When I was 10 years old, I was an isolated kid. Since I didn't have any siblings, or friends really, I spent most of my time playing video games. That's when I started noticing it, a faint clicking noise. It started slow and quiet, but got just a little louder, and the clicks got closer together as time went on. I thought maybe something on my Xbox was broken at the time, as this was the time I normally noticed it. It was when I started hearing it outside of me playing Xbox that I started getting confused.

First, I heard it in my living room while watching a movie. It was a Friday night, and my parents were working, so I knew it couldn't be them. When I heard it, it was definitely louder than before. I checked behind the couch, checked the TV, I looked everywhere in the living room. I came to the conclusion that it had to be something in my house.

I spent the weekend looking for the noise. It wasn't consistent, but when I heard it, it could go on for what felt like forever. It got to the point where silence almost seemed unnatural, like something was wrong now that the noise was gone. When my mom came home Saturday night to see me looking frantically around our house, she started to get concerned. She sat me down, and asked me why I was pacing around the house. When I explained to her what I'd been hearing, she turned white. She told me I needed to ignore it no matter how hard it was.

I spent all of Sunday trying to do just that, go on with my day ignoring it. But it became impossible, as it was now loud enough that it sounded like it was coming from the next room. It wouldn't leave me alone, like a fly just out of reach and sight, but I could still hear it's presence. That's when it became a consistent noise, never stopping, never quieting. I cried myself to sleep out of frustration that night, as it just wouldn’t leave.

I woke up that night feeling hot a huge pressure on my chest. I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, but the pressure felt like it was getting heavier and heavier. I felt warm air against my face. I finally opened my eyes, letting them adjust to the dark. I wish I hadn't.

A humanoid figure was in all fours on top of me. It was thin and long. As my eyes adjusted, I could see more of it. It's stretched skin was pink, and it's head looked as if it had been burned. The skin on its head and face stretched, spots of black and red from burns all over it. It had no eyes, but a large mouth that was filled with razor sharp teeth. As my eyes finally fully adjusted, I saw it did have eyes, but they seemed like they were almost drawn onto him.

I cried and hyperventilated. I couldn't scream or fight or anything, I don't know if it was out of fear, or if this thing was restraining me. I felt it's hot breath against my face, it began emitting the clicking noise. I realized this was the source of it, and I was even more terrified than before. I wet myself. It got closer, it's mouth unhinging as it got ready to devour me. Just as I was about to pass out from fear, my light clicked on, and the creature was gone. My parents were at my door.

They asked me what was wrong and why I was screaming so loud. I hadn't even realized I was screaming. They questioned me about my screaming, why I wet the bed, and tons of other questions I wasn't paying attention to. All I could think about was this...thing. the thing I later called the Clicker.

As I've gotten older, I realized that was what was called “Sleep Paralysis”, where you wake up, but your brain still thinks you're asleep. It would explain why I couldn't move or scream. Despite being a dream, it felt all too real. I learned later I was developing tinnitus, a condition where a person hears constant ringing in their ears. When I asked why I heard clicking and not ringing, I was ignored.

As I got older, the clicking noise continued, even outside my house. School, the store, even my apartment. As I grew older, I learned to tune it out, to the point where I barely noticed it anymore. I started living a normal life. When my dad passed away a month ago, that's when I started hearing it again. It was getting louder the closer I got to my home for the funeral.

The memories came back, and I felt like I was going crazy the whole trip. That's when I remembered what my mom said when I told her, and realized she knew something. She had to. I sat down with her before the funeral, and asked her about the experience. I told her about what happened, what I heard, my dream, and what she told me when I told her I heard it all those years ago. She said she didn't remember. My other doesn't have Alzheimer's or dementia, she has the best memory of all of us.

When I started to get frustrated, I got mad she couldn't remember, eventually upsetting her and causing her to cry. I realized how I had been acting, and apologized as I hugged her close. I didn't ask her anything else about it after that. We went to his funeral, and all I could hear during was the clicking. Not even my dad's death would be enough to catch a break.

After that, I've had constant nightmares. None of them compared to the dream with the Clicker, but they were close. They all consisted of the same thing, the Clicker sitting on top of me, and devouring me. I wouldn't wake up, until I was completely eaten. It was the worst. As time went on, the clicking has gotten louder, and the dreams are getting more and more detailed and real. Tonight, I woke up in a cold sweat. I had the dream once more, but this time I saw the time on the clock next to my bed. 3 AM. That's when I realized, this whole time the noise wasn't getting louder: it was getting closer.

I have been frantically writing this for the last hour, as it inches closer and closer to 3 AM. It's now 2:58. I realized before that the only reason I survived the encounter with the Clicker was because my parents came in. There was no one here to save me. Even as I write these last words, I can feel its hot breath on my neck, as the clicking noise becomes deafening.