Suddenly I was woken by a terrific clap of thunder, and reached over to turn on the lamp. Nothing. Darkness engulfed the bedroom. A storm had knocked out electrical power.
Getting groggily out of bed, I felt something sticky on my hand; on both hands--even on my clothing and bedcovers. It was as though the darkness had taken on substance, and was smearing me with loathsome stickiness--had indeed become a hideous fiend out to undo me ere I could escape.
Something fell to the floor at my feet with a sickening PLOP!--and I jumped up and stepped on it. Arrgh! How horrible and slimy it felt.
I made a dash for the door, hoping to escape from the fiendish thing that surely pursued me. My hand touched the doorknob just as the electric power--and lights--came back on.
Suddenly my spirits lifted, and I laughed joyfully. For there on the floor, beside the bed, where I had squashed it into a sticky mess when I stepped on it, was the remains of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I had been snaking on when I fell asleep . . . !