The Thing That Watched Me Sleep

I’m from a small town in Washington state. I worked at a local fast food place and was on my way to bigger and better things. I don’t write much because I never know how to explain things in great detail, but this is something that I feel I need to get off my chest.

It was the winter of 2016, and my best friend Janet had invited me to stay the night. I figured since she lived closer to my job that it would be okay. Janet just had a baby a few months prior, and she is the most adorable child ever. I had to work the night before, so as I clocked off at 9 PM, I began to walk to Janet’s apartment. I had this strange feeling of being watched, but I shrugged it off because living in a small town you get used to people staring at you.

As I got to the apartment, I messaged Janet that I was there because it was late and I didn’t want one of her neighbors complaining about someone knocking in the middle of the night. As I entered the apartment I immediately had an overwhelming feeling of dread.

Janet and I discussed our day and conversated ’till about midnight. Addie was already in bed sleeping. Janet never put Addie in her crib, she explained that she always had a weird feeling about that room, and that every time she would try to lay her daughter down to sleep, she would start to cry almost immediately. So they shared a bed in Janet’s room.

As the night went on, I tossed and turned trying to get some sleep before having to work later that morning. That’s when I heard footsteps, and not any normal human footsteps, these were light but fast paced. It sounded almost as if an animal were scurrying around looking for food.

It scampered up the stairs and stopped at Janet’s bedroom door. I froze I couldn’t move, I just faced the wall and shut my eyes tight. That feeling of fear overwhelmed my entire being. I didn’t dare turn to see what it was. This thing crept closer, I could feel its hot wet breath on the back of my neck. Its breath… oh God, the stench of it made me want to puke.

Then it just stood there, it knew I was awake. I couldn’t steady my breathing, I was so scared. Have you ever been so scared that you couldn’t move like sleep paralysis? I could imagine this thing crouching with boney legs, its arms lankey and its knuckles dragging on the ground. It’s head bent toward me so it can smell the fear radiating off of me, like heat from a furnace. I feared if I were to have turned and saw this thing, that it would have shown its grotesque jagged teeth before ripping out my jugular with its sharp dirty claws.

I couldn’t breath, my imagination was running wild with how this thing looked. Its raspy breathing clear as day, I couldn’t take it anymore. Just as I was about to turn and look at this monstrosity… my alarm went off and it crawled away. I turned, there was no sight of anything. Janet woke up, and asked if I wanted breakfast. I shook my head, my face was pale and I was sweating. She asked if everything was okay, “Just a silly nightmare,” I told her.

She would never believe me, I mean yeah we read Creepypasta and she may believe in ghosts, but she wouldn’t get how terrified I felt. I left her apartment, and walked to work. I was pretty early, but I didn’t wanna stay there another minute. Of course I did go over there again, but I never stayed the night. Never again, will I feel that kind of fear.