Wait that's my hoodie

I had an odd bit of what I think was sleep paralysis the other night. In the moment it was scary, yes, but honestly I'm laughing about it.

So for context, I keep a hoodie hanging by my bed for the two weeks out of the year down here it'll be cold enough to need one in my apartment. It's red, so it looks dark in the night. For years I've looked at this thin, dark, draped-cloth shape at night and thought, “I'm going to scare myself with this.”

So I wake up early morning, check the clock, try to sleep for the last two hours. I start dreaming about lights in the sky, UFO type stuff. And then I wake up, lying on my side, convinced that there's a light in my room. Something's by the foot of my bed, I know it. I can't turn my head to look, and I'm convinced it's just because I'm too scared.

Sidenote: I could just about see the corner of my window and the streetlight glow at the edge of my vision. Is that why I thought there was a light in my room?

So I decide I'm going to trick this fear reaction: I can't turn my head because I'm too scared so I'll close my eyes, THEN turn my head and open my eyes.

So I thought I did that (actually I didn't turn my head at all- paralysis) and then snap my eyes open and see this dark figure hovering in front of my gaze. Were this a movie, the scare chords would be going wild because this is THE jumpscare moment. I'm working up the courage to tell this thing to get the fuck out of my apartment and then I think,

“Wait that's my hoodie.”

And then suddenly I'm fully awake, out of sleep paralysis, and not scared at all any more. Fear completely evaporated and though I was slightly wary looking around my room I just was not scared any more. And then I started laughing.