*If it's night where you live and you're a scaredy cat, better leave this chapter to read in the morning XD*

Heejin wakes up in the middle of the night, unable to move and scared to her bones. Panic overflows her senses as she tries to move, but can't; it's like something is holding her down. She's breathing hard, everything around her scary, dark, and heavy. The night's darkness, usually comforting and quiet, is now loud and enveloping. Calm down, she thinks to herself. Is she dreaming? Or is she awake already? Her eyes are open. She can see everything. There's her ceiling, the pictures above her desk, and the dimmed beam of light coming in through her window. 

She finally gets her touch back and the second she does, she sits up on her bed and practically throws herself at the bedside table to turn on the light. Then she gets out of bed, shaking, covered in sweat. 

*

"Sleep paralysis," Minjoon says. Heejin frowns in worry. "You experienced sleep paralysis." 

"That's a thing?" Heejin asks. Tao perks up at their conversation. He's leaning over the lockers, staring at his phone, while Heejin is looking for her biology textbook with Minjoon behind her. "It was really scary." 

"Yeah, it is scary," Minjoon admits. "I've had it a few times in my life. You know when your brain makes your body still when you sleep so that you don't actually run off or hit yourself while you sleep? Sleep paralysis happens when you wake up, but your brain thinks that you're still sleeping, so you still can't move. It passes quite quickly if you calm yourself down enough." 

"I felt as if someone was holding me down," Heejin describes, a shiver running down her spine. Tao spazzes a little, letting out a scared yelp.

"Creepy," he says, "don't say that to me again." 

"It's so scary tho," Minjoon points out. "Some people see some really weird creatures when they experience sleep paralysis, too." 

"Oh, my God," Tao says, closing his eyes and pushing himself off the lockers, "I'm done, I don't want to listen to this." He starts to walk away, but Minjoon leans towards him as he walks past him. 

"They say the creatures are black, long, and have yellow eyes," he hisses in a whisper. Tao yells while shivering all over his body and practically runs away from his friend. Minjoon looks super smug at that. He turns towards Heejin with a grin. "That's the first time I scared—Heejin?" 

The girl is as pale as ever.

*

"It happened again," Heejin says, sulking. She puts her head on the top of the school desk. Tao is unwrapping some donuts she'd brought when she says it and he stops abruptly, quirking a brow at her.

"What?" he asks.

"Sleep paralysis," she explains, mumbling out the words. "It's so scary. What if one day - I mean, night - I wake up and I won't be able to move ever again?" 

Tao scoffs. "And I'm supposed to be the drama queen."

"Everyone knows Baek is the drama queen."

"Who's the drama queen?" Minjoon asks, only now appearing in the classroom, carrying in some sodas. He puts them on the desk next to Heejin's head, making her jerk her head up at the noise.

"Not me, apparently," Tao says with a smile. He bites into the donut. "If you're going to talk about sleep paralysis and ghosts again, I'm out."

"Someone said ghost stories?" a new voice asks. Suddenly, there's an arm around Tao's neck and the boy starts choking on his donut. Jihoo - the ex-school bully - laughs at him as he gives him a noogie, and Tao pushes him off. Jihoo comes back, though, and sits in Tao's lap. Tao freezes, flexes his arms back, and rolls his eyes as Jihoo makes himself comfortable. "I know a good ghost story." 

"No!" Tao yells and stands up, thus throwing Jihoo off his lap and making him land on his with a yell.

*

Suho wakes up at night when his phone buzzes on his desk. Chanyeol stirrs in his sleep on the bed next to Suho's, but doesn't wake up; he's a heavy sleeper. He continues on with his snoring while Suho stands up from the bed, albeit grumpily, and walks over to see who's texting him at 4 am in the morning. He squints when he sees Heejin's name on the screen. 

Are you asleep?
Today 4:03

He replies with 'not anymore' and adds a dancing woman emoticon to it. The answer comes a few seconds later. 

Want to play one hundred questions?
Today 4:03 

Suho smiles and gooes back to bed, phone in hand.

*

"Wow, Heejin," Jihoo says on Monday, looking at the girl with judgment. "Don't take it the wrong way, but you look like ." 

