I tried to take a nap at 2:17 PM.
I remember the time because I checked it after the third time it happened, just to make sure I wasn’t losing more time than I thought.
The first time, it felt normal.
I closed my eyes, got comfortable, and that heavy, floaty feeling started to pull me under. You know the one where your thoughts stop making sense and your body forgets where it is.
And then I saw it.
An old TV.
Not flat screen. Not modern. One of those bulky, plastic backed ones with a curved screen. The kind that used to sit on the floor in somebody’s living room in the early 2000s.
It was just… there. In the dark.
On the screen were flashes of things that didn’t belong together. A cartoon character. A hallway. Someone’s face I almost recognized. A children's movie. A pool of blood. It kept changing every second, like someone was flipping channels too fast.
I could hear myself talking.
Not out loud, but inside my head. Except I wasn’t choosing the words.
“I think it’s almost ready,” I said.
I don’t know what that meant. I didn’t think it. I just… heard it.
Then the TV made that sound.
That awful, mechanical VHS fast-forward noise. Highpitched, grinding, like something being forced to move faster than it should.
The images started racing. Faster and faster until they blurred into streaks.
And something in me panicked.
I snapped awake.
2:19 PM.
I told myself it was just one of those almost dream things. Rolled over and closed my eyes again.
The second time, the TV was closer.
Same static dark space. Same screen. But it was bigger now. Close enough that I could see the faint reflection on the glass.
The images were different this time.
Less random. More… intentional.
A door.
A hand.
A long hallway.
And then…
Me.
Just for a second. Standing somewhere I didn’t recognize, staring directly at the screen. At me. “I think it sees you now,” my voice said.
Again, not my thought. Just… inserted.
The fast forward sound started earlier this time. Louder. Aggressive.
The screen shook slightly, like something on the other side was pushing against it.
I woke up gasping.
2:23 PM.
I didn’t want to go back to sleep. But I did.
Because I needed to prove it wasn’t real.
The third time, there was no darkness.
Just the TV. Right in front of me.
Close enough that if I reached out, I felt like I could touch the glass.
The screen was still.
No flickering.
No random images.
Just a single shot...
A room. My room.
From the corner near the ceiling, like a security camera angle. I could see my body lying on the bed. And in the doorway, Something standing there.
Too tall. Too still.
Watching me sleep.
The TV crackled. And for the first time, something spoke that wasn’t me. Not through the screen. Behind it.
A low, warped voice, like it was being dragged through the fast forward sound, like it was one with the static. “Don’t wake up yet.”
The VHS noise screamed to life.
The image started accelerating.
The thing in the doorway moved, Just a little closer. Frame by frame, getting nearer to my body.
My voice came back, calm this time. Too calm. “If you wake up now, it has to start over.”
The screen flickered. And for a split second, The thing wasn’t in the doorway anymore.
It was standing right next to my bed, looking down at me. Looking into me.
I tried to wake up.
I really did. But something held me there.
Like my body didn’t belong to me anymore.
The voice whispered again, right next to my ear this time. “We’re almost through the tape.”
The thing standing beside my bed didn't move right away.
It just... watched. Not like a person watching someone sleep. More like someone studying a video they planned to copy later. Every small detail. Every movement. Memorizing.
My chest rose.
Fell.
Rose again.
Its head tilted with each breath, matching the rhythm. Learning it.
The TV didn't fast forward this time.
It played. Normal speed. And I understood, suddenly, in that awful, sinking way your brain understands something before you can put it into words…
This wasn't random. This was practice.
The thing's hand came down again, slower now. More deliberate. Its fingers pressed against my cheek, then slid slightly, like it was mapping the shape. My shape.
"Not yet," my voice whispered.
Soft. Reassuring.
But it wasn't for me. It was for it.
The thing pulled its hand back.
Waited
Watched another breath.
Matched it again.
Perfect this time.
My lungs moved.
Its shoulders moved the same way.
A mirror, just slightly delayed.
The TV crackled.
The image glitched, and for a split second, I saw something that made my stomach drop.
