Spiders! Everywhere!

I seem to suffer from night terrors. Google says this is what a night terror is, for those that are unaware:

A night terror, also known as a sleep terror or pavor nocturnus, is a parasomnia disorder characterized by extreme terror and a temporary inability to regain full consciousness. The subject wakes abruptly from slow-wave sleep, with waking usually accompanied by gasping, moaning, or screaming.

This has happened a few times, the most recent occurrence being last Sunday night.

I woke up from a dream that I can’t remember, and my bed was covered in spiders. There was a thick blanket of the fuckers, and I panicked. I vaguely remember screaming, and then I bolted out of my room to the dining room, where I sat on the ground shaking uncontrollably and attempting to regain my composure. Monty followed and crawled up onto my lap to go back to sleep.

Then Jeremy’s light came on in his room (which is right next to the dining room) and he came out, sighing and asking what had happened. I don’t recall much, but I’m certain I just said that spiders were on my bed, over and over until he went in to check. He came back out, helped me up off the floor and informed me that there were no spiders anywhere, and that the house had been sprayed so there was no way they could have been in the house at all.

By this time I was breathing normally again, so I thanked him, picked Monty up and went back to bed. The next morning I asked Jeremy how he knew I was in the dining room. He said that he heard a lot of screaming and gasping and knew I was having another little episode. I’m well known around these parts.

A few months ago, I started to have frequent nightmares and night terrors. One time as I woke up, I saw a white orb swirling around the door in my bedroom. I stayed still, silently freaking out, and watched it as it hung around. After thirty seconds or so, it started moving rapidly and then lunged at me. At this point I got the fuck out of bed and ran for the lightswitch, because I knew if I turned the light on, I’d be okay.

As soon as the light was on, the orb vanished. Monty was still sleeping peacefully so I knew it had been another night terror.

A few nights after that, I woke up as suddenly as the other times to see a black shadow standing at the end of my bed. It looked like a man, just staring at me sleeping, but I didn’t know if he was real or not. My solution? I picked Monty up and threw him towards the end of the bed where the shadow was so he could protect me. He curled up and went back to sleep, so I ran for the lightswitch again, by which time the shadow had vanished.

The shadow incident happened a few more times after that, each on different nights, and each time it felt like my heart would burst out of my chest because of how fast it was beating in my terror.

Every time I have a night terror, it’s the same feeling of absolute horror. You know something is wrong, but you don’t know what to do about it or if what you are seeing is real. It certainly FEELS real, and you can see it right there in front of you. Supposedly, you’re still in a dream state, and most people who have night terrors aren’t able to move. I’m different in that respect though, as I can get up and run whenever I have one.

I’ve had numerous other experiences with night terrors, too many to count, so it’s kind of an accepted thing. It’s still a horrid experience, but I guess it makes for a good story the next day.

When I was fourteen or fifteen, I was living under our two storey house in a bedroom my mum had built specially for me so I could have my own room, and get away from my brothers. I loved that room. It was massive, and the walls were painted a deep red. There was a pole in the middle of the room which I covered in band stickers, and would run into frequently. It was also great because it had no windows, which meant my room was pitch black at all times of the day. It was great for hangovers or naps during the day.

The only downside was that the lock didn’t work properly. All someone had to do was jiggle the doorknob and it would unlock itself. I wasn’t too worried about anyone getting in, but I wasn’t exactly comfortable with the situation as my room was in the garage, which was easily accessible by the laundry door that was never closed so the dogs could come and go.

One night, I woke up abruptly to see a shadow at the end of my bed, much like the one I described earlier. It was definitely a man, and he was just standing there watching me, but as it was pitch black, I couldn’t see much. I pretended I was asleep, and after a few minutes I heard soft footsteps on the carpet and then the sound of the door closing.

I was shaken, but went back to sleep as I figured whoever it was wouldn’t come back, and there wasn’t much I could do about it anyway. I found it odd that if that really was a person, they had gotten past the dogs without them barking up a storm. I couldn’t think of any other explanation for it though. The next morning I told my family what had happened, and mum freaked out. She immediately installed a bolt lock onto my door so I could lock it properly. I put it at the back of my mind and a few days later my older brother showed me a newspaper article he had found. It was about a man who had been breaking into houses, sneaking into girls’ bedrooms and watching them sleep. He had been arrested.

To this day, I still don’t know if that was another night terror, or if it was the man in the newspaper. Either way, it was a pretty shitty experience.

I could go on to tell you about other times I’ve had night terrors, but this post is already longer than I thought it would be, so I shan’t bore you any longer.

I'm going to google the shit out sleep disorders now.