Poltergeist! Poltergeist!

I awoke at 3 am unable to breathe. I sprang out of bed, sucked in mouthfuls of air until my lungs started working again, and then ran to the bathroom with an urge to vomit. The nausea thankfully passed, sparing me from that unpleasant situation. I was then scolded by my wife for having woken her and our daughter who both slept on the floor above, and it was in a grumbling state of mind that I fell back to sleep. I awoke again, this time with a feeling of intense sickness and my body gripped by an unearthly semi-paralysis. I stumbled out of bed and shakily climbed the stairs to the top floor, feeling as though I were fading from this world. My wife was in bed watching a bad horror film sequel, and in a chair next to her sat a film professor from the university, a middle aged woman whom I had never seen before.

I was invited into the bed on my wife's side, keeping away from the professor, who wore a face mask in-line with Covid-19 regulations. I told my wife of my symptoms and she advised me to stay still and watch the film until my discombobulation should pass. Her advice proved effective, and I soon I felt sufficiently strong enough to leave the room and head back downstairs to check on our daughter, who was now on the middle floor by herself. I knew immediately upon entering her bedroom that something was wrong. Sure enough, my instincts proved correct, for I perceived that her bed lay against the opposite side of the room from where it had previously been. She remained sound asleep, so I turned on the lights to wake her and find out how (and why) she had managed to move it all that way by herself.

When I saw the rest of the bedroom, I gasped in astonishment. The entire layout of the furniture and toys had changed, to the degree that it could not possibly have been done by her. Some of the toys and trinkets were stacked in precarious pyramids that a three year old would be unable to accomplish, heavy furniture had changed walls. With my debilitating sickness of earlier and this bizarre rearrangement of the room, I came to the swift conclusion that it was the work of a poltergeist. I ran into the hallway and attempted to shout out a warning for those upstairs, but fear had constricted by throat, and as is common in these situations, the words were stuck in a husky gurgle. I took a deep breath and tried again, shouting out "Poltergeist! Poltergeist!" as clearly as I could. I awoke again, most confused as to what was real and imagined. I had taken a few glasses of strong wine and some equally strong cheese before bed, so I lay the blame there.