Last night an old friend described his waking horror, a stream of sinister associations in the blackness of early morning that woke him and continued on their own, torturing him in a way he could hardly explain, and really didn’t need to.  Started his day off with an unpleasant bang at 4:30 a.m.

Describing it to another friend earlier in the day had left him with the great pantomime, his friend’s miming of the terror, coming up to grab you with both claws, with that intent look on its face.   His friend reported it had been a long time since, but the thing had come up on him that way recently as he was trying to get some rest.

Call it what you like, the hideous hands reaching up to pull you down into its deadly embrace, lucky is the person who has not felt it.