SLEEP PARALYSIS
Author's note: Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews (with great encouragements and inspiration) and follows this story has received so far – not to mention the favorite lists it has ended on. I hope this chapter will live up to your expectations, guys! Love to you all!
-Elisa.
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"Maybe the bed was cursed." Sam suggested as he dumped his duffle bag inside Rufus' old cabin in Whitefish, Montana. "Or maybe there was some sort of creature there after all."
"Sam." Dean said and waited for his younger brother to look at him before he continued. "You know as well as I do that the room was completely clear; no curses, no creatures, no EMF, no hex bags, no nothing. Whatever happened to you, it had nothing to do with that room."
Sam sighed and bit the inside of his cheek for a moment while a thoughtful expression settled on his face. According to their dad's journal, they could be dealing with an incubus - in Old English called a mare as the last part in nightmare – who was a creature that was thought to sit on the chest of sleeping people; keeping them in place while making them experience nightmares. It was pretty close to Garth's theory that involved a sort of hag who would leave her physical body to sit on a person's chest as well; making the person unable to move. It kinda fit with what Sam had experienced, but unfortunately nothing else had pointed in those directions so the brothers had soon dismissed those options.
"Okay but what then?" Sam asked. "There haven't been any incidents since we left the motel."
A shudder went through the youngest Winchester brother as he thought about the two times he'd been immobilized in that motel room bed. It had been such a terrifying experience that he had refused to sleep in the room ever again, so the brothers resorted to sleep in the Impala instead. After going through every possibility they could think of without getting any closer to finding out what had caused Sam to be unable to move, they had left the town behind and headed towards the cabin in Montana. Sam had slept peacefully in the car for most of the way, so what the hell was the cause of this thing if it wasn't centered on the motel room?
"Honestly, I don't know." Dean said and grabbed two beers from the fridge before handing one of them to his brother. "But if it doesn't happen again then I guess there's no need to worry more about it. Right?"
"Yeah, I guess." Sam said and took a sip of his beer. Then he huffed.
"What?" Dean asked while leaning back against the kitchen counter.
Sam shook his head and sighed again.
"I just wish we could catch a break for once - at least when we're simply trying to get some sleep." Sam said.
"Yeah, I hear you." Dean agreed with a nod.
The brothers were silent for a little while as they were both lost in thoughts. That was until Dean decided to break the silence at least.
"It's very unfortunate that you're the one having trouble with sleep and not me." Dean said and Sam shot his older brother a confused look.
"What do you mean?" Sam wanted to know.
"Well, you're the only one of us who could seriously need some beauty sleep." Dean said with a smirk.
"Ha, ha." Sam said with no amusement in his voice and rolled his eyes - although he secretly loved his brother for always trying to lighten up the tension.
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Two weeks later, Sam hadn't experienced any more episodes of the sudden inability to move and, since he was yet again sleeping rather peacefully at nights, Sam had decided to put the whole thing behind him and move on.
Dean, on the other hand (and despite what he had told his brother), couldn't help but still feel a tiny bit worried. He was a Winchester and most things certainly didn't happen to the Winchesters without a reason behind it. Mainly the bad things – and especially when Sammy was involved. But Dean was done with things that were out to cause Sam harm. After what had felt like an eternity, the older Winchester brother had finally been reunited with his little brother and Dean would be damned if he was gonna let anything rip Sam away from him again. So, in between doing their usual case research, Dean secretly read anything he could find about possible creatures that could be the cause of whatever Sam had gone through. The older brother also secretly wondered if Sam had dreamed the whole thing after all which could explain why it had been impossible to find the key to this whole mystery. But Dean knew better than to question it. Besides not wanting to hurt his brother, Dean knew that the experience had felt real to Sam and that was what really mattered.
Returning from a hunt that had contained a pack of demons serving the king of hell - and a lot of ass-kicking on both parts - the brothers were exhausted and more than ready to crash the moment the Impala came to a stop in front of the cabin.
"Sam." Dean called, rousing his younger brother who had started nodding off a few miles before the cabin appeared in sight.
"We back?" Sam mumbled drowsily – then groaned as he straightened up in the seat since the action jarred his aching muscles.
