Sunday, May 22, 2011

Shadows in the Night

Sometimes, I don't sleep very well.  Too much on my mind, perhaps.  Every now and then, the stress of life can really get to me and interrupt my sleep. I have been known to experience an anxiety attack or two in the middle of the night.  You've been there?  It's no fun, right?

Last night, I was having one of those nights.  Restless.  Tossing and turning...couldn't get comfortable.  Covers pushed off, then pulled back on as I started to shiver in the frosty night air.  I often like to have the window open just a crack to let the fresh air in, but last night it was pretty damn cold.

In that drowsy state between full consciousness and sleep, I knew I wanted to get up and shut the window. I opened my eyes and looking straight ahead, I was sure someone was standing in my bedroom.  A very tall person, wearing a hat.  Very broad-shouldered, and needless to say, very menacing.  I shut my eyes and opened them again very quickly, thinking that act alone would make "him" disappear.  Yet he remained. I felt my pulse race, I wanted to scream; I thought for a moment I was dreaming, but knew for a fact I was awake.  And I was.  I was awake.  And there was an intruder standing in front of my bed.

And yet...this figure never moved.  Never swayed.  And interestingly enough, never made a sound--not a breath or a sigh emanted from him. And as sleep fled, and my rational mind took over, the terror I felt a moment earlier seemed to dissipate.  And I was able to roll over and turn on the light.  My 7 foot, broad shouldered visitor with the hat was my jacket hanging in the wardrobe that faces my bed.  I turned the light off and he reappeared.  Clicked the light back on, and there was my innocent jacket once again.

I will never underestimate the power of light and shadow, and my own imagination.  If tonight brings the same agitated sleep, and once again the shadows fall in such a way to create a figure in the night, I will do my best to remain calm...know this "thing" means no harm...it's all just a figment of my wild, agitated thoughts.

Tell me...what do you see in the dark?



8 comments:

Savira Gupta said...

Gees that would frighten the day lights our of me.....glad to know that it was 'just' the lights...... What I see in the dark... is stillness.... pleasant darkness!

MikeB said...

Wonderful post, Debbie. I got scared reading it!

I have seen a somewhat circular mass of dull red light hover to my right near the foot of my bed and move slowly towards me (while I was awake). It happened a couple of times in the several months after my father-in-law died.

After my brother-in-law died recenlty, I saw an shadowy figure in my bedroom (again, I was awake).

And finally, on quite a few nights, I think there is someone standing in the little hallway that leads from our dressing area to our bedroom. It always turns out to be the shape formed by the confluence of the picture on the hallway wall and the light and dark hues in the hallway produced by the street lights outside our house. But it still spooks me every time, even though my prior experiences with this shape tell me that I should not be concerned.

I hope I don't have a nightmare tonight.

Anonymous said...

Great post! I was "hooked" from the start, and was sure the 7-foot man was real at one point!

POB said...

Heh, sounds like an incident I had awhile back while in the throes of a nasty fever. Was watching the movie, "Signs," then passed out cold afterwards due to the flu. At some point I reawakened and imagined I saw one of the aliens from the movie in my room. In a haze, I immediately jumped out of bed and proceeded to kick the shit out of it. Satisfied that the "alien" was dead, or at least, disabled, I carefully inspected the body whereupon I discovered that I had decapitated the halogen torchiere lamp.

MikeB said...

Guess what? I had a nightmare last night! I am not making this up. I better stop reading "ghost stories" in the form of scary blogs. LOL. Actually, I think it was a coincidence. Keep on posting your interesting stuff, even if it is scary, and I will keep reading it.

MikeB said...

OMG, Peyton. I really did laugh out loud when I read your comment. That is funny, but I guess you did not think so at the moment. Those torchiere lamps are not cheap. I hope you did not burn or cut yourself.

Debbie Lamedman said...

Thanks everyone for weighing in with your comments. MikeB, I think the things that go bump in the night are directly affected by our stress factor. I'm sorry you had a nightmare; I probably won't be posting anymore scary things for awhile! So you're safe here! And Peyton, I hope that lamp didn't hit you back!

MikeB said...

Debbie, I agree. When I am stressed about certain things, that stress sometimes (but not always) manifests itself in a nightmare. Nightmares are not pleasant, let me tell you. But I am a big boy, so keep on writing, even if it is scary. I need to train myself to read and think about and see scary stuff and NOT have a nightmare. I think it can be done.