A couple weeks ago, I was sleeping soundly when I woke suddenly. I felt a very strange sensation, and out of instinct, I sort of pushed with my hands and shook my body as if trying to get something off of me. I rolled over, a little groggy still from waking, and saw a shadow sort of hovering in the corner of my room.

What I did next was again out of instinct, but I find it rather curious... I pointed at the shadow and said "Dissipate", almost as if issuing a command, although I have no idea why I'd say that specifically. After this, the shadow faded away and in just moments I drifted back to sleep.

As I was sleeping before this all happened, I honestly wasn't sure for a couple days if this incident was real or a dream. It took me a few days to decide, but it was nagging at me too much to leave it be. I still keep replaying it in my head. I have no idea what this shadow was or what it was doing when it woke me, but what I find most interesting is my instinctual reaction. I don't know where that all came from. Dissipate isn't a word I would normally use so I'm baffled as to why I'd use that word. I'm also completely astonished as to how quickly I was able to fall asleep afterward.

I've ALWAYS been afraid of the dark. In the past, when something strange would happen at night, I'd be so terrified that I'd not be able to sleep for days or even weeks afterward. My calm after this event is new to me. Even now, looking back over all of this, I feel a sense of peace and even accomplishment more than fear. In some way I feel comforted to know that even when I'm not fully awake, I'm able to protect myself. What I protected myself from exactly seems to matter less(a little) than the knowledge that I did though.