The chest dancer

A short about my experience with sleep paralysis.

The chest dancer

My experience with sleep paralysis

A sweet sounding name for a Siren of a monster, ‘The Chest Dancer’ a name given to the nightmare of my waking hours. They always have to have a name, if I have something to identify with they can’t be as scary.

All my nightmares have names but the only concerning part is I never chose them, I awake with a name embedded in my mind as if it were a memory of the past. My sleep paralysis was no different, but instead of awaking to the name in my mind she spoke it to me ever so softly. This was not the first time I have been spoken to in a nightmare, but none have ever hit me as hard as her.

Her voice unlike the others had texture, warmth, depth. The kind of whisper you wish from a lover inviting you in, only to have her lean back to allow you to gaze upon their face. This was also the case with me, she leant back only to reveal a horrid face stitched from cheek to cheek, blood dripping from her eyes as mascara. I have never felt so much panic in my life I tried moving, but she was straddling my chest and giggling. She rips her facial stitches to allow herself to speak again “You are mine now,” both blood and tar drip from her mouth laying an even heavier weight on my chest. As the concoction lands on me I struggle as hard as I can, but this only made her laugh more creating more blood and tar and even more weight to hold me down; I was not going anywhere.

She reaches the pinnacle of her laugh and begins to stand on me reaching high into the air, her clothes matched the quality of her face, stitched and terrifying. She starts hopping and prancing on my chest laughing as she does covering my whole body in her filth. Right as I thought I was going to be consumed by the black and red, she stops her torn grin turns to a deep sorrow then what happen next is what separates my usual nightmares from this. She rips the stitches and her mouth out, clawing at them in panic screaming “Not yet he is mine, not yours mine to consume.” Her whole head snaps to face mine now blooded and cut she screams full mouth open wide getting closer to my face when all of a sudden I hear a strange mechanical noise,  and the roof access panel above my bed slides open to allow a hook to come plunging into her back. Never have I heard screams of pain from a monster in my nightmares, and how she screamed as she was hoisted back into my roof space, the screaming continued even after the panel was returned. Her screams continued until the thuds of whatever took her disappeared too.

After that I was able to move, to open my eyes I stood as quick as I could and left my room. Out of fear I shifted my bed away from the roof access panel I usually try not to succumb to my fears, I will fight through the freight but in this instance I had to be as far away from whatever she was and whatever was strong enough to claim her.

Author's Note

I am open to all critiquing as I want to advance as a writer in all respects.

Reviews

[CLRose]

It's definitely an interesting concept with the names for nightmares. Do you have more of these? They could make an interesting collection if you write/gather more. It needs polishing in some places, but it was an ok read. The end is a little confusing. Keep writing.