Sleep Paralysis

In one of my classes I'm working on a group project about sleep. Some members were mentioning sleep paralysis which sounded completely insane to me. If you don't know what it is imagine waking up in the middle of the night completely paralyzed. Physically you cannot move but you are 100% mentally cohesive. Many people say that the feeling is accompanied by an evil presence, that a demon is in the room or some shit. Whatever it is, it has been happening to people for thousands of years all across the world. 

This strange happening was famously depicted by Henry Fuseli in his 1718 work "The Nightmare"

Imagine being like that woman. Fully competent but totally un-able to smack the shit out of a little monster sitting on your hips. That is what sleep paralysis is like. What do I think about it?

If it happens to so many people it must be real. Are actual demons visiting us and sitting on our fucking chests? No way, Jose. Why? Demons do not exist, dreams do. I don't know what it is but I'm sure it's unpleasant and a serious pain in the ass. I was happy to say I had no idea what it was like until last night. 

I was sleeping and I woke up. Everything was red and the dream I was just in, someone was saying "Kevin be careful, it's right there"

I couldn't move. For some reason I repeated under my breath over and over again "I see it, I see it" and was looking at a gigantic, hairy lump nestled between me and the wall. I was still. I remember being absolutely terrified. I said to myself:

"Who allows cats to roam free in other

people's homes?"

and this unheard, unseen voice answered in my head:

"It's not a cat. It is NOT 

a cat"

People, I was having a dialogue with someone who didn't exist. I was having that conversation telepathically all while a demon slept right next to me. This went on for at least five minutes. It was the scariest shit I have ever experienced. 

Finally I slowly slipped out from the blankets and turned the light on. At this point, I came to my senses. I knew there wasn't a monster but for some reason I had to turn on the lights. It was really strange. The bed was empty and I sat on it, did some breathing and fell asleep again. 

Crazy, right?