scary dream that maybe wasn't a dream

I wasn't going to post this but I can't stop thinking about it.

So a while back I was texting a friend around 10pm and just. fell asleep mid-conversation. didn't even mean to.

I wake up and the light's off. I *know* I fell asleep with it on. My parents were out that night so my first thought was like, did my little sister turn it off? okay fine. I was thirsty so I just shuffled to the kitchen in the dark, didn't bother with the lights, drank some oolong tea, glanced at the clock.

3am exactly.

And then I remembered I left my room a mess before I passed out. so I went back, flipped the light on and.

STOP.

Every single doll in my room was flipped upside down.

Not just the ones on my desk. ALL of them. ones balanced in weird poses that physically shouldn't be able to stand upside down. ones on the high shelf that my sister couldn't even reach. every. single. one.

I was so freaked out I just. turned them all back. didn't investigate. didn't text anyone. just fixed them and got back into bed like a normal person (I was not a normal person, I was dissociating). Somehow fell asleep immediately anyway.

And then the dream started.

I'm in this abandoned factory type place and I am RUNNING. don't know what I'm running from. don't know what happens if it catches me. but some deep animal part of my brain is screaming that I cannot let it. so I just keep going. and the thing about this dream is I could feel everything, like actually feel it. the burn in my lungs. the heat in my throat. the way my body was giving out but I couldn't stop.

And then I heard music.

...it was my alarm. my actual alarm clock, leaking into the dream somehow. and I just KNEW instinctively, go toward the sound and you wake up. so I ran toward it. found the door it was coming from.

[okay. okay. just open it and—]

Something grabbed the back of my neck.

Hard.

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. and then I woke up.

Sat straight up. hands clenched into fists. looked at the clock. 6:30am. I just sat there thinking... did I make it? I got grabbed but I still woke up so... safe??

I wiped my sweaty hands on the blanket and looked down and.

there was a shadow falling across my forehead.

coming from above me. at an angle.

I knew I shouldn't look up. I KNEW. every horror movie every ghost story every instinct in my body said do not look up. but I couldn't just sit there. I couldn't not know.

so I looked up.

you know that thing where someone's face is SO close to yours that you can't actually focus on it properly? like it's too near to see clearly?

it was like that.

some man's face. inches from mine. eyes completely bloodshot, wide open like he'd forgotten how to blink, eyelids pulled back so far they looked wrong.

I couldn't scream. couldn't move. just froze.

and then he pressed his forehead against mine and said:

"don't run."

...

I think I passed out after that. when I came back to myself it was 8am. already late for school. I sat there wiping cold sweat off my forehead telling myself it was a dream it was a dream it was just a dream.

then I looked at my hand.

soaked in blood.