Five AM came early. She awoke slowly and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before taking a deep sigh and throwing her legs out of bed. She was the only one awake at this time of day, even before her mother, who was usually in her office clacking away on her keyboard as she worked from home.
Her shift started at six-thirty, but she lived forty-five minutes from her place of employment, so she had no choice but to get up before the sun and she nearly blinded herself when flipping on the bedroom light. Heh, that woke her up quick! As she trudged over to her dresser to pull out her jeans and work provided t-shirt, the hair on her arms stood up.
"That's weird" she stated out loud, but she brushed it off because it was a little chilly in her room. She had her clothes on in a few seconds and it was then that she had to leave her room. Despite justifying the hair still on end on her arms, she had a gut feeling that there was someone, something, out in the hallway and opening her bedroom door would likely bring her face to face with it.
Shivers ran down her spine. The hallway...she hated it. She had always hated it. She hated it even more since her interaction with the apparition in the garage. That night replayed in her mind, and she distinctly remembers wondering that night if that apparition had followed her inside. That same thought plagued her mind as she stood in front of her bedroom door wondering if she should, if she could, open it. "Ghosts are like vampires, right? If you don't invite them in, they can't come in...right?"
"Ugh I am going to be late" she said "screw this!" - and with that she swung open the door. She was met with nothing but darkness. Nothing she could see anyway. The door that led to her mother's office directly across the hallway from her room was closed, the house was silent, and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. She decided to dash across the hallway to the bathroom & made it inside in 2 steps.
Still feeling uneasy, she shut the bathroom door behind her. She could not shake the feeling that she was being followed in her own house. Was it the apparition from before? Was this something new? She wasn't sure. What she did know was that the air was heavy, the bathroom was freezing, and her parents were clear on the other side of the house in their beds and didn't know a thing.
Suddenly, she felt as though something was looking directly over her shoulder. She looked down, terrified to look in the mirror and possibly see something she did not want to see. Goosebumps started popping up all over her skin and she knew she had to get out of there. Whatever this thing was...she felt that the only way to shake it was if she got outside, in her car and left the house. She could finish her makeup at work.
She flung the door open with a sense of urgency and ran into her room to grab her keys and her purse. She felt as though someone was literally pushing her around, like they were trying to make her move faster. No problem there, she wanted out, and she wanted out NOW. She ran down the long hallway, not even thinking to turn the light on like she always had, past the kitchen without breakfast, through the living room, entryway and out the front door.
Even as she slammed the door behind her and locked it, she still didn't feel safe. She started to walk backwards away from the door but stumbled over her own feet out of fear. She knew she had to turn her back on the house and walk to her car or risk falling. The entire walk to the car, she felt the presence right behind her as if it was attached to her back.
Once in her car, the feeling of someone being on her shoulder changed to feeling like someone was now standing outside her car door. Staring right at her. She shakily put the key in the ignition and the car fired up right away, not looking out her window once. As she backed out of the driveway, she started to feel lighter and lighter. Only when her front tires of her car left the driveway did she feel completely free of the heavy, ominous feeling she had since the moment she got out of bed.
Her whole drive to work her mind was a mess. What just happened? What followed her inside from the garage? Why was it following HER? Her mind flashed back to the one and only sleep paralysis experience she had in her life...in this house. Was this connected to what she experienced this morning somehow? Was it something different entirely? What about the Native American artifacts that were being found across the street during a dig? Was that causing all this activity?
Her mind was buzzing with so many questions - questions that might not have any rock-solid answers.