I shot up in bed. Something woke me from a deep sleep. A scream, a clap of thunder, something loud. My room was quiet and dark. As my eyes drifted around the room, the walls began to look distant and warped. The ceiling looked like a night sky with no moon. I had been dreaming a nightmare, a terrifying dream about a monster that was trying to get me. I was so scared my hands were shaking and my heart was pounding loud enough to hear.
I tried calling out for Mom, but I couldn’t speak. Sensing something was really wrong I suddenly realized I couldn’t move. I could tell that my doom was lurking in this darkness. Clutching my pillow, I tried to lie back down. Suddenly, the walls vanished. I felt like I had been pushed into the vacuum of deep space. I squeezed my eyes shut and chanted, “I’m dreaming, I’m dreaming, I’m dreaming…”
Then a high-pitched began to fill my ears, becoming louder with every breath. ” STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!!” I cried out loud. I held my hands tightly over my ears. A high-pitched scream of a winged predator pierced through my fingers. One massive sonic shriek blasted my room apart.
Then I saw It for the first time-the snarling, evil blur of a Demon. My blood began to burn as It came closer. It was coming for me. I was so scared. I could tell It wanted to destroy me. As it inched nearer, it taunted me like prey, vanishing from side to side and laughing at my confusion. Then It told me Its mission: “I’M GOING TO BEAT YOU ‘TIL YOU DIE!”
Vicious condescending laughter filled my ears. I saw a black ball of a ghost with razor sharp teeth and eyes that burned bright red. It was an evil, living, writhing hateful thing that reached out an icy claw and grabbed my neck. I froze. My blood began to sizzle under my skin like a million red ants crawling through my veins, stinging and biting every inch of my body.
“I WANT YOU DEAD!” It bellowed with a harsh, deep, gravelly voice.
It tried to get inside of my head but I fought as hard as I could, kicking, hitting and scratching at Its every touch. It just laughed, ” I WANT YOU DEAD!”
It started to devour my brain. I could only watch the horror from a tiny hidden corner in the back of my mind as It thrashed, chewed and tormented my body.
“I’M GOING TO BEAT YOU TO DEATH!“ It roared as It hit me again and again until my whole body was bruised, scraped and bleeding. I was caught in violent chaos. Then suddenly, It was gone. It vanished in a snap.
As I lay at the end of my bed with my nightgown and blanket twisted around me, the night light cast shadows from the furniture. The walls, closet and ceiling were back in place. The room was silent. I was so confused and scared I began to cry. My whole body ached. “It was just a dream, a nightmare,” I repeated over and over, hugging my knees and rocking back and forth.
I was 8 years old and I had a Demon that wanted to kill me. Or was I going crazy? Either way, I was left physically wounded and exhausted from the chaotic event. It was the first of many thousands of attacks that would occur over the course of the next twenty-five years.
