I was maybe fifteen, sleeping alone in a room I used to share with my brother. He was off to college at this point. A growling cat woke me up in the middle of the night. We had a cat so no big deal there but it was one of those long growling meows. It freaked me out and sounded like it was right by my ear. Then, my body went pins and needles and I couldn’t move. It felt like something was trying to climb up into me. I’m an atheist but I’ve never been so scared or more convinced something was trying to possess me. I wrestled with all I had, finally wrested my body back, and ran to my mothers bed to sleep with her like a goddamned baby at fifteen. That same night. I’m dreaming I’m back in my bedroom and he’s talking to me in the dark about college. Then, I feel something take my hand TIGHT from the other side of the bed and I get that same pins and needles feeling of paralysis. In the dream, I interrupt my brother and tell him, “Sorry, bro. I have to die now.” Woke up in a panic, my right hand cramping. Went religious for a few years there. Had that feeling overcome me every now and again, and I lived in terror. Until I discovered the exact symptoms described in a documentary about sleep paralysis and night terrors. It happens to people under serious stress. Haven’t had it since. Never told anyone that story.