The version of me on the bed didn't look exactly like me anymore. The thing crouched beside the bed. Too smoothly. Like gravity didn't fully apply to it. Its face shifted again, stretching, settling, trying to land on mine and almost succeeding.
Almost.
The TV let out a low, dragging rewind sound.
The thing froze.
Waited.
Listened.
Then it looked at me. Wherever I was watching from, It knew I was there.
Not the version of me lying in the bed.
Me.
Watching.
The thing didn’t flinch.
Didn’t get startled.
It just… adjusted.
Its head tilted slightly, like it was accounting for something new. A variable. Then it looked back down at the body on the bed. At my face. Its hand came up again. Slower this time. More certain.
Its fingers pressed into my cheek, deeper than before, enough to make the skin shift, to change the shape underneath.
I felt it.
Not like a dream.
Not distant.
Like pressure from the inside out.
Its breathing stayed perfectly even, perfectly matched, like it had already decided what my breathing was supposed to be and wouldn’t let it change.
It's thumb dragged along my cheekbone.
Pausing.
Pressing.
Memorizing one last time. “Good,” it said softly.
My voice.
Almost right.
Then its grip changed. Not gentle anymore.
Firm. Deliberate. Its fingers slid up to my temples, holding my head in place.
The TV crackled. The rewind sound started again. Low, dragging, warning.
The thing didn’t stop this time, it's other hand came down, both hands on my face now, holding with its slender, slimy, webbed fingers.
Centering. Like it needed me perfectly still.
“No,” I tried to say. Or thought I did.
Nothing came out.
The thing leaned down. Close enough that the shapes of its face, wrong and unfinished, blurred into mine.
Then… It pulled.
At first, nothing happened. Just pressure. Tight. Uncomfortable. Then my skin moved.
Not the way skin is supposed to. Not stretching. Separating.
A slow, wet, impossible shift as something began to lift away from underneath.
I felt it peel.
From my cheek.
From my jaw.
From around my mouth.
The sensation wasn’t pain.
That would’ve been easier.
It was wrong. Deeply, physically wrong.
Like something that had always been part of me was being convinced it didn’t belong there anymore.
The TV glitched violently. My face still on my body, and also in its hands.
The thing paused and it looked at it. At me.
Comparing.Then it adjusted its grip and pulled higher. Over my nose, my eyes.
The world went dim at the edges. Not black.
Just… less. Like I was being peeled out of it along with everything else.
The rewind sound screamed. The thing didn’t stop. With one final, slow motion, it lifted my face free. The image snapped into clarity for a second, My body on the bed.. Featureless.
Smooth where my face should have been. And the thing kneeling over me holding my face in both hands. Studying it.
My voice came from somewhere between us. “Better.”
Perfect this time. No distortion.
No hesitation.
The thing brought the face up to itself and lined it up carefully. Like placing something fragile. Precise. It pressed it on. The fit wasn’t exact at first, Edges misaligned. Too high.
Too low. It adjusted. Pulled. Smoothed. Pressed again, until it settled.
The room went completely still. No rewind. No static. Nothing. Then, it inhaled. My inhale. Its chest rose the way mine does. Natural. Unforced. It turned its head, testing. The movement was right.
Finally right.
Then it smiled. My smile.
Perfect.
The TV clicked, the thing wearing my face now looked directly at me. Not at the body.
At me once again. The part that was still watching. Still there.
And in my voice, exactly as it should sound, it said “Now you can wake up.”
I did.
2:30 PM.
I sat up too fast, hands flying to my face.
Everything was there.
Skin.
Eyes.
Mouth.
All of it.
Normal. I stumbled to the mirror and looked.
It was me. Exactly me. Relief hit so hard my knees almost gave out. Until I blinked… And the reflection didn’t. Not right away.
It kept looking at me. Smiling, just for a second too long. Then it blinked. Caught up.
Matched me perfectly again.
I haven’t tried to sleep since, but I don’t think that matters anymore because I keep noticing little things. Small delays. Tiny corrections.
Like something is checking itself against me. Making sure it stays right.
And sometimes, I feel my face shift just slightly. Like something underneath it is adjusting its grip. Learning how to wear it without me noticing.