Hello folks!
Recently, I've come across the concept of Sleep Paralysis from watching several videos on YouTube, which detailed how horrific it can truly be. I've always found it unnerving that a person could dream up such horrifying scenarios, and yet feel like it's actually happening in real life. So I toyed with the idea for a while, and decided that a scary idea like that would be a great idea for a horror story. And I decided to do it in the Star Fox universe, because why the heck not? ;)
All words in Italics indicate people's thoughts.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Fox, unfortunately.
Paralysis
The Great Fox II silently drifted through the endless space of the Lylat system. Every room and hallway within the ship was immersed in near-complete silence. The only sounds that could be heard were the various beeps and roars of the ship's inner workings. These sounds were the only thing that prevented the inner corridors from being as silent as the space outside. To the average person, the empty rooms and walkways provided an unsettling atmosphere. But to ROB, it was merely an indication that the Great Fox was secure and free of any stowaways.
Currently, ROB was stationed in the hanger control room, monitoring the conditions both inside and outside the ship. He was also monitoring the progress of the Star Fox team's latest mission.
Earlier that day, a cargo ship containing dangerous goods was planning to ship from Papetoon to a research center on Corneria. Unfortunately, a band of pirates had decided to hijack the freighter and ordered the Cornerian government to pay them 2 billion credits. Otherwise, they would slaughter the whole crew and ransack the entire cargo. Thankfully, the cargo captain had managed to send out an urgent SOS before he was roughly bound, gagged and taken to the special room with the other hostages. Upon hearing this SOS, the Star Fox raced over to Papetoon and managed to defeat the pirates, rescue the hostages and spare any precious cargo within the ship.
After the dust had settled, and the authorities arrived, the Star Fox team quickly boarded their Arwings and headed straight back to the Great Fox. Although this battle was the only exciting event to happen, on an otherwise boring day, the team felt just as exhausted as if they had completed 20 missions back to back.
Just as ROB was scanning the sonar for any foreign objects outside the ship, he heard the voice of Fox Mccloud come through the PA system.
"Mission was successful ROB. Requesting entry into the hanger."
Along with taking notice of the weariness in Fox's voice, ROB activated the commands to open the hanger doors, to which they began to open steadily. After the doors had opened, each Arwing flew in, slowed their pace and landed back in the hanger in a textbook operation procedure.
After the hanger doors had closed, Falco immediately popped open his canopy and jumped down towards the hanger floor below.
"Man oh man," he said while he stretched out his back. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm about ready to hit the sack after that doozy."
"Agreed Falco," Krystal replied after she too made it back down. "That mission was a lot more tiring than I thought. But it feels good knowing that the crew and cargo are safe."
"Yeah, it gives me a tingling feeling just thinking about it," Slippy remarked.
"I think that's your heartburn firing up again," Falco joked.
Krystal let out a little laugh at this before saying, "Well, I think I'm going to call it a night too. Right now a bed just sounds heavenly."
Krystal paused for a moment before she suddenly realized that Fox was still up in his Arwing. She immediately began climbing up the ladder that led to the Arwing's canopy. Upon reaching the top, Krystal peered in and saw that Fox was sleeping in his chair. His body remained buckled to the seat and his head rolled off towards his left side.
Krystal took a moment to observe Fox in his slumber. For her, there was no better time that Fox looked more attractive than when he slept.
"He looks so natural in that state," Krystal thought. "He's not worried about something or in mortal danger, he's just peaceful."
Krystal was suddenly interrupted by Slippy's concerned and whiny voice.
"Is Fox okay Krystal?"
"Relax frogger," Falco stated. "If something was wrong with Fox, Krystal would have sensed something earlier."
Krystal turned back towards the boys.
"It's okay guys! He's just sleeping."
"He's asleep? Wow, he must have been tired if he fell asleep in that chair," Falco remarked.
"Hey, I worked hard to make sure those chairs were comfortable!" Slippy defensively proclaimed.
"Yeah but it doesn't change the fact that my ass feels numb after riding in it long enough!" Falco retorted.
"Takes one to know one!"
Krystal rolled her eyes at how childish the boys could get. She placed two fingers in her mouth and gave a loud whistle, which immediately caught Falco and Slippy's attention.
"As enlightening as your conversation is, shouldn't we just wake Fox?" Krystal asked before she turned to look at him again.
Falco nodded before replying, "Yeah totally. Let me just go get some warm water in a bowl and I'll help him… get back on his feet."
Krystal mentally groaned. Despite being from a different planet, she was no stranger to the practical jokes that the other kids used to play on each other.
"Actually Falco I have another idea."
Krystal closed her eyes and took a slow inward breath. Before long, Fox gave a surprised yelp before he jerked up in his seat. Fox took the time to slowly catch his breath before he slowly looked over to his left. Upon seeing Krystal's smiling and pleasant face, Fox let out a groan and flopped back into his seat. Krystal then moved back down the ladder towards the others.
