I Was a Ghost Child in a Cops

I had terrible nightmares of creatures looming over me and I wondered now if I had sea paralysis as I would wake up and they would still be there. There were shadows in my room and I would lie terrified watching them and knowing they were deeply wrong in every possible way. At the age of nine that is rather a lot to process but it seemed very clearly a way out of the entire awful situation. Thankfully I never had the courage to drink the luke cleaner and my parents found me sobbing on the stairs at 3am with the dressing gown cord around my neck. As soon as I could I stayed behind at a friend's or boyfriend's place and avoided the trips as much as possible.