I Couldn’t Wake

Awake. The bedroom light is on. I know that I turned it off before going to bed. Who else is here?

Naked mattress. Naked me. Why can’t I move? What’s going on?

Foreign hands scratch my heels. Nails, like glass, slowly, painfully scratch the soles of my feet. The hands now wrap my toes in their cold, clammy palms.

I can’t see anyone even though the light is on. My eyes move, but nothing else. No curtains. The room is getting cold.

The hand now slide over the tops of my feet, around my ankles. As they slide up my shins, I grow cold and numb. What is this? Why can’t I see who it is?

Past my knees. Sliding to my inner thighs. Cold! My breath is choppy. If the hands reach my lungs I’ll stop breathing! My heart will stop!

STOP!