The Mara

The Mara

The doctor assures me it was only sleep paralysis. I don’t trust him though. Some say he’s not even Christian.

I don’t know what time it was, but I knew it was deep into the night. I felt myself beginning to wake up, feeling hot and heavy, eyelids dreamily closed. But as consciousness slowly emerged from a dark and wild slumber, I knew something was wrong. A tight fear gripped my chest, or maybe my heart, but it grew and grew and soon overwhelmed me. There was something in the room.

I knew it. I could feel it's presence. And it shook me with the deepest dread. Whatever this thing was, it was utterly and absolutely evil. A grim pressure was crushing my lungs, and I could hardly breathe. I was completely helpless – nothing on earth could save me – and I sensed my own doom.

Mesmerized by fear, I slowly, helplessly, began to open my eyes. At first, all was black. But soon I began to discern darker shapes in the darkness, blacker shapes in the blackness, and the darkness became visible. And there, only inches before my face, crouching sinisterly on my heaving chest, was the sneering, ghastly mara.


Word Count: 200

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

Written for the contest:

ID: 1609052 Invalid Item  This item number is not valid. by Not Available.