Tao slaps him on the back of the head and then leans over to take a look at Heejin. Jihoo is screaming something, but right now he focuses on the shadows under the girl's eyes and the fact that she's swaying on her feet and smells like strong coffee and anxiety. 

"Not even coffee helps," the girl says, her voice sad. Tao walks past Jihoo to stand next to her, looking at her with worry.

"You couldn't sleep?" he asks. 

"The entire weekend," Heejin admits with a sigh. "But don't worry, it'll probably pass." 

"But why?" Tao asks. "Did you have paralysis again?" 

Heejin huffs out some air, making her bangs fly up. "Every time I went to sleep. It just won't go away. No matter what hour I go to sleep or how deep my sleep is, I wake up paralysed anyways. It's scary. I gave up on sleeping the third time I woke up on Saturday." She yawns, as if emphasizing her current situation, and takes off her backpack as they're walking to the class. She starts pawing at it in search of her termos and coffee. 

"Maybe you shouldn't drink this much," Tao says. He can hear that her pulse is faster than usual, but she doesn't look energetic at all. Actually, she looks like she's about to pass out. "Go lie down in the infirmary, yeah?" 

"I have a test," the girl says, yawning again. She finds her termos. "I'll sleep after school. Don't worry."

Tao sniffs at her once again as she's drinking and picks up something weird in her scent. Not exactly unpleasant, but definitely bizzare. Like ink, but not the same kind they use in normal pens. Heejin likes to write, maybe she bought herself a fountain pain or something.

*

It's quiet when she opens her eyes. Quiet, still, and incredibly scary.

Her whole brain is screaming as she tries to move. There's something not right. This is different from before; this time she feels like there's something lurking in the shadows of her room, something that wants to attack her. She looks around as much as she can with her neck unable to move, her eyes jumping from one corner to another, when she sees it. Something weird standing by the door. Something tall, black, with unnaturally long arms that almost reach the floor and yellow, piercing eyes. 

She wants to scream. She is screaming, only nothing is coming out. She can't make a sound. She can't move , can't make her voice break through the paralysis, and the creature is moving. It's moving towards her, not moving its legs, just...kind of floating towards her, not blinking, not moving. She wants to cry. It moves slowly, but not too slowly; it feels like ages have passed, and yet, it's already there, by her bed, then on her bed, then on top of her. It sits down and she feels the air puff out from her lungs; she can't breathe. 

She screams then. She closes her eyes, blinks, and when she opens them again, she's lying on her side, sweating, still and quiet. 

She jumps out of her bed, turns on the light, and runs to her parents' bedroom. No way in hell she's sleeping alone tonight. 

(Her dad ends up on the couch in the living room.) 

*

"Heejin," Suho says, watching as the girl practically chunks the third coffee mug today. Well, the third one he sees, at least. "You're drinking too much coffee today." 

"Can't help it," Heejin says, shaking her head on the laptop screen. "I need it."

"Why?" 

"I need to study, I can't sleep."

"You're lying."

She snaps her eyes at him. Well, as much as she can via Skype. She fidgets a little in her seat, huffs and sulks. 

"I'm not," she says. "I'm just sleepy and I want it to go away." 

"Well, it's almost eight," Suho says. "It's natural you feel sleepy." 

"I don't want to. I've got stuff to do." 

"But you studied yesterday."

"Yeah," she admits quietly. "Oh, by the way, how did that paper of yours go? Have you gotten it back yet?" 

"Stop changing the topic, Heejin," Suho scolds, leaning closer to the screen. The only thing she can see right now is his face and his collar. "You're acting weird."

She fidgets again, bites her lip (which distracts Suho for a second) and takes another sip of coffee. 

"I'm having weird dreams," she finally admits. "I just don't feel like sleeping today. That's why." 

"Weird dreams?" Suho frowns. "Weird how? Scary?" 

"Yeah, kinda scary." 

She won't admit it, but she's terrified of going back to sleep again. She doesn't want to. She's afraid that if she gets paralysed again, that weird creature might come back. She's restrained herself from reading about it on the Internet, but Minjoon told her that she's not the only person who's seen that weird creature. There must be something in her head forbidding her from sleeping normally, and she needs to wait until it's all okay again. Until then, she's not planning on sleeping. Nu-uh. 

