The cold Hand

This may have happened when I was about 8 years old. These things happen to children more often than not, but I believe that this happened to me because I was always afraid of the dark. It was a summer night just like any other summer, the temperature was warm is I only used a light blanket to cover myself. You know when you wake up in the middle of night for no reason at all? That’s when it happened.

The night breeze came in, it was a nice refreshing feeling after being out all day, playing in the hot summer day. I could hear the nice sounds of the night except I could my sister snore on the bed next to mine. I was asleep and could care less about the snoring my sister made. I was safe, I felt safe knowing that everything was normal, the breeze, the sound, and of course my night light which I knew kept me safe.

Like every other night, I kept my arm freely out of the bed, hanging, winging like an arm from a grandfather clock, ticking the night away. Until that night I was used to having my hand out. That night I felt a cold hand touch my hand, not rough but gently as if to see if I had pulse. I got up, quickly pulling my hand inside fearing that whatever that was could not reach for my entire arm.

A few seconds passed and I finally mustered up the courage to see who had touched my hand. No one. I saw and felt nothing. My mother would worry about us at night fearing that one of us might stop breathing so occasionally she would check on us. But I didn’t see my mom and the door to the room was shut, impossible for her to open and close the door that quickly and not wake us up.

The cold hand that touched my hand was cold as if no life was running through it. "could it have been my mom?" I thought to myself. I sat on my bed for a good minute just thinking about what happened. Then, I saw it, someone, or something. That night I felt a cold shiver running down my back, my body turned cold and then the night light turned off, I knew that wasn’t my mom. I quickly hid under my bed sheet hoping that whatever turned off my night light would not harm me if I could not see it. The worst part was I could not hear the snoring of my sister and no breeze would come in, just silence. I heard heavy breathing from within the silence. I didn’t want to see it but I also did not want that thing or whatever it was get to my sister. I finally got the courage and decided to confront it. It was either me or that thing, my family or it.

Woosh! I uncovered my self from the bed sheet, but I saw nothing and then the sound of the night came back, the night light, my sister snoring, it was back. Was I perhaps dreaming? Safe to say I was just having a nightmare and what a real nightmare it felt. I never felt it again and I asked my mom if it was her who came in to check on us but she claims it wasn’t her. I wish I could say I was relieved to hear that, but not knowing what that was that night still haunts me to this day. I wish I could say that was the end but there were more things that I experienced that still haunt me to this day.