"I think that did the trick," she said.
It wasn't long before the canopy came open and Fox began to jadedly climb down. Once he reached the bottom he asked Krystal, "What was that?"
Krystal gave a reassuring smile and responded, "I simply made a mental kind of alarm clock."
"Yeah," Fox added while he rubbed his forehead. "By making a loud shriek that even a banshee would complain about!"
"Well I thought it would be a better method than Falco's idea," Krystal added.
"Let me guess, the warm water in the bowl."
"Yes! How did you know?" she asked.
Fox shifted his gaze over to Falco. "Let's just say… I've been with him long enough."
Falco gave a cocky smile before he suddenly let out a huge yawn. "Well I think my work here is done for the day. I'm gonna hit the hay. See ya in the morning!"
And with that, Falco made his way out of the hanger.
"For once I agree with Falco," Slippy yawned. "Goodnight Fox, Krystal."
Slippy made his way out of the hanger, leaving only Fox and Krystal. Fox made a slight chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Hey… thanks for waking me up Krystal. I will admit I did prefer waking up your way than to his."
Krystal smiled. "Not a problem Fox. I figured I'd at least spare your dignity instead of your nerves."
Fox chuckled before Krystal gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Sweet dreams Fox."
Fox watched Krystal move playfully out of the hanger. "Yep, she is defiantly something else."
XXXXXXX
Upon getting back to his room, Fox immediately took off his boots and socks. He relished in the feeling of his feet being exposed to the air conditioning. He then undressed and put on a pair of white exercise shorts. Although the room was at a comfortable temperature, Fox preferred to sleep in little to no clothing, due to the fact that his fur always made him feel a little extra warm.
Fox got a glass of water and spent time reading: 'The Bardy Boys: Curse of the Ragged Peak', a childhood favorite. After he read for about ten minutes, Fox let out a huge yawn. He placed the book back on the nightstand, pulled the covers up and turned off his lamp.
Fox lay flat on his back. He readjusted slightly to get more comfortable and then fell asleep almost at once.
XXXXXXX
He wasn't sure what woke him. He just found himself peering at the ceiling with his eyes wide open. Due to his alarm clock having a projection feature, Fox saw the time displayed on the ceiling. It was 2:00 am, he had only been asleep for almost two hours.
Fox sighed before he reached over for his glass of water. But upon doing so, Fox noticed that he could only move his eyes toward the glass of water. His arms had refused to work. Fox saw his feet poking out at the edge of the bed and tried to move them as well. But they too were unresponsive to his internal commands. It was almost as if a switch had been cut off between his brain and the rest of his body.
However, upon feeling his racing heartbeat, Fox immediately tried to calm himself down by taking a few deep breaths.
"It's going to be okay. There's a logical explanation for this somewhere," he thought to himself.
But just then, his door slid open. Fox was immediately startled by this for several reasons. The door could only be opened from the inside and yet he saw no one standing by the inside of the door. Even though there was a card that would open the door from the outside, in case of an emergency, Fox was sure he had left it with ROB. And ROB, as he knew, was still stationed back in the hanger.
But the most troubling thing of all to Fox was that when the door opened, there was no one in sight. It wasn't a concerned member of his team and it wasn't someone with an emergency card. There was only a silent, darkened hallway.
After what felt like hours, Fox called out, "H-h-hello? Is anybody there?" Fox had attempted to sound brave, but came off more as a frightened child who just saw a monster in their closet.
For a while nothing happened. But then, Fox saw a darkened figure poke its head in from the left upper edge of the door. There was no fur, eyes or even teeth. It was just a non-transparent man-shaped mass of blackness.
Fox felt his heart race up again and he felt the sweat drip down his face like a waterfall. Although the shape in question had no facial expressions to read, Fox had a deep feeling that this shape was not friendly in its existence. There also seemed to be no fidgeting, shuffling or even breathing coming from the shape. There was only silence.
All of a sudden, the figure begin to hover, not step, into Fox's room. Fox saw that the figure was far bigger than he initially thought. The black mass continued to grow in size as it got closer and closer to his bed. The figure finally stopped at the foot of the bed and continued to keep his silent gaze.
Suddenly, as if on cue, the blackness began to spread across the entire room. Everything within Fox's sight, including the door, bookcase and even the projected time on the ceiling began to fade away into the darkness. Whatever this thing was, it spared no corner of the room until the only thing that Fox could make out was his own bed.
Despite its alarming growth, Fox could still make out the head of the figure, which was still silently staring down at him.
By this point, Fox was beyond terrified. He tried to call out for his teammates, for ROB, for anyone who could wake him from this nightmare. Unfortunately, Fox began to feel his mouth becoming just as paralyzed and useless, as the rest of his body.
But just then, Fox began to hear a familiar voice.
"You know Fox…I just love to watch you sleep."
Startled, Fox somehow managed to croak out, "Kr-krystal?"
