I Met a Shadow Fairy — And Woke Up Saying Her Name
This is a true experience that happened to me about a year ago. To this day, I still think about it, and I'd love to hear whether anyone has experienced something similar or has an explanation.
One evening, I was lying in bed, drifting off to sleep. I remember lying on my back, on the right side of my bed.
As I began falling asleep, I felt myself sinking into an incredibly deep state of consciousness. It's difficult to explain. It was almost as though I had fallen into my subconscious while somehow remaining completely aware.
That's when I heard a woman's voice.
It sounded as though someone was standing beside my bed, leaning down and whispering directly into my right ear.
Her voice was gentle and kind. At first, I couldn't understand what she was saying. But then her words became clearer.
"You know, it's okay to be gay..."
She continued speaking softly, reassuring me that everything was going to be okay.
Initially, it felt comforting. Almost peaceful.
But then something changed.
I began questioning what I was hearing. What if this voice was lying to me? What if I was being deliberately deceived?
Suddenly, I felt an overwhelming suspicion that something was trying to trick me.
"LIES!" I shouted.
The woman began chuckling.
And then she giggled.
I turned onto my left side, only to realize something impossible.
I had been lying on my left side the entire time.
I tried to move, but I couldn't.
I was paralyzed.
Behind me, I could still hear the woman's voice, laughing and giggling as though she found my struggle amusing.
I fought desperately to move. I concentrated on my toes, trying to wiggle them, attempting to regain control of my body.
Eventually, I managed to roll onto my back.
Then I fell out of bed.
I stood up.
My bedroom was dark, and I could still hear the woman's laughter echoing around me.
I looked back toward my bed and realized something extraordinary.
I knew I was still asleep.
I could somehow feel my physical body lying on its left side in bed, even though I couldn't actually see myself there.
It was almost like an out-of-body experience or astral projection, although I don't necessarily believe that's what happened. Perhaps I was lucid dreaming.
Then, without understanding how I got there, I found myself standing in my mother's bedroom.
My mother lives about thirty minutes away from me.
Her bedroom was completely dark.
I walked over to the light switch and flipped it on.
What happened next is one of the strangest details of the entire experience.
The bedroom remained completely dark, but outside the windows, it suddenly became daylight.
It was as though I'd turned on the sun itself.
Yet none of that light could enter the room.
An overwhelming feeling of dread washed over me.
Somehow, I became convinced that whatever was in that room with me was not a benevolent presence.
That's when I saw her.
A shadowy figure was hovering and dancing around the bedroom.
She appeared to be approximately three and a half to four feet tall, wearing what looked like a black tutu. She also had fairy-like wings.
Imagine Tinker Bell, except four feet tall and made entirely of shadow.
She floated above the floor, moving playfully around the room, laughing and giggling.
Despite being terrified, I stood my ground.
"SHOW YOURSELF!" I demanded.
The figure suddenly flew past me and disappeared into the bedroom door.
Then her face appeared across the door, enormous, almost filling its entire surface.
It was like an extreme close-up.
She appeared as a pretty black woman with a noticeable gap between her two front teeth.
Her eyes darted back and forth mischievously.
She ran her tongue along her teeth and through the gap while smiling and giggling.
I demanded, "WHAT IS YOUR NAME?!"
She laughed.
"You already know!"
"No, I don't! Tell me your name!"
Again, she replied, "You already know."
By this point, I was terrified and wanted the experience to end.
"I WANT TO WAKE UP NOW!"
She laughed again.
"I'm not going to let you wake up until you say my name."
"No!" I shouted.
"Say my name!"
"NO!"
I finally yelled, "I REBUKE YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS!"
But she continued laughing, shifting her eyes from side to side, smiling as though the entire confrontation was a game.
"Say my name!" she demanded again.
Finally, I gave in.
"FINE! IT'S NI...NA!"
And at that exact moment, I woke up.
I was lying on my left side.
But here's what disturbed me the most.
I woke up physically speaking the name "Nina" out loud.
I wasn't merely remembering that I'd said it in a dream. I was actually finishing the word as I regained consciousness.
I was drenched in sweat from head to toe.
I immediately got out of bed, turned on my bedroom light, and called my mother.
It was approximately 2 a.m.
I asked her whether her bedroom light had come on.
She told me it hadn't.
I have thought about this experience many times since.
Was it sleep paralysis combined with a lucid dream? A false awakening? Some strange manifestation of my subconscious?
Why did the experience begin with a comforting voice telling me it was okay to be gay, only to transform into something terrifying?
Why was the figure so insistent that I already knew her name?
And why did I wake up actually saying "Nina"?
I've jokingly referred to her ever since as The Shadow Fairy, or perhaps my very own sleep paralysis demon.
I'm open to psychological, scientific, spiritual, and dream-related interpretations.
Has anyone experienced anything remotely similar, especially a dream character who demanded that you say their name before you could wake up?