As I am typing this out, chills shoot down my spine, as I could vividly remember that terrible day when it all began..
I was the only child before my little Brother came into the picture. My Parent’s and I used to live with my Grandparents from my father’s side during the time. It was 2005; I was exactly 5 years old, and I enjoyed being spoiled every year without fail with different toys, consoles, and videogames.
Videogames, in particular, stood out the most for me for many reasons.
It was such a thrill watching my Dad
play, showing me how a game works and giving me a hand when I had a hard time beating a boss. Truly, it was the best of both worlds, having a gameboy for when were on the road and a GameCube to binge on day and night.
My mom on the other hand, didn’t like the fact that I would wake up so early in the morning and start my usual routine of constant playing and never heed her calls that dinner was ready, and everything else she wanted me to do besides seeing me stuck like glue to the t.v. She even started blaming my Father for the way I was, as he would be the one encouraging me by buying me more games to play and even sitting by my side to play with me after coming back from a long day of work.
As for my Grandparents, they would always spend the majority of their time going to church, praying, watching television together, and making food here and there. Keep in mind, we didn’t have any sort of Wi-Fi during the time and barely any cable.
Yet, despite all that, they’re the most loving, awesome grandparents any child could have.
With that being said, my story begins when I got my hands on the game I always wanted, “Sonic Adventure DX.” I remember popping the disk right into the GameCube and playing it non-stop. This is when I realized what insomnia was after tossing and turning out of not being able to sleep and having painful headaches during the day.
Eventually, both my Mom and Dad had enough one night that they would unplug the console if I didn’t go to bed when said and warn me if I continued to be the way I was; they were gonna take away all my consoles and never buy me videogames ever again. So, it all came down to me that being a rebel wasn’t going to work out anymore and I had to settle myself down.
Well… Someone did settle me down one night..
My parents were both asleep in their bed while I continued playing my favorite game late at night and I clearly remember being in, “chao garden” as it was called in the game, playing mini-games and overall having fun until it happened…
A gust of wind filled the room and a shadow flew by me as the television went static and demonic looking characters from the game appeared right in front of my eyes. It all happened so fast, all I remember after that is seeing pitch black and waking up between both of my parents.
I had asked them what had happened as I didn’t have any memory of going to bed and being a five-year old at the time, it was impossible to comprehend what I’ve just been through last night.
After that, my Mom said something that chilled me to the very core… “Oh, well you listened to me for once and when I told you to turn off the game and go to bed already, you stood up and did just that…” I brushed it up immediately in fear of making myself sound crazy and knowing both of my parents, they’ll just think it was a little nightmare.
After that day, everything went downhill..
I started having nightmares about that night and even had a night terror once of me being engulfed by millions upon millions of tiny black spiders all over the room; eating and being all over me and my sleeping parents.
Days started passing by where I wouldn’t even dare touch the controller and not play any videogames at all. I started feeling panic and regret all over me for having so many videogames around.. Everybody else seemed happy for me as I started going outside more and being more communicative around the house.
Though, it saddened me to realize they didn’t know what was really going on with me, because I was so afraid of telling them.
Sooner or later, I ended up developing the fears of which I am still afraid of to this day..
The fear of bees that I got from being stung by one after visiting a ranch owned by one of my Grandpa’s friends.
The fear of dolls after accompanying my Grandma to take care of a dying, sick man.
The fear of clowns, heights, you get the point..
The most terrifying thing of them all though is the fact that those days where I’ve developed a certain fear, they would be toppled off with a nightmare of them and in the end I would see the damned image of that night which I will never forget.. I guess you could say, my life so far has been a nightmare and I can’t recall any good dreams from those times..
Eventually, it stopped.. I just couldn’t believe it.. It actually had halted for once… The nightmares, the fright.. Gone…
I don’t know if I was more amazed by that or the realization that I’m gonna finally have a baby brother.. Either way, both of these thoughts were a bliss to me and I couldn’t be more happier.
It was the year 2007 when my baby brother was born, as well as the two previous years of hell I’ve been trying to leave behind me. A miracle, I thought to myself, cause after that things drastically changed.
My Parent’s, and both my Brother and I moved out and bought a decent house to live in. We settled in eventually, and things were much different than before by a lot.
We had Wi-Fi, good cable, and pretty much everything that most people in their home have. My brother and I grew up to get along and my Mom and Dad are as happy as they could be to this day and I really hope it stays that way…
But maybe.. Just maybe, it could’ve been the Sandman who’s been playing tricks on me my whole life ever since that night.. I started having trouble sleeping again thinking about it and sometimes when I drift to sleep, I feel a slight cold breeze come into the room…
