The Sleeping Apparition

I have reviewed this experience repeatedly in my mind since it happened about fourteen years ago. I haven't told many people, not that it's anything to be embarrassed about, but I feel comfortable sharing it online anomalously. I know what I saw and I know for sure I was not dreaming the experience. The only thing I wonder is if it were a trick of the eyes. I am also slightly disturbed by the way I reacted to it, not at all how I would expect one to react when seeing an apparition in the way I saw one.

My family lived in Okinawa at the time, Kadena Air Force Base in case you were wondering. The houses we lived in were concrete bunkers that could withstand the typhoons that came fairly frequently over the island. The word "bunker" might make them sound like terrible homes, but they were actually pretty nice to live in.

My bedroom was shared with my brother and we slept in bunk beds, me on the bottom and him on the top. I was always a light sleeper and had a history of being frightened in the night for no good reason and crawling in bed with my parents when I was younger. As I recall, I was over that phase in my childhood at this point.

One night at some ungodly hour I was awakened to see a boy suspended in the small space between me and the bottom of the top bunk. The boy was completely motionless, like a still picture, with his eyes closed and arms outstretched. This is what I am disturbed most about in the story. I didn't make a noise. I didn't scream, or even get out of bed. I was simply confused. I reached out and, and to this day I wonder why I did this, tried to touch the boy to see if he were real. When my hand reached him he vanished in the most peculiar way. I will attempt to describe the way by which the boy disappeared.

There are images that can be found in books and online that are designed to trick the brain. If viewed in a particular way the viewer will perceive a three-dimensional image. For many it is difficult to achieve this. After seeing the projected image, when one tries to move a hand through it, the illusion is broken and the eyes focus past into the pattern on the page. The three-dimensional projection seems to blend back into the page. I am not saying what I saw was an illusion of some sort, but that is exactly what happened when I tried to touch him. His image seemed to blend back into the bottom of the top bunk and he was gone.

Afterwards I went right back to sleep. How I was able to sleep after that, I have no earthly idea. I didn't tell my parents but I told my brother. He didn't take it seriously at all, he even joked that it was actually him and that he was doing push-ups over me at night.

To clear some possible curiosity, I am not certain what race the boy was. He may have been Okinawan and some victim of the war. I think it is possible that he was an American boy who had died in that same room in his sleep. It is also possible that he was a victim of a Habu snake bite which can be lethal. Habus are common in that area.

Some years later back in the United States I had another similar experience. I may post it later.