Maybe once she's exhausted enough, she might sleep through the entire night without waking up?

"Heejin?" 

She looks at the screen. "Huh?" 

"I'm talking to you," Suho says with a soft smile. Heejin finds herself smiling back because it looks the cheesiest.

"Sorry," she apologizes. "Don't worry about it. I'll go to sleep once I feel exhausted enough. Right now coffee is keeping me up, so it's good." 

*

The weird creature comes to her again. It's the same as the first time - it stands in the corner at first, then approaches her and sits on top of her, making it hard for her to breathe. She's screaming, trashing around, but it's as if her soul is moving and yelling, not her body. She still can't make a noise. 

She goes to sleep with her mom again, tears streaming down her face and heart hammering in her chest.

*

Tao is taking notes during lit when he picks up a weird scent. He looks up and around, trying to catch it. The teacher sends him a curious look but continues on with his lecture, used to Tao's weird behavior (he's calm today anyways) and Tao's eyes stop on Heejin. 

The girl is asleep.

During class.

On her desk. 

And that's a first. Tao has never actually seen anyone fall asleep during classes, not for real, and for longer than a few seconds, although he knows for a fact that it's happened to you in second grade. Heejin is sleeping quite soundly and deeply, if her even breathing is anything to go by, but her heart is beating hard in her chest. Actually, it's beating faster and faster. Something weird is happening to her and Tao feels anxious.

He stands up, making quite a noise, and runs towards the girl. He touches her the second she wakes up with a startle, and throws her arm over his shoulder. 

"She's not feeling well," he says when the teacher stops short. "I'll take her to the nurse." 

Heejin stumbles over her feet, her face pale. The teacher sees her and nods solemnly; he watches them as they walk down the corridor. Heejin is breathing hard, tears visible in her eyes. She's shaking, too.

"What's wrong, Jinjin?" Tao asks, feeling super protective all of a sudden. He wonders if he should call someone. "Are you okay?" 

"I'm fine.I don't want to go to the nurse."

"Do you want to sit down?"

"Yeah." 

They sit in the middle of the empty corridor. She doesn't even care, she just lies down on the dirty floor, breathing deeply. 

"I swear this is getting creepier and creepier," she says. She tries to sound calm, but her last word is shaky. She's visibly nervous. "I can't sleep," she adds after a beat. 

*

Her bedside lamp is on. She's reading a school lecture, trying very hard to focus on it, but her eyelids are heavier than ever. She just wants to sleep. 

"Don't sleep," she reminds herself, shaking her head. "Don't sleep." 

She sits up, changing her position a little, and leans over the book, squinting at the words. That doesn't help much; she feels drowsy two seconds later, so she starts pinching her arm, hoping that the pain will make the sleepiness go away. Not even coffee helps anymore; she's sleepy all the damn time. Why can't her body work like normal people's? 

There's a sudden knock on her window and she jumps in surprise and fear, completely panicked. She looks at it and sees a face behind the glass. Her heart rate sky-rockets at this point, until she recognizes the blonde hair and the worried eyes and the charming smile. It takes her a few deep breaths to realize that it's Suho behind her window, and a few more to actually get out of her bed. 

She opens her window, heart hammering in her chest. Suho jumps in with a chirpy, quiet 'hi', leaving her dumbfounded. She closes the window quickly, feeling embarrassed and more than surprised, and looks at him. 

"What are you doing here?" she asks. Suho leans in to plant a soft kiss onto her cheek in a lieu of a greeting and she blushes. It's not the first time Suho's been to her room, but it's the middle of the night, he's just sneaked in, and she hasn't seen him in a few weeks. He's supposed to be at campus!

"Tao told me what happened at school," Suho admits. "I thought I'd visit." 

"In the middle of the night?" 

"I brought nutella," Suho says, shrugging a little, therefore making the backpack on his shoulders rustle. Heejin tilts her head to the side a little. "And a movie." 

"What movie?" 

"Interstellar." 

"You just want to make me cry." 

"Don't worry, I'll cry with you." 

