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[WP] A man is tormented by his nightmares, so he makes a deal with his sleep paralysis demon to stay awake longer.

Jack was a young college student in his third year going for his Bachelors in Veterinary Technology. Like any other student, he attended his classes, worked part-time, and even tutored other students in his free time. Jack liked to be helpful when he could. He was a kind soul, obviously had a passion for animals, and always excelled at whatever he decided to take on. Jack did have one lingering problem, though, that started off as harmless. He had long suffered from sleep paralysis which would come and go in spells ever since he was a teenager. It was never anything terrifying like the accounts he had read from other sleep paralysis sufferers. However, over the past few months it had started to flare up for him again. Only this time it was different.

Now when it happened he would wake from a recurring nightmare in a panic only to find the pitch black silhouette of a figure that stood at the end of his bed. The only features Jack could make out of this figure was its sharp, toothy grin. It never said anything, it just stood there smiling until Jack regained movement and then it would vanish into a puff of black smoke. What was unusual was the fact that the nightmare was scarier than the figure at the end of his bed. This nightmare was about his friend Jenny. In the dream he would be lying in bed with his eyes open, unable to move like he was used to. The bedroom light would be on and he could hear his friend Jenny calling out his name. Her voice would get closer until finally she would open the door to see him on his bed. “Jenny,” he would say as sense of dread would fall over him and she would disappear into thin air, as if she evaporated. He would wake in a sweat and feel absolutely terrified. What he didn’t know was what made him feel so scared. Nothing scary actually happened in the nightmare, but the overall feeling was one of dread and terror. That’s when the sleep paralysis would begin and he would find the figure standing there ominously behind his footboard again.

Jack woke up that morning around six a.m. to the same occurrence he had every day for months. He felt sick from the lack of sleep and stressed from the sensation of fear he felt every morning. This wasn’t going to break him from his routine today, though. Jack went about his day like any other and went to his Friday evening classes. At the end of class his friend Jenny spoke up to him about his appearance as she had noticed that Jack’s skin was paler and that there were dark circles under his eyes. Jack was starting to look physically ill now. “You don’t look so good,” Jenny says to him. She was right. Jack didn’t look well nor was he doing well. His grades had been dropping and he had started to miss classes more often. Jenny was growing more and more concerned for her friend. Jack let out a tired sigh as he slid his textbook off of the desk and placed it into his backpack tiredly. “I’m fine, really. Just…. tired, that’s all,” Jack lies. He wasn’t just tired, he was exhausted and he was definitely not fine. What Jack had been dealing with was overwhelmingly exhausting and stressful. “I’m just going to go home and get some extra rest today.” Jenny frowned at him, not entirely believing him. “Really, I’m okay. I just need more rest, I promise,” Jack reassures her. “Alright, if you say so. Am I going to see you in class Monday? I was surprised to even see you today,” she asks. Jack pauses then answers, “Yeah, I’ll be here.” He gave her a half smile as he picked up his backpack, which was starting to feel more like it was filled with a block of lead rather than textbooks. Jack waved goodbye to Jenney and made his way towards the exit.

Jack trudged his was home to his apartment, his feet catching the ground with every other step. His apartment was only a few blocks away from the college he attended, but recently his walks felt like they took much longer and much more effort. He lifted his heavy feet up the stairs to the apartment entrance once he arrived and opened the door to the building. It would be nice for him to be able to look forward to sleep but he didn’t. Not with what was happening to him. The figure at the end of his bed didn’t scare him. All it did was stand there and grin. In his nightmare his friend just vanishes, which gave him an unsettling feeling. What happened to her, why does she just disappear? What does it mean? These thoughts raced in his mind as he unlocked his apartment door and stepped inside. Jack dropped his backpack and without hesitation took comfort in lying on his green, upholstered couch. “You can’t sleep, moron,” he said to himself. He reluctantly sat back up and stared tiredly at his entertainment stand, which stood against the wall on the opposite side of the living room. His collection of video games caught his eye and Jack was desperate to stay awake, so he decided he would play video games and skip sleeping for the night. He picked out a game, turned on his television, and loaded the game on his console. On that couch playing his game was where he stayed all night. Staying focused on the game and doing something he was interested in helped to keep him awake that night, but at a cost. Jack was so fatigued he could barely keep his eyes open and before he knew it he had passed out on his couch. Again he was plagued by his nightmare, having awoken to the same one again, and the dark figure with the terrible grin appeared right on schedule.

Jack stared at it as he did every time it appeared, waiting to be released from his paralysis. However, this time it seemed to be taking longer and if he wasn’t mistaken the figure’s smile had grown wider. He felt like he was losing his mind, stuck there reliving the nightmare, unable to do anything to take his mind off of it. Just as he felt like he couldn’t take much more of it, the figure at the end of his bed spoke. “I can help you stay awake,” it says in a voice that wasn’t human. It sounded demonic and feral. Jack’s eyes widened as he just lay there, not knowing what to make of this. How could it help him stay awake, he wondered. “The nightmare. It’ll go away if you stay awake. I can help you with that… for a price” the figure says as it leaned forward. How could this thing keep him awake after the sleep paralysis passed? His thoughts started to race while the figure stood there, motionless and still grinning, Should he make a deal with this thing? Even after getting some sleep, Jack didn’t feel as if he could think straight. He was so desperate for the nightmare to go away, he didn’t care about the price. In a moment of weakness Jack agrees to let the figure help him. He thought that would be the end of the sleep paralysis but it wasn’t. He still wasn’t able to move or speak. All he could do was lay there, staring at this thing he just made a deal with. What was going on? “I’ll keep you awake here with me for as long as it takes and who ever walks through that door next will die. I will take their soul, which is the price. After that, you will never have the nightmare ever again,” the figure explains. Jack felt the panic as it started to set in again. Now he knew what his dream meant.

Suddenly he could hear Jenny’s voice calling out to him. “Jack! Are you here? You didn’t show up to school today and didn’t answer your phone so I’m here to check up on you,” she says loudly as she made her way towards his bedroom. Jack lied helplessly on his bed. Was it Monday evening already? How did that much time pass in what felt like minutes? Why on earth did he make a deal with something that wasn’t human? It was going to cost him his friend’s life. Jack tried as hard as he could to yell to her not to come in, but to no avail. Tears started running from the corners of his eyes and down his temples. He hears the doorknob turn. “Jack, are you in here?” Jenny steps through the door into a dark room and stops dead in her tracks. She too can see the figure standing at the end of Jack’s bed. The figure turned to look at her with its grin as wide as it could be and in an instant the figure and Jenny vanish. Jack sat up as quickly as he could and cries out, “Jenny!”

Jack never had that nightmare again and the sleep paralysis had went away. All Jack was left with was the guilt of trading his friend’s life for his own sanity. This for making a deal with the dark figure that haunted him.