"Yeah come on." Dean said and opened up his door. "Time to catch some Zs."
Sam didn't need to be told twice so he exited the car as well and followed his brother inside. While Dean hogged the bathroom, Sam sat down on the edge of his bed, pulled off his shoes and then let his head fall back against the pillow with a deep sigh.
"I guess you're not even gonna change your clothes tonight, huh?" Dean asked when he returned from the bathroom and shook his head with a wry smile when Sam only grunted his response.
Dean grabbed a blanket and draped it over his brother before he made sure the salt lines were intact, and he then crashed to bed as well.
When the older brother woke up the following morning, he noticed that Sam was still asleep. No, scratch that; Sam was awake because his eyes were open – he just hadn't left his bed yet.
"How come I'm always the one who has to get up and make coffee - even when you wake up first?" Dean grumbled and left his bed with a groan. "You're supposed to respect the elderly."
Sam didn't answer but just continued to stare up at the ceiling above him; not even bothering to turn his head and acknowledge that his brother was trying to make conversation. Dean sighed. If Sam was gonna be grumpy this morning then he could make his own goddamn coffee.
The oldest Winchester brother made his way to the kitchen area, filled and started the coffee machine – then walked to the bathroom to do his business. When he returned from the bathroom he looked confused around in the main room of the cabin; wondering why Sam was nowhere to see. The smell of freshly made coffee usually attracted the younger brother – morning grumpy or not – so if Sam was still lying in his bed, then something was clearly wrong.
"Sam?" Dean called while an unsettled feeling spread inside his stomach.
He walked the short distance back to the beds where his eyes fell upon his brother who was still lying in the exact same position he'd been in when Dean had left in the first place.
"Sam?" Dean called again.
Dean's breath caught in his throat when he for a moment feared that Sam was dead, but the rise and fall of Sam's chest luckily told him otherwise. A noise - that most of all sounded like a combination of a choked gasp and a whimper - escaped Sam's lips, and Dean was by his brother's side in a heartbeat. He grabbed Sam's shoulders and shook them slightly.
"Sammy?" Dean called and tried to catch Sam's look but the younger brother's eyes remained fixed at a certain point above him; unfocused and unseeing. "Sammy, talk to me!"
Sam didn't though; he just continued to stare at nothing at all, not moving one bit, and Dean realized that this was what Sam had experienced a few weeks back – this was what had scared the crap out of his little brother and was now scaring the crap out of Dean as well!
"Sam!" Dean hollered and the loud shout of his name from the one person whose voice Sam had been so desperate to hear, finally seemed to snap the younger man out of his paralyzed state.
Sam gasped loudly – his eyes wild and panicked - and shot up into a sitting position with such a force that it nearly knocked Dean off balance. Before Dean could as much as open his mouth to say anything though, Sam tore himself out of the hold Dean had of his shoulders, jumped out of bed and took off running. The older brother was quick though and ran after his brother – catching up with him just before Sam could reach the front door and locked his arms around Sam's midsection from behind.
"No!" Sam shouted and desperately clawed at the arms holding him in place but Dean didn't let go of his freaked-out brother.
"Stop!" Dean ordered and tightened his hold. "Sam, stop it! Calm down!"
Sam did calm down a notch although Dean could still feel the trembles from his brother's body while Sam also still kept panting heavily. The younger brother then gagged and Dean carefully dragged Sam with him to the sink, kept one arm around Sam's midsection while his other hand settled on Sam's forehead; effectively keeping him in place while Sam gagged a few times more and then sent his dinner from the night before into the drain.
"Dean." Sam choked out between gulping in large amounts of air.
"Right here." Dean said in a soft voice and slowly released his hold of Sam before gently rubbing his back. "You done?"
Sam nodded and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and Dean turned on the faucet to get rid of the nasty content in the sink. The youngest Winchester brother was still shaken up when Dean grabbed a hold of his sleeve and guided him to a chair to sit down, and Dean noticed how exhausted and worn out Sam looked now that he had calmed down.
Dean sat down next to his brother and studied Sam's pale face for a moment before speaking.
"What the hell happened?" Dean asked in a mild voice. "You couldn't move this time either, could you?"
