An Unexpected Tug In The Night

In 2014 I had been dating a guy who was a widower. While I didn't know the details of his wife's death, I did know it was a suicide. I didn't ask a lot of questions as I knew it was still very painful for him. He lived in the east valley of the Phoenix area in a ranch style house with a roommate and also several cats. Due to having said roommate and cats, he had a doggie door installed on the bottom of his bedroom door so he could still have privacy and the cats would be able to come in and out at their leisure. It was not uncommon to wake up and be surrounded by sleeping cats.

One night we were watching TV at his place and I started to get tired. I went into his room and fell asleep, closing the door behind me. I was asleep on my left side in the fetal position when all of a sudden I was jolted awake in the middle of the night by what felt like a sharp tug backwards on my right shoulder. I immediately opened my eyes, completely expecting to see my boyfriend to my right. I said his name. No response. I reached a hand over to his side of the bed and he was not there. My eyes adjusted to the dark and I noticed that for once, I was not surrounded by sleeping cats, which was odd.

I laid very still and listened. My boyfriend was still out on the couch. He had fallen asleep out there and I could hear him snoring slightly. I didn't feel scared, just perplexed. I knew I hadn't dreamt that. Whatever it was woke me out of a sound sleep. In fact, I woke up with my shoulder still turned to the right. This was not a gentle shaking of one's shoulder to wake one either. This had been a full on tug, as if done with a sense of urgency or aggression. As I'm laying there, I suddenly felt as if someone had sat down on the edge of the bed next to me. I literally put my hand in the depression. Why I didn't go screaming out of the room, I don't know. I acknowledged the presence and strangely enough, I fell back to sleep. This time, without incident.

In the morning I told my boyfriend what had happened. He confessed to me that his late wife ended her life by taking a bunch of pills and going to sleep in that very bed. I had had no idea that's where it had happened. It never felt like one of those things I should ask for details on and thought he'd tell me when he was ready. I can only surmise it was her. He seemed to think that it was her spirit saying that she approved of me. I felt otherwise.

While the relationship didn't last, I will never forget that experience. I moved out of state later that year and learned the following year he was tragically killed while out riding his motorcycle. It was heartbreaking to hear after the tragedy he had already been through. I really hope though that they are happy and have reunited on the other side.