There has been more than one instance wherein I have succumbed to sleep paralysis. But the dream I saw was no less than a parallel universe gateway for me. It was the first time I dreamt something so clear and the horror in it left me brooding about it for years. The only theory that my fantastical mind sways toward is the parallel universe theory.

The Thing About Dreams

A dream is a poem. There is so much going on in its verses that it isn’t what we think it is. With its stark unreality, it eludes us, haunts us to seek answers and theories to bring us towards a conclusion. But we fail every time we try to put a pin to it. The erratic behavior of involuntary thoughts is constantly fleeting from one junction to another. It is a train impossible to catch, a pattern surreal to comprehend.

I was miffed by this one dream that I like to call – “a gateway to the netherworld”, where I am somehow darn sure and convinced that I had a peek into a world that wasn’t ours. My constant pursuit to find a place which is beyond us instinctively led me to it, I guess.

I was fast unto a heavy siesta when all of a sudden, the parallel universe dream happened. The child in me believes it to be more than a mind trick. Eventually, when it was over, I found my thought rhythm broken, and the mundane called me back to my senses. That’s when I felt the following chain of dreams instigated for the first time. I have penned the first dream here that I had about the newly discovered alternate universe portal.

The Parallel Universe Dream

I used to live alone, sleep on a mattress in an empty room. It was the same room I had told you about, if you have been reading me for a while. Read Dud Horror in the inanimate and A Rental in the Wilderness if you haven’t.

The hall was big so I used to sleep on one side of the room. I was really tired that day and exhaustion got the better of me. So, I slowly dozed my way towards slumber. I was fast asleep and wading in deep-dream waters when I suddenly felt the need to wake up. It felt to me that I have been sleeping for a while and that it is time to get up. So I tried opening my eyes. I distinctly remember putting immense pressure on my eyelids to disclose them. As I did, I found myself wide awake. To my surprise I was no longer in my room. It looked like the same big hall I had slept in. Lights were out so it was dark everywhere, but within that darkness I could still see hazily.

The Gatekeeper of the Alternate Universe

I was in the same mattress, in the same position I had slept. But the room was entirely different. I squinted my eyes to see more clearly, confident that I have finally found a portal to a parallel dimension, something mankind has failed to find hitherto. So, in the same sleeping position I started scouring. To my left I found on the wall, a TV, I was quite surprised to find, as I didn’t have any. Then with squinted eyes I scaled a 180 degree view towards the right. I found the room empty, but suddenly in the remotest corner of my eye I caught something.

There was someone sitting right at my heel patiently waiting for my attention. It was hard to tell what it was, or who it was. It was small, coiled up, looked like a rugged dog. The moment I realized that something sat there in utter silence, I tried looking at it. Suddenly it pounced on me with a rampage making a growling noise and I woke up with a start for real.

Waking Up from the Sleep Paralysis

I realized I was in the same room in the same position that I had slept first in. It was still afternoon, and the world was bright outside. I tried going to sleep again, but couldn’t. That flow was broken. There was horror in the way that dog like thing had jumped on me. It seemed as if it had realized that I was venturing into the unknown, a restricted territory. It seemed more like a gatekeeper to keep such wayward stroll under check.

In a way, I was happy with my latest find. To my fantastical head, it was like a portal that I had newly discovered, maybe a passage to a parallel universe somewhere.The only problem was that it wasn’t voluntary. If I wanted to go there again I couldn’t. That and that silent gatekeeper who didn’t let me explore the uncanny world.

I feel like my netherworld mystery has become suddenly tangible. All I have to do is try to open my eyes real hard and in betwixt reality and dream would stand my netherworld, the alternate universe with me leading a different life. How great it would be if only we could hyper-jump and lead two different lives at the same time!

Conclusive Notes

I know this sounds too far-fetched and the rational explanation to this is a hypnagogic dream, that I had succumbed to sleep paralysis and that gatekeeper was nothing but a sleep paralysis demon that my mind had unknowingly created. But the fiction a mind inadvertently carves is too gorgeous to overlook. I would like to stick to my juvenile theory at this point of time, just to tell you all about similar sleep paralysis dreams that followed few months after.

Yes, I revisited the supernatural netherworld in my dream thrice afterwards. I intend to store them in the dream book category in some of the upcoming leaflets. Keep visiting the category if you too think we are onto something here.

If you wish to learn about what causes sleep paralysis and how to stop it read this informative article.