Sam shook his head and blew out a shaky breath.
"Did you kill them?" Sam asked which made Dean frown in confusion.
"Kill who?" Dean asked.
"The demons." Sam said and shot Dean a confused look in return.
"Sam." Dean said and suddenly felt sick to his stomach. "There weren't any demons."
"Yes, there were!" Sam argued - his breathing picking up a bit in distress. "I saw them.. T-they were choking me."
"No one was choking you, Sammy. I was there." Dean said and swallowed hard as an expression of despair settled on his little brother's face. "I swear, dude. It was just you and me."
Tears welled up in Sam's eyes and he blinked hard multiple times to stop them from spilling, all the while he twisted his hands nervously in his lap.
"What is happening to me?" Sam asked in a small voice and let out a sob. "Dean, I don't understand."
"We'll figure it out." Dean promised.
Sam nodded slightly – then got up from his chair, disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.
_ SPN _
"Sam, you look exhausted. Go to bed." Dean said and pushed the screen of Sam's laptop down.
"No." Sam said and pushed the screen back up. "I'm not sleeping before we figure out what the hell is wrong with me."
Dean sighed and washed a hand down his face.
"You can barely keep your eyes open, man." Dean commented.
"I don't care." Sam answered stubbornly.
"Well I do." Dean said and glanced at his wrist watch. "Tell you what; I'm gonna take a shower and then we'll both crash afterwards, okay?"
Sam shrugged his shoulders without looking at his brother, and Dean figured it was the closest he would come to an actual answer right now. The older brother closed the book he'd been looking through and then left to take a shower.
When Dean returned from the bathroom in a cloud of steam fifteen minutes later, Sam was no longer sitting by the table and his laptop was closed. The older brother took that discovery as a good sign since that probably meant that Sam had given in to sleep after all and was most likely already halfway to dreamland by now. When Dean stepped into the bedroom, however, Sam was nowhere to be found.
"Crap." Dean muttered, returned to the main room and noted that Sam wasn't asleep on the couch either. Where was he? "Sam?"
No answer. Dean let out a stream of curse words, got rid of the towel he had wrapped around his abdomen and quickly got dressed before he put on his jacket and boots. Stubborn as he was Sam had, in all probability, left the cabin to take a walk to keep himself from falling asleep. Dean decided he would take the Impala for a spin to try to catch up with his younger brother, but as Dean reached into his jacket pocket to take out his car keys, he realized that they were missing.
"Sam, you moron." Dean mumbled and angrily ripped open the front door – but stopped up in surprise when he noticed that the Impala was exactly where he'd left her the night before.
Dean frowned and closed the gap between him and the car. He then let out a sigh of relief when he discovered one piece of giant little brother – fast asleep on the front seat. The older brother wasn't surprised; Sam had always found comfort in the car.
"Sam." Dean called when he'd opened up the car door and had stuck his head inside. He shook Sam's shoulder and waited for the younger man to rouse. "Sammy, come on."
"Go away. Sleepy." Sam mumbled but Dean didn't leave him alone.
"You're not gonna sleep out here in the cold when there's a bed waiting for you inside in the warmth. Now come on, Sasquatch."
Sam made a miserable sound as Dean dragged him out of the car and back inside the cabin.
"Dean, I don't wanna sleep in there." Sam protested, still half-asleep.
"Then take the couch." Dean offered, although he really didn't give Sam much of a choice before he'd guided his drowsy little brother to the couch and had pushed him down on it.
Sam curled up on his side and even though his eyes wouldn't stay open, Sam was fighting hard to stay awake.
"Sleep." Dean ordered as he pulled off Sam's boots.
"I can't, Dean. What if.." Sam started when Dean cut him off.
"I'll watch over you." Dean promised. "And if anything happens, I'll make sure you snap out of it, alright?"
"'Kay." Sam answered, finally let sleep claim him and softly started snoring a few seconds later.
Dean grabbed a chair and dragged it to the couch before he sat down on it - a beer in hand. He then put his feet up on the coffee table and opened the beer while he prepared himself for a night of big brother duty; watching over his little brother and keeping him safe.
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TBC..
Feedback is pure love! ;)
-Elisa.