My contact with an Alien Grey, or was it sleep paralysis?
 

My life has always been kind of interesting.

Here is an experience I had when I was 24.

I woke up from sleep and was paralyzed. I saw a Grey Alien by my bed put my pet rat on my chest. My rat was terrified. The grey walked away and I was able to move. When I was able to move, my pet rat was still on my chest and my rate was shaking in fear.

When I hold my rats, none of them in my entire life have ever been scared, they love me and I love them. This rat ended up dieing a couple weeks later.

So the question is, was this an actual encounter or not? lol

actuality = actual existence, typically as contrasted with what was intended,
expected, or believed.

for you to have had the experience makes it "actual".
the truth of things may be somewhat at odds with what we've imagined
to have occurred... particulars may not be observed, and the mind might
manufacture details to fill in the gaps so as to provide logical continuity.
i think that your rat may have sensed itself "coming down" with some
illness, and it had climbed onto you seeking comfort.
i'm sorry for your loss; be well.

you sort of answered your own question with the title you chose, cause that's when we mostly encounter aliens while in Sleep Paralysis or dreaming or OBE, most aliens are mental and dimensional beings, making sense why they would choose when you are sleep to attack or encounter them.

You said it yourself, "I saw a Grey Alien." I once saw a grey alien no more than two feet from my eyes while I was standing and completely awake. Alien encounters are not uncommon.

I do believe Grey Aliens exist, there are many accounts of them being been sighted

Some thing similar once happened to me, like regarding an animal (sorry about your rat btw) ill share. One night i was staying at some ones house and this person had a cat, anyway during the middle of the night i woke up and the room was ice cold, ice cold freezing in the middle of summer and there cat who was also in the room was scratching on the door like crazy and smashing its face into the door trying to get out. I got up, let the fur ball out, noticed how freezing the room was and went back to sleep, when i went back to sleep tho i found myself out of body in the room and walking around on the walls of the room was this long red lizard/dog like creature. I watched it for a bit then it jumped off the wall and landed on me, pinned me down and started trying to bite into me but it couldn't, i could feel it biting into me but it wasn't doing anything, it just felt weird so i started praying to Arch Angel Michael, to come get this creature an take it to a place of healing and just for its well being over all, then the whole room lit up with a bright golden light and then with a zap i woke up, that was over.

And regarding the Greys iv's seen a small one before, the taller ones are meant to be quiet unpleasant from what iv heard, the smaller ones though some people have bad experiences with them and others have good, greys a grey area as some like to say, theres a few different groups of them with different agendas i think.