha, she couldn't stop fidgeting ━ as though she knew something that neither of them did.

*

     "Oh! Next time, let's go over Ramsha's and look at her pictures from younger than 9." Faija was standing in the doorway, talking to Luna and Ramsha who were standing on one of the doorsteps. Luna nodded along, she'd grown a little comfortable with their company ━ so instead of just watching, she'd put her scarce comments in or nod her head to give input.

          "Ehm. . . I don't think that's a great idea." Ramsha began playing with her headwrap, twirling the end piece around her finger. "Plus, I've never shown them to you before."

          "Well, yea, that's the point. So I can see them." Faija tilted her head, brows furrowed, and other features coming together to form an confused expression.

     "I don't know. I don't think I have any albums now that I think about it. I'll ask my mom." It was clear Ramsha was lying, both Luna and Faija noticed. They didn't say anything to her face, but they knew that each other knew she was acting funny ━ she didn't usually lie, so she didn't have the practice or experience.

          "Well, see y'all at the therapy group tomorrow, right?" 

Luna and Faija both exchanged weird looks before nodding in affirmation to Ramsha's question.

          Ramsha began walking down the steps, but Luna stayed behind. "I haven't known her long but, she's acting weird. . ."

           "She's a bad liar, I'd know. She was lying just then." Faija explained.

               "You coming or what?"

Luna nodded at Faija before walking down the steps and following Ramsha. Once they got to the crossing where they would separate, Ramsha grabbed Luna's arm.

          "Faija. . . what did she say to you?" She seemed nervous, almost desperate to know.

     "Nothing, really. She just told me how you were secretly a loud-mouth too." Luna decided to cover-up for Faija, she too, was curious about why Ramsha was lying.

          Ramsha visibly relaxed, releasing her grip which had tightened when she was waiting for Luna's answer. "Oh. . . okay."

               "Why?"

          "H━ huh?" Ramsha was back to being tense and nervous again. "I━ I. . . I was worried you guys were talking about me."

Ramsha's upper-lip kept twitching slightly like it had been earlier when she was lying, something Luna made note of.

     Luna shrugged of the topic, waving her hand at Ramsha ━ separating from her and walking on her usual route to her house.

*

          "How was therapy?" Her dad was sitting on the couch, watching a show ━ though his words seemed a bit slurred and loopy.

          "It was fine. Today we discussed passive-aggression." Luna slung her bag on the couch, plopping down next to her dad.

               "Oh. Did it━ did it apply to you?"

     Luna shook her head. "No." Neither Rafael nor Ximena knew all of what happened before she lived with them. CPS filled them in on certain things, so they had to be mindful and careful because they didn't know the full story.

Rafael let out a sigh of relief.

               "You. . . you know you can always come to me, right? If you want to tell me what happened, I'm here."

          "Yeah, I know." She agreed absently, her mind was on something else ━ or someone else.

          "Can you cook dinner, tonight? There's food in there to make spaghetti. I know it's not your day, but I can't today." Luna was confused, it was a Monday, but she cooked on weekends. She dismissed it because her mom wasn't there to cook anymore, and she couldn't expect her dad to cook all those days AND work ━ but she shouldn't have ignored it.

She peered into the fridge, getting all of the ingredients she would need to craft the recipe. She tied her hair back and washed her hands, before chopping up some bell peppers. She moved from one thing to the other, until two plates and a pot of spaghetti were hand and home made.

               "Dad! Dinner's ready."

     She grabbed two forks and set one of them down on the table next to a plate, taking the other and shoving it into her spaghetti. He came downstairs, stumbling into the table a little bit before righting himself ━ and taking a seat.

          "Are you okay?" Now that she was seeing him a little more, she noticed his paled complexion and sweating.

          "Mhm, I'm━" He covered his mouth, muffling a retch ━ running upstairs into his en suite bathroom, one he used to share with his wife. Luna followed him.

     He pulled up the toilet seat and hovered over it, until he felt the feeling had went away ━ panting a bit, out of breath from the sprint upstairs.

               "See? I'm fi━ blergh, bleeerrgh."

          "Yea, you're fine." Luna sighed after grimacing in disgust and concern, ripping a paper tissue off of the holder and wiping her dad's mouth. "Why are you throwing up? Did you eat something bad?"

Her dad shook his head 'no'. She sighed again, a habit she was developing under a stressful situation.

          "I. . . I think I know why." Her father rasped, his voice sound scratchy from the damage that his stomach acid had done.

               "Why?"

     Luna was trying to set him up properly against the wall near the toilet, though it was hard for a 128 lb. person to lift a 231-pound one. He waved his hand, trying to dismiss the topic ━ but Luna wasn't having it, not if she had to carry this bus to his room.

               "If you ate something bad, we'll need to go to the hospital. What━"

          "Don't worry about it!" He raised his rasping voice, coughing slightly when it scratched while hitting a high volume. "It's no big deal. Just help get me to my room. . . please."

She grudgingly helped him to his room, mainly just him leaning on her for support in case he fell. Vomiting had exhausted his stomach muscles, making him experience the pain of 100 sit-ups back-to-back. He was sweating a good bit, with a noticeable tremble.

     Once she got him to his room, her nose was immediately body-slammed by a tangy and sharp smell. While helping her dad who was stumbling like a drunk to the bed, she sniffed the air ━ perplexed by the somewhat familiar smell. Though she wasn't sure what it was, it immediately opened a pandora box of dysphoria in her. It wasn't like it was created, no, it had always been there, but it had been locked away. It was a pandora box, something that had been locked away for a good reason, yet this smelled had so easily been the key all along.

━━

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[A/N]: I've been watching a bit too much Judge Mathis. . . that's why I wrote the judgement, lol. I'm getting severe writer's block, causing the consideration of dropping this book; though I know that if I drop this book, I'll never write again until I finish it. Fun fact: Faija's sleep first sleep paralysis experience is based off of mine!