Heejin eyes him suspiciously. She realizes that she's wearing pajamas and goes completely red again. She goes to her wardrobe to get a sweater while Suho takes off his jacket and starts to go through his stuff, pulling nutella and the movie out of his backpack. Heejin stands next to him and he presents the items to her proudly. 

"This is inappropriate," Heejin says quietly. 

"I know," Suho admits. 

"My dad will kill you." 

"I know. Worth it though." 

Sudden affection and love floods her senses then. She takes nutella from him and nods, butterflies fluttering in her stomach. 

They sit on her bed with Heejin's laptop on their laps. They share the nutella jar, Heejin keeping a close eye on her blood sugar level, and by the end of the movie, Heejin falls asleep with her head on Suho's shoulder. He wraps her in a blanket and stays with her till the morning. 

The creature doesn't come to her that night.

*

Taemin is walking you home. You've spent a few hours at the gym, fighting, and you feel like you're gonna be sore in the morning. You're both eating ice cream and it's overall peaceful. Taemin is blabbering on about patriarchy and politics - he's in a philosphical mode today - when you hear and feel something run past you in a very weird manner that makes the hair on your neck stand up. You stop walking and Taemin stops talking, surprised with your abrupt halt. 

He looks around as you try to focus on the thing that you've actually felt. 

"Weird," you whisper to yourself, very quietly. You turn your head a littlle, taking in the trees on your right. It's the night, so you can't see what's deeper in the park, but something there is really making your skin crawl. You take off your backpack and pull a torch out of it. Taemin lets out a sigh and does the same thing. You and him usually carry the same set of things - some weapons and stuff that might come in handy if an apocalypse strikes. Only he doesn't use magic.

"Okay, let's go have an adventure," he says sarcasstically, waving his hand at the dark part of the park. You walk first, the torch in your right hand, and your left hand out-stretched to the side in case you need to use magic. Taemin helps to light up the way with his own torch and with a knife in his palm. You just hope there's no one around to see you sneaking - it's fairly late - as you make your way deeper into the trees. Not that there's much trees here. 

A few lamps go off on your right, then on your left, and it gets even darker. Taemin shivers next to you.

"Dal?" he asks, worried. You shush him, trying to pick up the magical vibe from before. Something hisses next to you and you turn as quickly as you can, casting some light on where you hears the weird noise. You see something black for a short part of a second, but it runs away. You use your magic to make the beam of light from your torch wider, but there's nothing. Your heart is beating hard in your chest, the adrenaline making your whole body rigid.

The weird feeling is gone then. You can feel that there's nothing magical here. Whatever it was, it's disappeared. 

"Jesus," you say, shivering once. Taemin lets out a huff. "That was one of the creepiest things that have happened to me, and I had a ghoul me once." 

"Ew." 

You hear some groan and both of you jump. You point your torches to where you think you heard the sound and you see a man sleeping on a bench a few meters away. He looks like a drunk and he protests when the light hits him. 

"Would you go?" he slurs unhappily. 

"Sorry," you say quietly. Then, to Taemin, "It's gone." 

"What's gone?"

"I don't know what it was," you say, "but it definitely wasn't nice."

*gasps*

This chapter is actually based on my own experience with sleep paralysis, lol. Including the weird black creature. That actually happened. Scariest experience in my life, tbh, at least when it comes to things I don't understand and are not really real-life related. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE THING WAS but it was scary orz

Then I got used to sleep paralysis, the weird dude didn't visit again, and now I'm a pro at waking up paralised and going back to sleep unharmed. It's still a bit unsettling sometimes XD

Fun fact! Sometimes sleep paralysis works on reverse and your body blocks just as you're falling asleep, so your brain gets flooded with images and sounds, and you're actually awake, and that's when lucid dreams happen. That's actually pretty dope, although can be scary too if your brain decides it's a good time to have really bizzare dreams. AND IT'S ALWAYS SO LOUD (the dreams I mean) idk tell me abt your weird sleeping experiences I love hearing that

I'm trying to eat healthy and lose some weight so thanks for reading freshly pressed orange juices. 

(THAT DOESN'T FEEL RIGHT I LOVE YOU LIL PRETZELS)