Malicious Black Orbs And Being Attacked In Your Sleep

First off, before going into the details of my problem, I'd like to say that I'm not sure of my abilities like most people on this site seem to be. I've seen a few "ghosts," or whatever they may be, as well as feeling presences that I couldn't see on several occasions. I don't see auras, although when there is a collection of people in a room and another person comes into it, I've noticed that the colour of the room will change (possibly due to the addition of a new auric colour to the room, changing its overall colour, along with the moods of those already in the room being changed by their reactions to the new person among them). I'm excellent at picking up on other peoples' emotions, and can often guess what they are going to say before they say it, and I often feel like an emotional sponge who's job it is to readily clean up after the emotional upsets of friends and strangers alike. The last piece of useful information to help with the following question is that I've been somniphobic (fear of sleeping) since childhood, have been an extreme insomniac since junior high (I'm now 22 and have been getting an average of 3 to 4 hours, sometimes less, a night for several years), and have had nothing but nightmares for as long as I can remember--often very gory ones involving various versions of my own death, as well as the deaths of my loved ones. If I have a dream that is not a gory nightmare, then it will at least involve a frustrating and upsetting situation that I can't get out of. I also have regular night terrors, and sleep with citrine and amethyst under my pillow to help with these issues. The nightmares have become far less intense over the past few years. Notably, the change happened when I moved out of my parents house, which I (along with several others) am convinced is haunted.

Now, onto my question. I was laying in bed with my boyfriend a few weeks ago (we both work nights, so we were just going to bed), and I was finally starting to doze off with the help of my sleeping pills. I was half dreaming that I was going through some type of maze or obstacle course, when all of the sudden, a black sphere, smaller than my head but a bit larger than my fist, came flying towards me extremely fast. As it came into contact with my face, it changed directions and flew upwards and disappeared, and I shot up in bed and gasped.

My back had been pressed against my boyfriends chest, and at exactly the same time that this was happening, he grabbed me with both arms. The timing was as though we both reacted before either of us had actually acted. My face hurt as though I had actually been hit by something physical, and I had an instant headache.

He sounded terrified and asked "What was that!?" I was in total shock for a minute or so, not able to explain to him why I had shot up like that, which was what I thought he was asking at the time. Then (still before I had spoken), he began to explain how he saw a black ball coming at me out of nowhere and he tried to pull me out of the way and then it flew upwards and disappeared... He was completely freaking out about what he had seen.

When I was finally able to explain to him that the black sphere was in my dream as well, it was an overwhelming moment. I knew inside that it meant something important and I've had a heavy feeling in my stomach ever since.

I couldn't feel any type of emotion or 'personality' from this orb, it just felt like a carrier of malicious energy. Almost like it was some type of pawn, or someone had thrown it at me in an attempt to harm me. My boyfriend has never seen any type of apparition before, and he wasn't even asleep when he saw it--as opposed to myself, who was away in the beginning of a dream, eyes shut.

I was under the understanding that amethyst under the pillow will help ward off negative energies and psychic attack, but it didn't help in this situation and I have since began using agate and red jasper as well. I still feel very uneasy (more so than usual, which is a statement) with going to bed.

I guess the question is: what kind of orb would attack someone? Does anyone know what I may be dealing with? Also, does anyone have any insight on how my boyfriend and I could have both seen it at the exact same time, in two different places (him, in my room; me, in my mind)? I've wondered if it may have to do with my third eye chakra being more opened than his, but the point is that he was still able to see it on the physical plane.

Almost everything I've been able to find online suggests that black orbs cannot be "bad," but I have no doubt in my mind that this orb was trying to hurt me. I've also read a lot about them containing negative energies that you've released from yourself, but this was not coming from inside of me, there was nothing of me in this orb. It was completely unfamiliar.

Any insight or personal experiences would be much appreciated, even if it's not a direct answer to one of the questions posed, it may still help me to better understand what I'm dealing with or why it happened.

Thank you for taking the time to read this,

Kay