The Hatman

It's January. My favorite month of the year. There are only a few days left until Christmas. My parents and I finally finished decorating the house. All exhausted, I went to bed much earlier than usual. A gentle fire kept my room warm. It was mostly dark, except for one part of the room that was lit by streetlights that were not far from home. I went to bed and fell asleep very quickly.

I'm not sure exactly how much time passed when I started to hear footsteps in the hall. I ignored them at first because I thought, it was one of my parents. And then they got louder and louder as they approached my room. The door from my room slowly opened and then closed. There was a silence from one. Silence that can only be heard in the cemetery. It got freezing. Which is very weird knowing that the fire should burn at least until four am.

Although sleepy, I slowly opened my eyes when I saw him. A big black figure standing next to my bed. He had a black coat and a black hat. I thought he was a thief and tried to call my parents, but I couldn't. I was paralyzed. He moved his hand from my leg upwards. I could feel his nails, which were like really sharp knives. Like five sharp knives that could cause me a fatal injury every second. He slowly approached, more and more, until he finally reached my chest. He paused. I tried to see his face but couldn't. It was as black as the rest of it. It looked like some kind of shadow just a lot darker. It reached my chest, and i began to breathe quickly with the fear I felt.

And then I felt like I was running out of air. It's like I'm choking. I thought that was it. That it's over. I wanted to try one last time to get out of those icy hands. I mustered all my strength and somehow managed. I shouted my parents' names as loud as I could. Before my parents came, I saw him slowly disappear into the darkness of my room. I told my parents what happened. But of course they didn't believe me, probably no one else would believe me if I told him.

After being unable to recover for days, my parents took me to my mom's friend, Dr. Jack. He is one of the best psychiatrists in our city. He told me it was just a dream in which your mind wakes up before your body that is sleep paralysis. 'It happens to other people at least once during their life,' he said in a reassuring voice. He even managed to repeat it. I'm not sure how, but there is certainly a way to do it. This time, before that creature grabbed me, Dr. Jack woke me up. 'You see it's all in your head and you have nothing to fear. But if you want, you can come to my therapy, and we will solve it together.' That's what I did. I went to therapy every day for Two weeks.

After that, I almost forgot about IT. Almost. Some time passed, until I accidentally came across a picture of THAT THING on the internet. I did a little research and found that many people had seen it, some even several times. 'The Hatman' wrote on every picture I saw. 'Nobody knows who he is or what he wants. But one thing is for sure no one is safe. He can lurk out of any shadow, and just wait for the right moment to attack. '

The moment I read it, I felt again the same cold I had felt a long time ago. I felt like someone was looking at me. I slowly turned my head around. Until I eventually saw him. He was standing at the other end of my room waving me. He's waving me as he disappears in the dark again. It looks like it's gone, but I'm sure of one. This certainly won't be the last time the two of us see each other.