What can you do after midnight, alone in your bed, to keep yourself safe?

Feeling uncomfortable or uneasy once in a while in your bedroom, isn’t uncommon. Some people get a bad feeling, others even get actual nightmares. But nothing compared to me. I’m not going to explain why. There's too many things, and it doesn’t matter. I don't even know, anyway. But there are three things you must not do. *Don't look up at the ceiling (or sky).* *Don't look down at the floor.* *And don't make any noise.* That's it. Those are the rules, and they’re not too hard to follow. I know that might seem like the easiest thing in the world, but trust me when I tell you it’s not. Laying silently in bed for hours, alone and motionless, sounds like nothing. But once you’re there, it becomes the most difficult thing in the world. Most can’t even last half an hour. How most people screw up is that they look up at the sky or ceiling. When you find yourself lying alone in your bed, in the middle of the night, the worst thing you can do is look up. Once you look up, there’s no going back. If you're unlucky, you'll see what's looking back at you. So don't look up. Just keep on looking in front of you, and never move. Don't look down at the floor, though. I have fewer ideas as to why not, other than the fact that you’ll probably never see it coming. I once had a friend named Annie. Annie had heard about my nightmares, and the rules I follow to keep myself safe. The moment she heard the rules, she scoffed at how simple they sounded, and she didn’t understand why I was so paranoid. “Why is it so hard to lay silently in bed? Hell, any bed? I could last hours!” was her exact quote. That night, we decided to test the rules together. We decided to make things more interesting. Annie was allowed to choose where we were going to sleep that night. We could either sleep under the stars, or in a hotel. Annie, again, scoffed at the thought of having to sleep in a hotel, and instead chose the beach. We plopped our sleeping bags down on the sand, right where the waves washed over our toes, and prepared for what little sleep we were going to get in the next few hours. She was fully convinced this was some bullshit horror story, while I was pleading with her for the last time to please just listen to me. She didn’t. I knew she wouldn’t. In the end, I just crawled into my own sleeping bag, and held my breath as she crawled into hers. And then the waiting started. I peeked over at Annie, and saw her smiling at me. I was too terrified to smile back. She was bad at this game. Usually, whenever I was alone after midnight, in my bed, I would go through a routine to keep myself from these monsters. I would close my eyes, hold my breath, and count backwards from 100 as slowly as I could. After I was done with that, I would count all the way back up to 100. Then back down. Then back up. I was terrified that Annie’s smiling would wake something up, so I started counting earlier than normal. When I had counted up and down five times, I opened my eyes for the second time to peek over at Annie. And she was gone. There were two things I knew immediately. The first was that she was dead. The second was that I had to continue to follow the rules. No matter what. Peeking over at where her sleeping bag was, I saw that her things were still there. Her small duffel bag, her phone, hell, even the flower she kept in her pocket. I knew that if she was still alive, her phone might ring, and I’d have to answer the call. So I did. It was my uncle, asking if I had seen Annie. I said no, and he told me she was reported missing, as her parents hadn’t seen her for a few days. And then the line went dead. I knew that I still had to follow the rules, so I placed the phone back exactly where it was, and continued to stare straight ahead of me. I knew I couldn’t look up, and I knew I couldn’t look down. So I just continued to stare. I eventually fell asleep, and when I woke up, I found myself back in my uncle’s arms. He’d found me on the beach, drenched in saltwater and sand, crying loudly. Annie was never found. My uncle asked me if I knew anything about her disappearances, and I said I didn’t. That lie stuck with me for years, until eventually I couldn’t take it anymore. And here I am now, telling you the truth. I’m lying in my bed, alone, shaking, and watching the duffel bag peeking out from under my bed. It’s been years since I saw Annie. I haven’t heard her voice, her laugh, or even her name since the day she went missing. But today, I was moving into a new house. I was surprised to find the duffel bag, cell phone, and flower under my bed when I went to look for something to eat. I haven’t eaten or slept in two days. You see, once you find yourself lying alone in your bed, in the middle of the night, the worst thing you can do is look up. So don't look up. Just keep on looking in front of you, and never move. Don't look down at the floor, though. I have fewer ideas as to why not, other than the fact that you’ll probably never see it coming. What can you do after midnight, alone in your bed, to keep yourself safe?

What can you do after midnight, alone in your bed, to keep yourself safe?

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