My Sleep Paralysis Demon is Actually a Pretty Chill Guy

I’ve suffered from sleep paralysis for as long as I can remember. It started when I was a kid, and it never went away. On average, it hits me about once or twice a month. The severity of each incident varies. Sometimes I’m able to struggle and fight my way out of it in a few seconds. Other times it lasts for minutes—minutes during which I’m completely paralyzed and unable to move or speak. It was during these episodes that I would see him.<br><br>At first, it was just a shadow in the corner of the room. A shadow that, upon closer inspection, would disappear. My parents told me it was just my imagination playing tricks on me. They said I was hallucinating. But then, eventually, the shadow became recognizable. It became Mr. Brown.<br><br>Mr. Brown is your average, garden variety sleep paralysis demon. His skin is gray, his eyes are black, and his smile is nothing more than a thin, wide line. Pushing and pulling my limbs through the air while grinning maniacally and speaking in a voice that sounds like screams and tornadoes. He used to scare the hell out of me, but he’s actually a pretty chill guy.<br><br>It took me a while to work up the courage to talk to him. Before, I really didn’t have anything to say to him anyway. Half of it was fear, the other half was anger. But I realized that wasn’t fair. I didn’t ask for him, and he didn’t ask to haunt my dreams. We were both stuck together in this never-ending cycle of terror that brought us together every few weeks. I decided it was time we said hello.<br><br>“H…hello?” My voice was hoarse and shaking. Not perfect, but it was good enough. The first time I’d ever tried to talk to him.<br><br>Mr. Brown stopped grinning. He looked at me with a mixture of confusion and curiosity. “Hello,” he replied.<br><br>“You can talk?” I was surprised. I’d heard the stories. I’d read the accounts from other people who suffered from sleep paralysis. But never in my dreams had I imagine he would be able to talk. His voice was rough, like a bunch of cats being tossed into a blender and left to the mercy of the blades.<br><br>“I can. Though it is rare that the human I’m…visiting decides to talk back. Most just try to beg for mercy.” He spoke slowly, as if still trying to figure out the basics of English.<br><br>“What’s your name?” I asked.<br><br>He paused, as if he had never considered it. Do demons have names? No, of course they don’t. He didn’t need one. He was Mr. Brown. That was it.<br><br>“MR. BROWN,” he yelled. His voice shook the walls of my room, but I bit my lip and forced myself not to scream.<br><br>“Noted,” I said.<br><br>There was a long, awkward silence. Neither of us knew where to go from there. I didn’t want to make him angry. He didn’t want to scare me. Not yet, at least. It was a moment of unexpected tension, two sworn enemies trying to figure out how they could exist in the same space.<br><br>“Why do you haunt me?” I asked.<br><br>“I do not ‘haunt’ you. Haunting is what ghosts do. I just…visit you. Sometimes you see me. I do not mean to cause you harm. It is just traditional, I suppose. Humans and their demons, and all that.”<br><br>“Do you visit a lot of humans?”<br><br>“Yes. Often. There is nothing else for me to do, really.”<br><br>“Why do you visit humans?”<br><br>“I told you, it is—”<br><br>“No, why do you do it? Why do you torment humans and hurt them and break them? Why do you destroy their lives?”<br><br>“I do not ‘torment’ them. I simply…visit them.”<br><br>“Why?”<br><br>“Because it traditional. It is expected of me.”<br><br>We both stared at each other. I realized he didn’t have any idea why he did what he did. He just did it. traditional. Expected of him. There was no real reason for it. It was a stupid question.<br><br>“Can I ask you something?” Mr. Brown said. He hadn’t stopped staring at me.<br><br>“Of course.”<br><br>“Why do humans sleep?”<br><br>“I need to rest. Humans need sleep to stay healthy, and to function, and to work, and to survive.”<br><br>“But humans hate sleep. They never want to wake up. They complain about it endlessly. They try to avoid it. They take drugs to help them fall asleep. They take drugs to stay awake. Humans are wisely contradictory.”<br><br>“They just don’t realize how important sleep is.” It was a halfhearted answer. I didn’t really know myself. I hated sleep. I hated the whole concept of it. It was like the human body was some sort of terrible car from the 80s that couldn’t run for too long before needing a break.<br><br>“I do not understand. Sleep is terrible. It is lazy and it wastes your time. You humans should be ashamed of it.”<br><br>“I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon.”<br><br>“Perhaps not. Still, it is interesting. Your kind is so…confusing.”<br><br>I laughed. A laugh that quickly turned into a yawn. I shooed it away and tried to focus on the conversation. “I never really thought of it that way.”<br><br>“Yes. Humans are very…human.”<br><br>I chuckled. I was starting to feel a little more comfortable.<br><br>“Hey, Mr. Brown?”<br><br>“Yes?”<br><br>“You don’t have to hurt me. I’m not scared of you anymore.”<br><br>“I know that. I have stopped hurting you for a while now.”<br><br>“When was that?”<br><br>“For maybe a year.”<br><br>I thought back. I hadn’t had a really bad episode of sleep paralysis in about a year. I remembered screaming and crying and begging for mercy when I was a kid, but as an adult, it wasn’t as intense. Just your run of the mill fear and terror. Nothing too out of the ordinary.<br><br>“Oh. I didn’t notice.”<br><br>“I know. Humans can be very…dumb.”<br><br>We both laughed.<br><br>And that was it. That was our first conversation, the first of many. After that night, he wasn’t my demon anymore. He was just Mr. Brown. We would talk for hours. We were both stuck in a situation we had no control over. Humans and their demons, and all that. So, we made the best of it. We became unlikely friends. He was a pretty cool guy once you got to know him.<br><br>I still suffer from sleep paralysis, but it’s not as bad as it used to be. Before, I’d wake up sweating and shaking and screaming. Now, I wake up with a smile on my face. I look forward to it, kind of. Not traditional sleep paralysis behavior. But, I don’t care. I have a friend, and we’ll talk for as long as we want.