Watcher at night

When I was a child, I would occasionally sense an intense, ominous presence watching me as I lay in bed at night. These experiences were rare, perhaps a few times a year. I would keep my eyes shut and try to ignore the feeling until it passed or I fell back asleep.

As I grew older, I decided to confront this fear. The next time I felt the watcher's presence, I opened my eyes and boldly said "Hello!" This was a mistake.

The presence became far more intense than ever before. My memories of what followed are hazy. I know I was fully awake at first - I checked the time on my alarm clock twice to confirm I was not dreaming. But at some point I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I remember is being in a bright room with my cousin berating me for doing something so reckless. I later asked her if she had shared this dream, but she had not.

I have vague recollections of shadowy hands emerging from the floor to grab me after I did the clock check. I think they succeeded, but I cannot recall clearly. There is a gap between being awake and doing the check, and finding myself in the room with my cousin.

I wrote down some of this experience at the time, but will have to find my notes to see if they contain more details. After this final, intense encounter I never spoke to "the watcher" again.

Now that I no longer live in that childhood bedroom, I have not felt its presence for many years.