Sleep Paralysis by Todd Matson

Sleep Paralysis

You have been my client now

for over a quarter of a century.

To this day I hear you asking

all the wrong questions and

looking in all the wrong places

for answers, reliving a history

of horrors night after night,

the sound of glass breaking

as your home is invaded under

a full moon, blood curdling

screams from other rooms,

lying paralyzed under your

covers while listening for

footsteps, waiting for the

maniacal presence to arrive

in your bedroom. 

Have you ever stopped to

ask yourself what it is about

that you never leave the house,

that you have never been to

my office, that you can’t roll

out of bed in the mornings,

that you don’t even feel the

need to get up for a drink of

water? When was the last

time you ate something? Do

you even have any memories

past the age of 11? Getting up

for school, going to church,

family dinners, playing with

friends? No? Why do you

think that is?

There is a reason for your

recurring nightmares, night

terrors, sleep paralysis. When

the intruder entered your room,

you didn’t freeze under your

covers. Your amygdala deep

within your limbic brain sent

you into flight. You scurried

under your bed.

Whoever said don’t look under

the bed when you were small

was teasing you. It’s time to

look. It’s been over a quarter

of a century. Do you not find

it strange that you have only

ever seen me in your dreams?

I’m coming to you now. It’s

time to awaken from your

paralysis. Sometimes we need

to look back to move on, to

look beneath to rise above. It

is only as we face our fears that

we can overcome them. Look

under your bed. The frozen

bones you find there belong

to an 11-year-old boy.