UrbanGimli Thread

This was about 12 years ago (sheesh)

Anyways I was living on the 2nd floor of an apartment complex with my ex. The complex butted up to a golf course which is relevant because we would get these awesome unobstructed winds blowing across the greens. This incident happened early evening- the sky was that beautiful color of azure blue but it was quickly turning grey, perfect sleeping/napping weather. I had a bad cold so I thought I’d help the healing process by catching some zzz’s. My girlfriend opted to stay up since it was still so early. She hopped on the desktop to play Dark Age of Camelot while I slid into bed.

My bedroom was pretty big –it had enough room for my queen sized bed and two rather large dressers with plenty of room to walk about. As I laid my head back on the pillow my eyes blinked in slower succession until they felt so heavy I was all but helpless to stop their final shuttering. My ears were filled with that weird ambient quiet that seems to co-exist with Autumn nights. After a few moments I found myself oddly soothed by the faint clicking of my girlfriends fingers dancing across the keyboard in the other room. The clicks, the October winds and my breathing all meshed into one and I fell asleep. I surmise I had only been asleep for about five minutes when I awoke abruptly. My head felt stuffed, like a bad sinus infection, no big deal since I had a cold but what was odd is that both my ears popped, painfully. Metallic sounding chimes filled my hears. The pitch rising quickly until it was no longer audible. Annoyed at the incident I tried to reposition myself on the bed with the hopes I could resume my slumber.

That’s when I felt and then smelled a palpable musky, humid heaviness settle across my room. It was like I had stepped into the edge of a swamp on hot sunny day. This oppressive wave spread quickly around the room. I struggle to describe how awful this was –the only word that suffices is “woe” Like a viscous black tar it snaked across the room snuffing out what little light had been visible from behind my curtains. As incredulous as this all sounds I wasn’t alarmed –I was taking it all in like a passive observer trying to process what was happening here.

From my vantage point in the bed the only things that should have been visible were my main dresser that had a huge mirror atop it. On one side of the piece sat a stack of boxes, my ex’s unpacked clothes, on the other side was a purposely open space where the vent was located. As my eyes scanned the room I saw a shadowy shape occupying the space in front of the vent. I thought perhaps my eyes were just fuzzy from what little sleep I had. I tried focusing my eyes with several rapid blinks but this only resulted in bringing into focus what appeared to be a little girl about 10 years of age. She was hugging her knees and rocking back and forth slightly as if to comfort herself. Her clothes were soggy with mud and what looked like seaweed. Her skin was grey and sallow. Again, I wasn’t afraid –I was merely processing. If this was a dream I wanted to see where this went.

Up until this point she seemed unaware of my presence. As I stared at her intently wondering who or what she was her eyes locked on mine. She stopped rocking and shrieked. My ears popped again with that painful ringing and before I could think what to do next she leapt at me, hers arms outstretched, hands poised like claws ready to punish me for bearing witness to her sad state.

I had no time to react. Her full weight fell upon me causing the bed to creak loudly. I couldn’t make sense of how heavy she felt – I tried to throw her off with no effect. Her finger nails were cutting into my skin while her bony fingers crushed my windpipe. The smell of rotting leaves and filthy water filled my nostrils. I was overwhelmed on every sensory level by this foul presence. I could feel myself quickly weakening as my attempts to fling her off failed. My strength was fading and I felt a mixture of sadness and anger. I didn't want to die this way. I started bargaining with a long silent God to save me. That’s when I remembered my girlfriend was in the next room. I tried to scream (No time for manliness here) but I could barely breathe let alone scream. Desperation was setting in I felt with my entire being that I was going to be devoured in some way and this would be a fate worse than death. So I tried a new tactic and shifted my body to the right in the hopes we would both fall off the bed.

It worked !

I rolled a few times until I hit a wall. I bounced to my feet and ran for my bedroom door in a panic. As I propelled myself into living room I tumbled and fell spread eagle across the carpeted floor. My startled girlfriend turned around to see what the commotion was all about. I was trembling as I threw myself onto the couch. The adrenaline had run its course leaving me a shaky stuttering mess. I was crying and hyperventilating. It took me a few moments to describe what had just happened. After a few minutes of gathering my wits we both went into the bedroom and saw that the bed was a sweaty mess –no mud or seaweed but the sheets were torn from the bed, the pillows had slid off onto the floor.

At the time I had zero explanations for this odd occurrence. I chalked it up to the supernatural but I’ve since grown into my critical thinking skills and chalk this up to a bad nightmare/sleep paralysis incident.