Possessed

Possessed - Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

 

 

“What the hell happened, Devon? Tell me!” Dante growled. He rubbed one of his hands up and down my back to calm me down. Usually that worked but not today. I was too scared and freaked out for it to have any effect.

I took a deep breath and gasped. “I-I couldn’t move.”

“What?”

“My whole body,” I said, pulling back to look at him. Tears spilled from my eyes and rolled down my cheek. “My whole body was heavy and I couldn’t move. I thought I was paralysed. It was so scary, Dante.”

“You couldn’t move?” he asked, frowning sceptically.

“I’m not making it up. I couldn’t move, Dante. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t move an inch.”

“Okay, I believe you. God you’re shaking.” He picked me up and carried me into the living room, bridal style, as if I were a little child. “I’ll make you a drink.”

“What happened to me?” I whispered, rubbing my hands up and down my arms.

Dante covered me with the fleece blanket and pulled me against him. “I don’t know. I’ll find out, though. I promise.” I looked up at him, trying to figure out if he was just saying that to pacify me or if he really believed me. “You just stay there. I’ll make us a cup of tea and then do a Google search.”

I wanted to tell him that I had done a thousand searches and nothing had come up, but I didn’t want to put him off if there was a possibility he could find something. “Thanks.” He kissed the top of my head from the back of the sofa, and I wrapped the blanket tightly around me. My body was still shaking from the shock and heart raced.

“Do you want anything else? Biscuit? Chocolate?”

I shook my head. “No thanks.” Freddy. I wanted Freddy. The realisation made me feel uneasy. We were still strangers so there was no possibility that I could have him here. I shouldn’t want him, especially not over Dante. No, I didn’t want him here more than my best friend. Something inside me disagreed, though, and I wasn’t sure what it was.

Dante handed me a cup of tea and I sipped it, not caring about it burning. “Thanks.” My hands trembled, causing my tea to ripple in the mug.

“Okay. I’ll look this up,” he said a little nervously. I could tell he didn’t want to find something weird. He didn’t believe in anything like that. Ghosts were a myth to him and nothing was going to change his mind. Not even me. I wished that he would open his mind to the possibility that something was happening to me. Frankie believed me but it wasn’t the same. I wanted Dante.

Sitting beside him silently, I sipped my drink, and forced myself not to look at the screen. I felt nervous too. Nervous to find something I didn’t want to see, and nervous about Dante’s reaction if it was something out of the ordinary.

“Here,” he said, smiling and turning the laptop so I could see. We had sat in silence for what seemed like hours but in reality it was just long enough for me to finish my tea. “Look at this. Sleep Paralysis. It’s what happens naturally so you don’t injure yourself in your sleep. Awareness during sleep paralysis is when your mind wakes up before your body. It usually only lasts a few seconds – which can seem like longer – before your body catches up. It’s perfectly normal and quite common.”

Frowning, I tilted the screen down so I could read properly. Could that be what it was? “Do you think it was that?” I whispered.

“What else could it be?” he replied. “This is what you described, isn’t it?”