The Sandman Phenomena

I don’t really know how it happened. It sort of just found its way into my life. I really can’t explain what it is, or what it wants, but it is sinister. It is relentless. It shows no mercy. It has no feelings. I can’t even find a word to describe IT. I’ve seen it plenty of times, but I can’t seem to focus on it. It gives off a blurry feeling, I can see it clearly when it is there, but when I look away, I somehow forget it, but the haunting feeling remains. All I know is that the damn thing is evil. I HATE it; it gives me nothing but disgust and hatred, mixed with raw and bitter fear. There were no signs, or signals or anything that could have told me it was coming. It was an ordinary day, were I think things began to go wrong. My closest friend Alex began coming to school very tired. I and all the others have easily taken notice. He began to look sickly, and sluggish. His eyes looked as if he had not gotten proper sleep. Concerned, I asked him what had been happening to him. He replied, “I don’t know man, I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, and began having weird dreams.” I could tell he was very confused as to why he wasn’t getting proper sleep. This wasn’t like Alex; he would always get to sleep early. He has football practice, and he goes to the gym on other days he doesn’t have practice, so obviously he had to get his sleep. As the days passed, he began to grow more and more away from me and the others. He began to perform poorly in football, and has stopped going to the gym. He stopped talking to me, and started eating alone. Every time I confronted him, he would either shove me off, or zone out during our conversations. Almost as if he was staring at something, or someone. He’s lost all social skill, and he even stopped eating. He appeared depressed, and a little…. Insane. He had developed a tick that caused him to shiver, and after he experienced the tick, his eyelids would fall, and he would fight to keep them open. At times, he would also look around, as if he was looking for something. This is where shit hit the fan. On a Saturday night, he called me, sounding completely panicked. He asked if I could come over, and stay for the night. Not having spoke to him in a while, and curious of his condition, I agreed and walked over to his house. He invited me in, and we played video games. Alex was usually talkative when playing video games. In fact he always was talkative, he would never shut up. This was different; we played for a few twenty minutes in complete silence. He then decided that we should watch a movie. Out of nowhere, he told me in a strict and serious voice, “If I fall asleep, wake me up.” During the movie, he fell asleep a few times; I of course, did as he told me and woke him up. After the movie, he went up to his room to get something. After a minute of waiting, I went to check on him. As I entered, I was greeted by his body, lying on his bed, and a dark distorted figure in the corner of his room. It stood there looking at him from across the room. This is when I first felt the blurry feeling. I felt numb all over, and ran out of breath. The room began to go cold. I panicked and flicked the lights on, only to discover that there was no figure, I still felt uncomfortable and numb, and the Image of the figure began to slowly fade. It faded to the point of not being able to describe its appearance. I know I saw it, I just don’t remember what it looks like. I attempted to wake Alex up, but he wouldn’t reply. I checked for a pulse, he was still alive, but couldn’t wake up. I called his parents and an ambulance. Before they arrived, I tried opening his eyes. When I did, I noticed that his eyes were blood shot and his eyes were moving around violently. Eventually they stopped, but his pupils would shiver. On the same night, I went to visit him in the hospital. Apparently he fell into a coma. I stayed there patiently waiting for something to happen. When his parents left to go get something in the lobby, the lights had dimmed. Then the figure appeared, and I saw him a lot clearer than I had before. Though I do not remember its appearance now, I remember being disgusted and horrified. I ran out of the room to get help, hearing a strange static and windy noise behind me. When we returned, we found Alex’s husk lying lifelessly on the bed. Alex had passed away. He looked as if all life had been sucked out of him. The doctors could not explain this phenomenon. It didn’t stop there. I began experiencing the same symptoms that Alex was experiencing before his demise. I began waking up in the middle of the night for no reason, I began developing ticks, began having night terrors, and now my parents are taking me to a psychiatrist. I KNOW I am not insane. I explained everything that happened, expecting him not to believe me like my parents and others did. Surprisingly, he did. He explained that I was not the only one experiencing this. People of all ages are having these symptoms and similar deaths are occurring. All the people have claimed to have seen a figure that haunts them and continuously appears. It was known as “The Sandman Phenomena”. He continued to tell me, that this THING, the very damn thing that killed Alex wasn’t real. He said IT was just a hallucination that is being portrayed by my subconscious. BULLSHIT. He explained that the reason I felt numb, and why I couldn’t move was because I was in a state called sleep paralysis, the state in which your body undergoes when you fall asleep so you don’t perform the actions you do in your dream. Since my body is asleep, and my mind thinks I am asleep, it displays hallucinations. He told me that it could either be a hallucination that I encounter during my sleep paralysis, which causes my night terrors, or I am simply having a lucid dream. He told me to do reality checks to see if I was in a dream or not. An example was to hold your nose and try to breathe. If you breathe with your nose covered, you are dreaming. If you can’t breathe, you’re obviously awake. This night was the third time IT came to visit me. Only this time, he tried to subdue me. I attempted to do a reality check, and discovered I was indeed awake. It tackled me onto my bed, tried to make me come face to face with it. It was blurry, I kept hearing static and wind like noises, and my ears began to ring. It tried to get its mouth near mine, and a faint trail of light rose out of my mouth and into his. I panicked, and could not fight back. I thought I was going to die here, and now. I then heard my Dad walking towards my bedroom. The thing stopped, and disappeared as quickly as it came. I began to gasp for air and I started to have a seizure. I was rushed to the hospital. I tried my best to stay awake, all night long. This is my fourth, night without sleep. I have conducted my own research about this “Sandman Phenomena”. From what I’ve experienced and from what I’ve gathered from other people online. When we wake up in the middle of the night for no reason, He was recently in our room, observing. It watches to see whether we are ready for him to feed on our life energy or whatever he takes from us. When you begin to wake up and develop insomnia, it is because he has chosen you as his next target. When you are awake all night and can’t sleep, it is because he is in your bedroom, observing and keeping you awake so that when he does decide to feed, you will be weak and defenseless. When you begin to hear noises, and become paranoid in the night, you have almost reached the last stage of the symptoms. You are starting to hear him in your house. He makes these noises to test you on how aware you are of his presence. The last stage is when you finally meet him. You can see him at school, you can see him at work, and you can see him in the corner of your eye. He starts to visit you constantly to raise your awareness of his presence. Then he finally strikes, and either makes you fade into a coma, where he hunts you down in your dreams, (which explains the violent movement of Alex’s eyes) or attacks you when you are awake if you’ve fought long and hard. There is no known escape or weakness. This “sandman” is a relentless and silent killer. He draws you away, and makes you weak and an outcast. Once you are cornered, it’s over. The Sandman’s strength is his victim’s awareness. You are even in danger of this “Sandman”. You now know of his existence, and he now knows you. I am dearly sorry, but there is nothing I can do for you. I have tried everything to hold him back. Out of everything, forgetting him helped, but only a little, he WILL find his way back, and when he does, he will return stronger. You can try and forget you read this, but it won’t save you. He will catch you and there is no escape. I have tried to survive as long as possible, but it’s a lost cause, I have come to terms with it, and I am ready. I will die, so will you… we all do in the end.