Stop and write about “not really experiencing what you thought you were experiencing” if you wish. Or you could [[a mind to meander|go back to where the river begins]]. ---- I have a lot of dreams like this that are commonly known as sleep paralysis dreams. Last week after I got done with my homework for U.S History I decided I needed a nap after earning an ADV on my assignment. The time seemed perfect for a nap; the sun was slightly beaming in and the air was just warm enough to be comforting while trying to fall asleep. I like to daydream before I fall asleep because it helps me to sort of calm me down so that I eventually find myself drifting off into sleep, but after trying this I realized that it actually wasn’t helping and I wasn’t getting tired like I usually do. When I finally gave up on trying to fall asleep I opened my eyes and got ready to sit up again, but when I tried to I ended up not moving a muscle and found myself in a paralyzed state on my bed. I immediately knew that I was dreaming – I even started violently blinking in order to wake up, but I tried to no avail. I could feel my heart beat a million beats per second as I waited to see if there was anything else in the room with me that I was supposed to see. After what felt like hours but in reality was only about 10 seconds I saw a figure standing by my bedside. It looked like a silhouette of a man but it seemed to be more of a walking shadow than an actual person. I don’t know what it was trying to do; maybe it was trying to intimidate me or maybe it wasn’t trying to scare me at all. It almost felt like I was a lab experiment being observed by a scientist. When I blinked my eyes again I found myself back into my own reality. I didn’t feel scared like in the dream I mentioned previously. I actually woke up feeling quite refreshed and energetic. I find myself in dreams like this very often, but I end up forgetting most of them. Maybe I should stop falling asleep to scary movies of [[You lived another year|creatures dwelling in caves]].