The Sleep Paralysis Experiment

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Dr. Claire Hawthorne studied sleep paralysis for years. Her research focused on its effects: how people experienced terrifying visions when they couldn't move. Claire believed these visions were simply the brain’s response to sleep paralysis.

But then, Claire became the subject of her own research...

She had set up cameras and sensors to monitor herself while she slept. On the fourth night, Claire woke up. She couldn’t move. She was paralyzed, just like her patients had been. But something was wrong. A dark figure stood at the foot of her bed. Claire tried to scream, but no sound came. The figure stepped closer. It didn’t have a face, just a dark shape.

Then, the figure smiled.

Claire’s heart raced. She couldn’t move. It touched her chest. It was cold. The touch felt real. When Claire finally broke free from the paralysis, the figure was gone. She was alone. But on her nightstand, there was a note. She had never written it. It said: “I’m still here. I will be with you, no matter where you go.”

Claire froze. She didn’t understand. She tried to brush it off as a dream, but the feeling lingered.

The hallucinations didn’t stop. Each night, the figure returned. Each night, it became clearer, more real. And the figure didn’t just appear in her dreams. It appeared when she was awake. Claire saw it in shadows, in mirrors, in corners of rooms. The line between sleep and reality blurred.

The figure spoke to her. It whispered: “You opened the door. Now you can’t close it.”

Claire didn’t know what to do. She searched her data, her notes, her experiments. The more she looked, the more she saw a terrifying truth: her research had pulled the figure from her dreams into her reality. The more she studied sleep paralysis, the more the figure grew real.

Then, during another night of paralysis, the figure spoke directly to her. “I am the truth you seek. The line between waking and dreaming is thin. You cannot separate them.”

Claire woke up, but the figure stayed. It followed her during the day, whispered in her ear, showed up in her reflection. The figure wasn’t just in her head anymore. It was everywhere.

She tried to quit the research, but it didn’t matter. The hallucinations became worse. The figure didn’t leave her. She couldn’t escape it. Claire wasn’t sure what was real anymore.

She studied more cases. She learned something chilling. Every researcher who studied sleep paralysis had ended up experiencing the same thing. They all saw the figure. They all lost their grip on reality.

Now, Claire knew the truth: she wasn’t just studying sleep paralysis. She was living it.

The figure was no longer an experiment. It was her life. Her mind. She couldn’t escape it. It would always be with her.

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