Found the short story online so I could read and discuss it. What makes it less scary is how practical Parkins really is about it. You and I would be freaking out - which is why scary movies are SO SCARY.
I didn't get the feeling that he was dreaming the first night. I thought that the "dream" or sequence would play in his head until he opened his eyes - and then it would stop. And when he closed his eyes again, it started from the beginning. And he never let it get to the point where the pursuer and pursuee encountered each other. I liken this to when I'm trying to go to sleep and my brain goes to scary places and I have to open my eyes to make myself stop.
The scary part is that the thing was doing stuff in his room the night before and he didn't know! Hence the bed being disheveled. Link that to the sequence in his head?
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I didn't get the feeling that he was dreaming the first night. I thought that the "dream" or sequence would play in his head until he opened his eyes - and then it would stop. And when he closed his eyes again, it started from the beginning. And he never let it get to the point where the pursuer and pursuee encountered each other. I liken this to when I'm trying to go to sleep and my brain goes to scary places and I have to open my eyes to make myself stop.
The scary part is that the thing was doing stuff in his room the night before and he didn't know! Hence the bed being disheveled. Link that to the sequence in his head?