Fox had been no stranger to hearing Krystal's voice in his mind, on account of her telepathy. But this voice was not one of a mental thought; this sound came directly beside him, as if Krystal was sitting right next to his ear.
Fox tried to see if in fact Krystal was right beside him, instead of the never-ending darkness. But once again, he found that he couldn't move. In addition, he also couldn't move his eyes enough to see her. Krystal was completely in his blind spot.
In spite of this, Fox gave a mental sigh of relief. It was reassuring enough to at least hear a comforting voice in this frightening predicament.
But then, Fox's eyes began to adjust to the darkness and he saw strange bumps start to appear all around him. He even began to see them grow out of the sheets on his bed. Before Fox could even begin to ponder what they were, Krystal's voice came back to him. But now the voice was spoken in a sing-song kind of manner. In addition, it also sounded psychotically delightful, as if it were a serial killer who was just about to end the lives of more than one person.
"I just love to watch you sleep."
Without warning, every single bump in the room opened themselves up to reveal a fully realistic turquoise eye. The multiple turquoise eyes began to fix their gaze towards Fox without a single blink. Fox instantly recognized them as the eyes of Krystal. Those same eyes that had once entranced Fox for their beauty, where now giving him more terror than any mission he had faced in the past.
Fox gazed back up towards the ceiling and saw the black shape beginning to show lumps on his head. His heart beat raced out of control as he knew what was to come next.
The lumps opened to reveal the same eyes, which by now were all over the walls and his sheets. The figure then began to open its mouth and made a wide, never-ending smile. But instead of regular teeth, the figure had a smile of turquoise eyeballs which still continued to stare at Fox.
Fox tore his gaze off the figure to reveal that his feet had also begun to change. The bright orange fur gave away to reveal more eyeballs. Before long, his feet were nothing but an army of fixated turquoise eyes. Fox's own eyes grew wider as he again struggled to move any part of his body, but again they remained unresponsive to his commands.
"Got to get up," he thought fanatically. "I can't stand to look at this thing any longer! I can't stand to look at any of this!"
Fox closed his eyes and continued pushing himself to move anything. Even a slight twitch of his finger would give him some reassurance that he could escape from this nightmare.
Just when Fox felt like his heart was going to explode from all his exertion, he suddenly felt himself jolt up in bed, his arms frantically outstretched before him. The movement was so sudden, that Fox could barely comprehend what had happened until he felt himself flop back down on his bed. Fox laid on his back for a while, with his eyes still closed, and began to rapidly breathe in and out. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes and saw that the room was exactly as it was before. The blackness was gone, the door was closed and even his feet had returned to their natural state. The clock continued to project its time on the ceiling, which now read 3:30 am.
Fox glanced to his right and saw that both his book and water glass were still in the same spot. The water had remained completely untouched. Fox immediately grabbed the water and began chugging it down, thankful to have something quench his now extremely parched throat.
After he finished the water, Fox put the glass back on the nightstand and placed his head into his hands. He was still shaking from his ordeal.
"What the fuck was that? I know it was probably just a nightmare but… it felt so real. Nightmares aren't supposed to be that real."
Before he could think any further, Fox heard a knock at his door. Although it was only a slight knock, Fox was severely startled by the sudden noise in his otherwise silent room.
"Fox…are you alright?"
Fox breathed sigh of relief as he heard Krystal's voice come back to him. He quietly got up and walked over to the door. He stood near the door for a while before he replied, "Yeah I'm fine Krystal. I just had a bad dream."
There was a brief pause before he heard, "Are you sure? Your thought patterns seemed quite different this time."
Fox became annoyed. As much as he wanted to tell her about everything that had just happened, he was just not in the mood right now. Trying to not let his frustrations come through, Fox answered, "Look can we talk about this in the morning Krystal? I just need some time alone right now, okay?"
Once again, a silence had come between the two. Fox began to worry that he had hurt Krystal's feelings.
"Oh…okay Fox. I understand. Just remember that I'm here if you need anything."
And with that, Fox heard the light footsteps move away from his door and down the hallway. Fox gave a groan at his own ignorance before he crawled back into bed. This time, he turned on his lamp, picked up his book and began to read. But try as he would, he could not forget those horrifying images of the black shape, the eyes for teeth and those eyes replacing his feet. Fox constantly shuddered at the unwarranted memories before he decided to get up and head to his personal bathroom.
Fox sat on the toilet before he once again tried to take a few deep breathes and think of more positive things. By this point, Fox was feeling extremely tired. He unsuccessfully tried to suppress several yawns as he felt himself dozing off again. With his weariness overshadowing his fear, Fox leaned back, placed his head against the wall and began his descent back into dreamland.
Wow this chapter was a lot longer than I thought it would be. But in any case, I'm finally finished the first part of my story. Hope you enjoyed it!
I'm going to be taking a bit of a vacation starting this Friday. But rest assured that the ideas are still kicking and I will definitely try to update soon.
Until then: Peace!
