Uncomfortable Darkness

Im going to start this off with I am a 24 year old female and I still sleep with the covers over my head. Embarrassing, but true. I have Many different accounts or experiences with the paranormal as do a lot of people in my family, but this is when it started for me...

My mom always told me how my favorite question when I was little was "Who's that?" Because from the time I could stand in my crib or speak words I'd constantly point and ask that question, which she never could answer because no one was there besides us in a room. As I got a little bit older and could describe things, she found out what I would see were "the black people" as I called them. (As a small child with not much knowledge on how to properly describe things, that's what they were to me.) They were all black figures in the shape of people with no detail but their eyes.

I remember many times waking up in the middle of the night with them standing in my room just watching me or hearing their thoughts quickly whisper back and forth with each other but never being able to make out what they said. Or getting ready for school staring down my staircase as one stared back at me. With my mom always about to rush me to get ready then realizing that I was seeing "something". (Unlike some moms who don't believe in spirits or demons and jump to the conclusion that their child has an imaginary friend, my mom knows all to well how perceptive our family is to the paranormal, having many experiences herself growing up.) So she'd ask, "Are they back? Where are they?" So I'd describe how many there were, always followed by "What do they want?" Of course she didn't know how to answer, but would tell me that they couldn't hurt me and to just to ignore them. I always felt that they were watching me, but also waiting for me. I'm not sure for what exactly but I know they were waiting. The way I would describe it is as if the grim reaper is waiting for that right time to take you away which is not the greatest feeling. I got so used to them that it just became a way of living for me... Until I started to get night-terrors.

Not too sure what age the night-terrors began but they were nothing short of terrifying. Most I don't remember now but the one I do remember is as if it just happened yesterday. My parents have huge glass mirrors on their closets which take up a whole wall and almost every night I would sleep in their room on the floor next to that wall, because being next to them I felt more protected.

On that night my parents woke up to me screaming so, of course, they flew out of bed and rushed to my side. They found me staring into their mirror crying, yelling that they were going to get me. I remember that I was standing on my cul-de-sac and there were a group of "The black people" standing across the street huddled as if they were talking... Then, quickly all turned to me glaring and though they never really spoke to me I could hear their hard-to-make out, quick whispers back and forth and feel that they wanted me to go with them. And where they were going was not a good place. Every second that passed I could feel them getting closer and pulling me in more and I had no way out.

Thankfully, my dad was my way out. My parents realized dealing with my night-terrors so much that my dad was the only person who could calm me down and pull me back to reality. We sat there while I stared into the mirror crying as he held my hand and asked me questions. "Where are they?" I'd point... "What do they want?" I answered, "They want me to go with them... But I'm scared." So he replied, "I'm standing right next to you, do you feel me holding your hand? They can't hurt you while I'm here." This went on for about 10 minutes until I was finally calm. Then he was able to tell me, "It's time to go to sleep now. Tell them they need to leave, and close your eyes." I closed my eyes and he picked me up and put me into their bed and I slept the rest of the night there.

That's the last time I can recall seeing "them". My little cousin has had the same experiences that lasted until she was much older. From time to time I will get a quick glance at one as I walk by a room or hear whispers as I go to sleep, but thankfully it is nowhere close to when I was a child and my mind allowed me to really see them.

Because of this experience, to this day I will not sleep without the covers over my head because I constantly feel something watching me and somehow it's some sort or protection, or maybe just comfort I haven't been able to shake after all these years. I don't know for sure what these things are or where they want you to go, but I do know it is not an experience I'd wish on any child.