Kayla3882096
In the deepest hour of the night, the dream took hold. It was the familiar, endless loop: the sound of heavy footsteps approaching, the shadow in the doorway, and the choked, paralyzed inability to move or scream. Her bedroom was gone, replaced by the grim, familiar walls of her old life. She was held immobile, her eyes squeezed shut, but she could feel the presence looming over her, the expectation of the blow. This wasn't just a nightmare; this was sleep paralysis, where her mind woke up but her body refused to follow.
Her breath hitched, coming out in a soundless, desperate plea. She thrashed internally, trying to scream a warning to herself, to run, but all that escaped her lips was a muffled, ragged whimper.
In the room across the hall, Ethan had been pulled from his own light sleep by the faint, strange noise. It wasn't a sob, nor was it a cough. It sounded like a small animal caught in a trap.
He waited, listening hard. When the sound came again-a tiny, terrified gasp-he slid out of bed and crept across the hall to Kaila's room. He pushed the door open just a crack.